Woman killed by a TOW BALL!!!

[Hutton]

There's a difference between towing someone out when they are stuck and snatch recovery , when its snatch the load might treble or more taking equipment way beyond tested limits . I wouldn't be worried about the pin i'd be worried about old bolts giving up allowing you to tear your tow bar off .

Dedicated recovery points run close in parallel with the chassis eliminating leverage from the equation .

Thanks Shayne. Exactly what I need to know.

 

[Higgy]

found this while skipping through You Tube... Shocking reminder of How Not to do Stuff...

 

[dyladams]

I have been having an internal debate regarding the towbar discussion..... from what I have seen through google research - the “tow-balls” that appear to fail are the ones that fit the Australian and USA towbar that have 2inch received with a screwed in tow bar. Or the other version are these modern swan neck types. I have however not seen anything on the old school towbars that most of us have on our UK cruisers. Am I completely wrong in thinking these UK towbar s are different and they actually might be safe?

The photo below is what I mean by UK towbar.

 

[Towpack]

That's what I have on mine with a jaw and pin type hitch. It certainly looks more substantial than many newer towbars I've seen but Shayne made a point in his post above about recovery points being secured on or close to a chassis rail which certainly makes sense IMO.

 

[Hutton]

Ok folks advice time please. Here are a couple of pics of the current lowball setup on my 100 series. My question is: I would like to replace this with the fitting which has the square aperture to enable a recovery hitch and a towball to be interchangeable. Is this possible with my current setup? Also, is there a recommended supplier for this type of gear?

 

[Shayne]

A receiver hitch you mean https://www.ebay.com/itm/Trailer-To...Land-Cruiser-2-Receiver-Class-3-/362522603645

 

[Hutton]

A receiver hitch you mean https://www.ebay.com/itm/Trailer-To...Land-Cruiser-2-Receiver-Class-3-/362522603645

Thanks Shayne. So I need to buy a whole new tow bar. This isn’t something that bolts on in place of the towball I currently have at present. I note from your eBay link that although the price is also given in pounds the towbar doesn’t ship to the UK. Does anyone know anywhere in the UK or overseas that I can get one of these bars along with the recovery hitch and towball inserts.

 

[Shayne]

It was just a quick find example to show they are out there . There are other options such as chop modify and weld and maybe even bolt on receivers but its a heavy truck to begin with so personally i'd rather put my trust in in a known brand .

I mean how old is your bar , whatever choice you make be sure to replace the bolts that hold it on .

Maybe these guys can help https://www.reese-hitches.com/vehic...ser&skipStyleCheck=1&style=&product_type_id=2

 

[clivehorridge]

AFAIK, the square receiver type hitch isn’t approved in the UK (I hope I’m wrong) because IMO they’re just great, safe and very versatile.

They are US and OZ approved AFAIK, but I’m ready to be wrong (again!).

I have one on my truck and it’s very useful for interchanging different fittings, tow ball, recovery point, bike rack and the like... even one of Chas’ toilet seats if you’re that way inclined

 

[fbnss]

After a bit of a google, they need to be type aproved (whatever that is) if your vehicle was first registered after 1/8/98

 

[Shayne]

It's one of those laws nobody seems to care about , lots of steel bumpers come with a receiver hitch built in . If it failed while towing a caravan down the M4 then somebody might care but you have a far greater chance of winning the lottery i.m.o .

 

[Hutton]

Thanks for these great replies. It has certainly given me food for thought. I wonder if insurers would regard a non-original towbar as a modification?

 

[Hutton]

After reading through the posts again would I be ok for snatch recovery with my current towbar fitted with the ball and pin if I make sure all the bolts are rated highly enough?

 

[Grimbo]

I don't think the recovery eyes would take that sort of load either TBH, although at least all you'd breaks is the recovery eye rather than ripping off the front axle!!

I'm not familliar with how road trains are configured, but don't those trailers rest on a 5th wheel on a dummy axle, so you would have a full size set of wheels under the front? If not, I would still think might be better to drop a trailer, legs on wood, pull the rig and one trailer out, then back the rig back down to try and recover the rest. Your problem of course is if you find you can't get the rig back down your trailers are stranded and your screwed!

it's also a problem if people are fundamentally a bit idle!! just a bit of digging in front of the wheels makes an enormous difference to the inertia of the load.

You have to be very careful pulling lorry's even using the recovery eyes ....on a couple of makes the factory recovery eye position is onto the steering box location .... always try and use a bridle to avoid a one sided pull as the chassis can twist too. This all applies to lesser vehicles ....
I would never use proper kinetic recovery unless hatch down in an armoured vehicle or life threatening instances where failure to recover would mean death .
In many of the videos the people playing off road are less than competent with vehicles that appear to have less than good build quality ....
As everyone on this thread seems to appreciate learn from your own and others mistakes and walk away from scenarios where you are not happy ......

 

[jibberjabber]

You have to be very careful pulling lorry's even using the recovery eyes ....on a couple of makes the factory recovery eye position is onto the steering box location .... always try and use a bridle to avoid a one sided pull as the chassis can twist too. This all applies to lesser vehicles ....
I would never use proper kinetic recovery unless hatch down in an armoured vehicle or life threatening instances where failure to recover would mean death .
In many of the videos the people playing off road are less than competent with vehicles that appear to have less than good build quality ....
As everyone on this thread seems to appreciate learn from your own and others mistakes and walk away from scenarios where you are not happy ......

Also, you never see the professionals 'snatching' they all use winches or just pull with a spreader bar secured at two points.