80 rear receiver with pics!

[Chris]

I know how you like your pics. Well, would be pointless this one without them I guess. So, lovely and hot today, great to spend it welding for England in my garage. Here's the build.

Original tow-plough. Gotta go.

So hack off the bit that drags

Cut out a big slot to take the tube

Like this

Weld up the old holes

Slot out the main cross member - oh don't look so nervous. Trust me.

Opposite slot the corresponding tube and drill the pin hole now while I can

Use a bit of magic metal glue

And, before anyone suggests that it's going to be under engineered - there is a T-plate on top

Welded like this

Now we are getting somewhere

Fit an anti penetration device to protect hapless motorists behind me

Quick blast of primer as it's all I have and it's beer O'clock

So I can stick thing like this in there

or this

Or even my old demountable rear winch plate. It's going to have a built in rear winch, but this might get me out of a scrape if needed.

Well there you go Sportsfans. That's what I have been up to today.

Time for a beer. No I don't have any plans before you ask. Sorry but this is a job that you just do. I have no fears about it being strong enough. It weighs twice what it did when it came off and most of that is weld!

Chris

 

[Paul_Humphreys]

Looks good Chris.

Paul

 

[Julian]

Thanks Chris, that is just the inspiration I needed
Thinking about sorting this out, unfortunately being a non welder, I will have to get somebody else to do it for me, but at least I can show him some pics of what I want to achieve

 

[Andrew Prince]

Really nice work there, Chris! Very neat result!

I was interested to see that your tow bar doesn't connect to the 4 central bolt holes in the rear bumper/cross-member. I guess if you wanted to beef it up, you could add an extension plate and bolt to the cross- member for serious strength Not that yours lacks beef, before you get upset

 

[Dave Burgess]

Excellent! You've proven the idea I had for letting a 2in tube into a commercial tow hitch. Very tidy.

My only question relates to the gauge of box section used. Was it 50x50x3mm? The Warn receiver mount I bought off ebay looks a lot chunckier, I'd guess 5mm wall, maybe even 1/4" as it's American. Your gusseting will obviously make it a lot stronger so I assume you're content with the strength. What loads are you looking to haul/winch off it?

Something like that will look good beneath my TJM RB8

 

[Chris]

Andrew, no it doesn't 'cos the rear bumper is going in due course. But I could.

Dave, remember that this tow bar was fine for any towing purpose before I started manking around with it - and I have actually made it stronger. There is now a tube between the inner and outer sections welded every which way. I am not intending to tow anything that I wouldn't have towed off the original. I only have a 2m trailer with a quad on it - about 3/4 tonne all in. But when you use it to start pulling people out of ditches, it goes up I guess.

Now if you think about it, the strength is in the shear pin. That is 13mm. There is no way that you are going to pull that pin through nearly 10mm of steel. If you pull at any angle then the 'grip' is even higher and the forces spread in a different way completely. The original cross member of the towbar was about 3 mm wall. No point putting 10mm wall in the extra bit - there is no benefit. A chain being as strong as its weakest link etc.

I have made 2" hitches before and I am perfectly happy that this is more than man enough. I'd be more worried about the bolts holding it to the vehicle. The outer was 60x60 and the inner 50x50. Err can't remember the wall thicknesses. The hitch is one thing, but then of course you need to consider the attachments. The D link is actually made form two pieces of 50x25 box welded together. So there are actually 4 walls in there making it effectively 8mm.

Chris

 

[Dave Burgess]

No question it's all tied together well enough, I've never had a 2in receiver hitch before so the one I got recently is my only physical reference for tube thickness. I'll take your advice on the box section and save a bit of money on the section.

Is there a standard for the distance of the pin /holes from the mouth? It makes sense that it would be...

 

[Chris]

Dave, good question. I have no idea. A standard? Well seeing as how hey can't agree on 2" or 50mm it's unlikely. As I make all my own attachments, I just do 13mm pin, 50mm from the end of the tube. I don't think that there is a convention on this.

I think, also that there may be standards to which hitch manufacturers need to conform in order to get the necessary accreditation. Obviously mine is intended purely for off road use and not the public highway, so I can do as I choose. Cough.


Chris