Towball on the front of your vehicle

[rwells9999]

How many of you have a rig thats tight to get into the carport. I have a Bar Crusher that just fits snoggly alongside the support post of the carport. When I got my new rig I saw that it was going to be near impossible to reverse park my boat. I got around the problem by purchassing a tow bar tongue $40 and a ball $10, removed the tow hook from the underside of my UTE, moved the mounting holes of the tongue so that they married up with the holes where the tow hook used to be. And violla!!. It's been bloody brilliant. I have supplemented the idea by purchasing a couple-mate. I have had some funny comments asking me if I'm Irish...

Happy shunting
Robin

[ahoj]

Clever solution -----seen it before in SA-- but don't advertise it too loudly or they will call you more then irish --- ;D ;D

Ahoj

[seatime]

That's a top idea mate, I've seen it used in marina lock-ups before but not on road registered vehicles. The couple-mate certainly draws attention to it.

I always liked the way the beach net fisherman launched their net boats.
They have the boat backwards on the trailer. When they launch them they back the trailer into the surf with the Chamberlain tractor and drive the boat straight off. I've seen them do this into 2m waves. cheers

[hussy]

best thing i ever done was one of these, can park my boat up the side first go with 6'' each side only. bob h

[Owen]

They are great for parking in tight places.
Be aware that it may be illegal to have it fitted whilst on main roads.
The wallopers frown on sticking bits of metal out the front of the car.

cheers,
Owen

[Angla]

I think they are fantastic. They seem to work best on the left of the vehicle I found as I had one on the last 4x4. Could put the boat anywhere.
I painted mine a shadow colour to conceal it from police observations as I think it was illegal to have the protrusion at the front of the vehicle

Angla

[catchy_fishy]

Clever solution -----seen it before in SA-- but don't advertise it too loudly or they will call you more then irish --- #;D ;D

Ahoj

Coming from SA I have to admit i was surprised when I read this post. This is the standard way boaters have their vehicles done in SA.

Two tow hitches, one on front for manouvering, and one on the back for towing. It makes the job so much easier, and is very inexpensive.

The protection collar in the pic isn't necessary. Just a nice to have. If you get a chance try check the actual legalities - wrt metal protruding, many winches on 4x4's might also be illegal which is unlikely. You will probably find that you are allowed some leeway and the tow hitch really doesn't require that much.

Catchy fishy

An idea if you're concerned about legalities, is to have the plate drilled, and keep the ball off till you are at the launch site - two bolts loosely fastened will do the trick.

[troy]

Quite a few of the old timers use this method as they only used to own the old wooden launches and never had trailers so they never had any experience of reversing when they purchased trailerable boats.
Troy

[Mr__Bean]

If I can just drift off topic slightly........

Looking at the picture reminds me of how many times I have been caught out with one of those tow hitch locks.

It must be three or four times I have driven off down the street with gravity only holding it on the towball, only came off once thankfully, now I always seem to remember about 300 yards down the road.

Now come on, be honest, do others get caught out not locking down the thumb clasp as shown in the piccy below?

- Darren

[fnqbunyip]

that couple mate looks like it will twist your hand brake handle as well.
Surely you dont need that on the front of your vehicle. It will attract the eyes of the law. This is why all the fuss with bullbars in the city. Things sticking out cause injurys... Bad enough kicking knee on tow ball at back and thats where they soposed to be.

Cheers

[propdinger]

just make sure you DONT hook one up if you have airbags as you might get a surprise oneday ;D ;D ;D (unless you go off the chasis)



Darren
i have done it a few times once i was undoing the winch at the ramp and as dad drove off the trailer came off buck very lucky it came back down on top of the ball the other time i realised when i was about 500mtrs from home ::) ::)

[rwells9999]

I was surprised to see just how many people didn't know what a "Couple Mate" was. The 'funnel' that you saw on the first photograph is ONLY fitted on the towball when you are useing the front towball, it's then removed. You don't drive down the road with it fitted. It certainly makes getting the towbar aligned with the towball much easier.
Go and have a look at their web site. www.couplemate.com.au/

Robin

[2iar]

If I can just drift off topic slightly........

Looking at the picture reminds me of how many times I have been caught out with one of those tow hitch locks.

It must be three or four times I have driven off down the street with gravity only holding it on the towball, only came off once thankfully, now I always seem to remember about 300 yards down the road.

Now come on, be honest, do others get caught out not locking down the thumb clasp as shown in the piccy below?

- Darren


The only time I ever entrusted the wife to hitch up the old tinny to the truck she didn't lock it down. We were on Moreton at the time, and with the Cruiser I didn't even realise that anything was wrong until I glanced in the mirror and noticed a suspicious looking rut behind me in the middle of the tyres tracks. I'd been skull-dragging the whole rig through the sand with just the safety chain for probably about 5k's. :o

I always do it myself now, and use a "R" clip through the lock for added safety.

I've also got a tight spot that the boat would be better parked in thatn where it is currently. A front towball might help, but I wasn't sure of the legalities. Also with having a bull bar, and spare tyre mounted on the back of the truck (after LPG conversion), my truck only only fits in the garage with about 4" to spare, so I didn't want to add any overall length.

Good luck,
Mike

[seabug]

If you hit a person your insurance would not cover you .(Illegal Attach.)
Then you leave yourself open to civil litigation.

Regards
Seabug

[rodbender]

I have a towball on the front of my vehicle for the same reason,much easier to manoeuvre, in & out of the yard When pulled over by police for random breath test they always mention the rod rack, not the towball.I'll get a cranky coper one day,but untill then it can stay.

cheers Reg

[rwells9999]

This topic is getting to be hard work!!!.
Yeh I know about the hitch lock, and if you see from the photo the trailer in on the FRONT of the vehicle. Just how pedantic to I have to get.......

[Mr__Bean]

This topic is getting to be hard work!!!.
Yeh I know about the hitch lock, and if you see from the photo the trailer in on the FRONT of the vehicle. Just how pedantic to I have to get.......


Jeepers......... No criticism or scarcasm was intended.

If it has come across the wrong way, then full apologies!!!!

When I saw the photo it just reminded me how I have been trapped before, no inference to your activities intended (prolly still have jockey wheel still down for all I know).

For what it is worth, I too am a supporter of the front towbar and use it as you describe. An earlier post here: http://www.ausfish.com.au/cgi-ausfish/yabb2/YaBB.cgi?num=1120205755/5#5

- Darren

[seatime]

rwells9999,
I had only seen the permanent type of couple-mate that are often seen on the back of old folks caravan hitches. They seem to leave them fitted permanently on the rear, I thought it was one of those.

Mr Bean,
Have forgotten the thumb clasp before, fortunately it didn't come off. I did try to use the wrong size tow ball once before though.
Boy, did that hitch punch the back of the WB ute hard numerous times on the rough gravel road. With the corrugations on the road it was like there was an anti-aircraft gun in the back of the ute with the safety chain and the ballance just right on the trailer. Lesson learnt there.

[Relaxed]

G'Day Darren

Every Bl00dy time I hook up, I just about forget the hitch lock.

I now have a routine where I stop just after leaving the driveway and do a check around the boat and car.

Cheers Andy.

[Boz]

Great idea although definitely illegal.

Would be a good idea to try and make a quick release version where you can permenantly mount the bracket behind the bumper/bullbar then just fit the tongue/ball assembly when required.
Probably a market in it too if anybody was to have a serious attempt at it.

Boz.

[Black_Rat]

If I can just drift off topic slightly........

Looking at the picture reminds me of how many times I have been caught out with one of those tow hitch locks.

It must be three or four times I have driven off down the street with gravity only holding it on the towball, only came off once thankfully, now I always seem to remember about 300 yards down the road.

Now come on, be honest, do others get caught out not locking down the thumb clasp as shown in the piccy below?

- Darren

...eerrrrrrrr guilty :-[ ;D

[2iar]

Great idea although definitely illegal.

Would be a good idea to try and make a quick release version where you can permenantly mount the bracket behind the bumper/bullbar then just fit the tongue/ball assembly when required.
Probably a market in it too if anybody was to have a serious attempt at it.

Boz.


That's not a bad idea Boz. Would be interesting to hear if anyone's come up with it before.

Have you heard of this catchy_fishy?

Good luck,
Mike

[88fishframe]

My grandfather always used a towball on the front of his vehicle for the same purpose.

It was said earlier though, beware if your vehicle has airbags fitted - not just for obvious reasons but also because you should be careful fitting any accessories to the front of the vehicle that are not airbag compatible for insurance reasons. Some car manufacturers charge so much for replacement airbags on newish vehicles that the cars are often rightoffs just because the airbag is deployed. This is extreme, but I saw a 1 year old mercedes at an auction 4 months ago which went for a bargain - the panel beater fellow next to me didn't even bid and said he had priced a new airbag on it at over $30,000 !! Too bad if you 'miss' the tow hitch and run your vehicle into the trailer setting off the airbag .....

Another idea is to just buy a little forklift to move your boat in and out of storage ;D

[Pirate_Pete_Tas]

I have seen & used these towbars before. The best bet is to use the same style of hitch as that is on the back with the square tube & pin to hold the tongue in. That way you only need the 1 tongue & in normal use it’s on the back where it belongs. It also helps if it’s in the middle.