Towbar regulations, under 3500kg

blue35, Nov 30, 10:46pm
Hi All, looking for current regulations for making a towbar (if any) on a vehicle with WOF and if it needs to be welded by a certified welder and/or be certified.

Cannot really find anything on the NZTA website except for the Guide to Safe Loading and Towing for light vehicles, in which says, “ Although tow bars are not required to be rated and certified on light vehicles, there are safety requirements. ”, this is dated 2012, so would be interested if anyone can provide a more up to date link or reference.

Does not really matter what the towbar is for, except that it is regarding the question of if there is any legal certification required, and if so, where are those regulations if they exist.

Cheers

martin11, Dec 1, 7:11am
No regulations that I know off but if its not designed properly you could have insurance problems in the event of anything happening to the draw bar while towing . Most cars have places on their chassis to be the attachment points .
Just as cheap to go to a tow bar place and get one fitted . Some cars are not designed to have them fitted .

msigg, Dec 1, 7:15am
Well if you work in an engineering shop or have a good welder and can weld all good, very easy to do , I have made 5 in the last 20 years for different vehicles and never had any problems, you need to be confident in your work, after saying that now days for $450 you can get one fitted.

intrade, Dec 1, 9:03am
that is because new zealand has a lot of i dont know what its called "law legilation" or what ever the hell they operate there laws on. its why the freeman on the land have a point"
anyhow the rules-laws recomendation . what ever its called.
These usually "make sense to make no sense "
now i wont be getting this 100% accurate as i cant be arsed to find the correct wording of the tow gobble de guke for NZ
Basically you can tow any load with any vehicle. but you must be able to stop within 7 meters at 30kph speed. This is the gist of this .
Makes sense right. but no it dont like most things
You be able to stop ok on dry road with a 2 ton car and brembo brake upgrade with 3.5 ton unbraked on the trailer
you wont stop on gravel if your car is 3.5 ton and the trailer is 3,5 ton. wet roads . etc alsorts you may or may not be able to comply to lets face it some village iDi°t wrote this trailer towing up.

intrade, Dec 1, 9:16am
Like my towbar on my mb140 i made that up to extend it from the original spot with a holden Vk towbar that did what i needed it to do.
I was quite sure it would last . but when i took it to the local wof guy he claimed my flatbar should be box section. obviously he is no engeneer as i done my apprentice in engineering . So i removed the towball each wof to pass it.
Then we moved shipping containers etc and we did try to move one item smacking it down the hill Did not exactly work but it had bent the towbar 12mm steel toung down.
Then i went to vtnz te-kuiti for a wof and forgot the tow-ball. it had failed on tow bar bent as one fail. So i warmed it up and pressed it back in to its correct shape took me like 5h to get it back.
Then i went to vtnz south whangarei truck compliance center for recheck. and woala it passed .
I already did know i made it strong enough and 2 vtnz did not say i had to use box sections for a spot that was not loaded in the direction a box section was needed.
So it passed . and i load tested it it bent the tung not the flat bar i welded in to stabilize it.

mrfxit, Dec 2, 12:19pm
General regulations have always been like this.
Domestic towbars & trailers don't need any professional certification or design work.
They can be designed & built by anybody handy with a welder & a sound understanding of engineering principles related to this subject.

Theres two catches,
#1: Built with sound engineering principles & workmanship
#2: All workmanship is on the understanding of "Self Insured" public liability insurance.
Ie: you built it, you pay for anything that goes wrong with it & causes damage or injury.

mrfxit, Dec 2, 1:02pm
Yep, proper tow bar companys will either have a factory unit available or able to build one to spec or better.
From about $250-sh to $500-sh not including any fancy wiring kits, (bmw's etc).
Got my 95 Nissan van done for $380 inclusive

blue35, Oct 15, 12:41pm
Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.