Auto Roller 700

Geoff.W said:
WARNING

Alloy and steel have much different properties in how they react to bending forces, their hardness, resistance to cracking and strength. You can't make a direct copy of a steel towbar in alloy and expect it to be able to do the job.

An alloy towbar would need "deeper" sections and thicker material to give equivalent strength and ridgidity to that of a steel one. This would normally result in major ground clearance problems when fitted.
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Good point Geoff you are sure right:cool:
 
mine is ok,the man who welded it as plated it at 150kilos
 
Sorry, but just think about the forces involved in any possible jack knife situation:eek: :eek:
And not to forget that any tow bar now needs to be Type approved.
If it is type approved then maybe it is safe enough, but I would seriously question it
 
towtal do the same,when we went down for the steel one..I will never use it as a towbar its just protection from getting it up the rear and when the ladder is down it used to hit the rear light -not now though..:)
 
fellow members have scared me,I agree that a steel one would be stronger but my alloy one has been flated at 150kilo-For example the man from preston-will he plate his?What if the worst was to happen,do I have a claim?
 
Hi Andy. Sorry if I've scared you that wasn't my intention. I would like to say I was talking in general terms and not having seen yours its impossible to make a judgement, and it may well be constructed in a way that makes it suitable. I would think that if you are not using it for any heavy duty work you would have nothing to worry about.

I am confused as to how the "plating" figure of 150Kg was arrived at. I would have thought that if it was a "one off", then no testing would have been done. I would also like to add that the load rating on towbars (usually 75Kg) is the static load, the dynamic load (the load applied in use, ie. trailer bouncing and pushing) is often many times greater than this. A towbar with a load rating of 150Kg should be able, I would have thought, to stand a actual loading of 600-700Kg or greater.

Finally, it is many years since I studied this, so while the the general principles are correct the figures are probably wildly inaccurate, they are used as, I think, the simplest way of illustrating the point.
 
andytheplumber said:
I will never use it as a towbar its just protection from getting it up the rear and when the ladder is down it used to hit the rear light -not now though..:)
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If you are not going to tow with it and rather use it for a M/C carrier, I would not worry at all.:cool:
I have often thought of fitting a alloy real bumper for protection and this could easily double up as a M/C carrier.:)
On my previous Hymer, there was one fitted and it was steel:)
 
I was thinking of a lightweight towbar, but from what has been said I'm gonna take the extra weight and go for steel, I'm not too techy and was only thinking about the extra weight and just presumed that the lightweight would do the job as the the steel. Good information, thanks.

Regards Tom
 
THATS A RELEIF,,I dont know how my welder manny came to the 150kg figure,he makes alloy floats for artic lorrys so I dinna ken....maybe it was a plate for something else but as I said its just for protection-towtals effort was just bolted onto the extentions but the alloy goes right back to the tranny chassis...andy
P.S- the cover is coming off next week in preperation for the glentress meet.:cool:
 
*****,I wasnt impressed with towtal either..if you ever see the m/h the extentions are made of kitkat foil..thats maybe why I took action and upgraded..the van is sunlight by dethleffs. When I got it from lazydays I knew I woudnt be back-Have you been to their workshop!As for towtal I asked for a towbar grade bumper and for the future bolting of a ball and thats what I got for 250.the wiring was already done by me..
 
towbars

hi
i bought a towbar from towtal for my previous motorhome, it was to carry a motorscooter, they asked me how heavy the scooter was (100 kilos) and plated the towbar acordingley.
must say the towbar went back to the rear suspension and chassis.
towtal's customer service isn't very good.
guy came in while i was there he phoned up, they said his hehicle was ready turned out it wasn't, no appolagy just come back tommorrow.
i waited all day for mine to be fitted (08.30 till 19.30)
motorhome dealers came and went and seemed to have priority.

live long and prosper:D:p
 
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