Tow bar & recovery options

I've just bought and installed a Tow-Trust bar. As I wont be towing anything for a while, I haven't attached the electrics or the neck / hitch part, so it's just the thick bar running parallel to the axles. Reason I've half-arsed it is that it's there for the time being as a recovery point. I've got no eyes/hooks, but if it comes to it I'll attach a strap to the bar using a tensionless hitch, which is probably the safest knot/hitch in this context.

And snatch recoveries are just something to stay away from as a general rule. They are effective, but the risks are just too high. A friend sent me a video clip of a guy getting hit in the face during a snatchpoint failure, and disturbing doesn't even begin to cover it. I've always though I've got a strong stomach for stuff like that, but that's a clip I'd just rather not have opened.

But if you anyone is interested and aren't familiar with it, google 'tensionless hitch', it's something that will come in handy for people doing what we do...

Was that the video with jeep-broken screen-hospital bed
because that made me never want to be stuck :sick:

Yip, in what looked like South American mud. Thought it was just a clip on a straightforward recovery, went downhill fast!

Look at Dixon Gate tow hitches. Perfect for towing and recovery!

dixon-bate.co.uk/products/gb/130-bradley-jaws

Obviously cheaper from other sources.

Kirkynut

The trick to a safe recovery is use common sense. If you don't know what you are doing, get some training. I've recovered my Jimny and loaded trailer with a tractor many times using just the tie down points that others manage to tear out of the chassis. I am happy using the towball for recovery because I know I'm never going to put the shock loading on it that a snatch recovery does. I'm used to recovering tractors, and when you have 10 tons on either end of a strop, with the amount of traction a tractor generates you will break things very quickly by snatching!

I'd wager that far more people are injured in winch recoveries than by failing towbars. But mostly people are injured by being idiots and getting caught up in the manly-man atmosphere that vehicle recoveries seem to create.

19 tons and 230hp pulling this one out. To give you an idea of how far in it was, the rear tyres are near enough 6ft tall.


Using a long cable enabled us to use the hard surface of the track to get enough grip for a safe pull. Traction is much safer than momentum!

kirkynut wrote: Look at Dixon Gate tow hitches. Perfect for towing and recovery!

dixon-bate.co.uk/products/gb/130-bradley-jaws

Obviously cheaper from other sources.

Kirkynut

I have the one called JAW-E40TC-3500K, the ball is on top of the pin, so I keep the ball & pin part out, and then you can read my numberplate. It is a towsure bar



the 5 tonne ones have 4 bolts