Overloaded tow bar??

[Ian H]

How about this one......

https://youtu.be/_ix7ZgsWTMg

[BruceandBobbi]

How about this one......

https://youtu.be/_ix7ZgsWTMg

There goes the holiday.

[erad]

How about this one......

https://youtu.be/_ix7ZgsWTMg

That is scary because I have exactly the same caravan. I also find it interesting that the van did not explode when it tipped over. I have seen many sites where obviously the van broke up - possessions and effects everywhere, and nothing but a chassis remaining. My van has now done just short of 200000 km and whilst I would hope to be immune from events such as these, I am still very cautious when driving the van anywhere.

[Ian Sharpe]

That is scary because I have exactly the same caravan. I also find it interesting that the van did not explode when it tipped over. I have seen many sites where obviously the van broke up - possessions and effects everywhere, and nothing but a chassis remaining. My van has now done just short of 200000 km and whilst I would hope to be immune from events such as these, I am still very cautious when driving the van anywhere.

scarey as, that is why I have never even been interested in getting a van.

[conquistador]

Saw this on Facebook, they were saying the van exceeded the towing weight. Not sure if it was true or not. Its hard to tell if the Paj crashed and broke the tow bar or if the tow bar broke causing the Paj to crash.





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Am i seeing this correct in photo 2. The hitch pin is still in place? Therefore has ripped through the receiver?

[vladguan]

Am i seeing this correct in photo 2. The hitch pin is still in place? Therefore has ripped through the receiver?

No. The receiver broke off. You can see the retaining bolt just left of the pin in photo 2.

[NFT5]

And, apart from everything else already mentioned, that hitch is way too long.

People use those long shank hitches to try to move the ball away from the spare, without realising the leverage effect of moving the load so far out. With the WDH it's no wonder that the receiver broke off.

[conquistador]

No. The receiver broke off. You can see the retaining bolt just left of the pin in photo 2.

Either way thats a shed load of force.

[nj swb]

I put the picture of the towing hitch into another program, and attempted to scale its length (presuming the width of the hitch is 50mm).

1. From broken end of hitch receiver (where it let go) to ball is approximately 500mm.
2. Guesstimating where the ball would sit with a normal hitch, that would be 200 to 250mm from the point it broken end.
3. So the point at which the hitch receiver broke would've been subject to 2 to 2.5 times the "normal" ball weight.

I'm not suggesting this caused the accident - as others have stated, we don't know what happened, so we can only speculate. But that hitch arrangement was a failure waiting to happen.

[conquistador]

I might be missing something but i would think if your in a tank slapper and then nail a guard rail with 2+ tonne at some angle something is going to give?

Looking at the youtube video of the lightish van overtaking the truck. Could i be so bold to suggest a heavier van (or with one with less surface area) may not have been disturbed so much?

[GOSSAMER]

Bigger pic if your interested




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[Hill]

I might be missing something but i would think if your in a tank slapper and then nail a guard rail with 2+ tonne at some angle something is going to give?

Looking at the youtube video of the lightish van overtaking the truck. Could i be so bold to suggest a heavier van (or with one with less surface area) may not have been disturbed so much?

Your answer may be here!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIVilRyWzO4

Hill

[old Jack]

Chances are there is not one single contributing factor to this failure, more likely its is a combination of factors over a period of time so that when the towbar was put under extreme loads it failed.
I believe the following factors are all possible contributes;
1. Extra length shank on towbar tongue.
2. WDH that is compensating for more than the tow bar downloads.
3. Caravan that has weight distribution incorrect so there is too much weight too far rear of the axle.
I suspect the tow bar has been cracked for sometime and this is why this failed rather than the coupling.
4. Tow ball downloads near or exceeding max limits.

Lucky escape for those involved and a good thing no-one else happened to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

Both caravan manufacturers and vehicle manufacturers are to blame for selling the "dangerous dream" of a portable house on wheels!

OJ.

[RoyHarvey]

WDH loading

Given there a a lot of high load (250kg+) WDH bars in use, and the failure rate appears to be relatively low, it is reasonable suggest the failures are due to some anomaly in the application.

I suggest that shouldn't obscure the fact that WDH systems apply huge additional loads to the hitch system.

Take a simple example of a 250kg max tow ball load tow bar, now apply a caravan having a 250kg max ball weight, no problem all complies, until a 250kg WDH is applied causing the down force on the caravan coupling causing it to be doubled to 500kg.

Now drive though a spoon drain, like you might encounter entering or leaving a servo, and the WDH loading will increase to as much as double, applying 750kg download on the coupling with the resultant reactionary forces being transferred to the vehicle tow bar.

If you use a WDH please be aware of the additional stresses they apply.

[PradoEater]

Where receiver broke looks like there is a hole for a pin perhaps to adjust the length of the hitch so rear door of pajero opens up a bit more

Bigger pic if your interested




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