Towbar torture

[HenriSteyn]

We had a very nervous few moments on our way to the NKZN venue at Kosi Bay.

About 20 km from Manguzi (the last outpost before the Kosi Bay border post to Moz) i felt an unusual movement at the rear of the Paj. I slowed down and pulled off onto the verge. When I got to the rear of the Paj my heart sank out of my body. Towbar bent 45 degrees!

We were very very fortunate that the towbar did not break completely.

The rest of the story will be covered in my trip report on the KZN trip.

Who has similar stories?

[Renier_c]

Ouch!!!

[Mad Manny]

Did Chas do the welding?

[Apocalypse]

....and this is why I cringe every time I see a 'gusset' running down the middle of a pipe!

[Mad Manny]

The rest of the story will be covered in my trip report on the KZN trip.

[Shane]

Would appear that the material is too thin and was hardened (brittle) by the welding of the gussard.

[Mad Manny]

It's a stupid design. OK for a Venter trailer. But not for a hardened Overlander like Henri...
Henri tows a large Jurgens Explorer & he has done a fair amount of trips.
Where it failed was after a series of harsh speed bumps.
It was going to fail eventually.
As it turns out, it failed at possibly the best time & place.
Henri was fortunate.

But I'm sure he will extensively upgrade & strengthen it...

[HenriSteyn]

This picture shows the crap design. Absolutely no strength behind the square tubing. Those 2 gussets at 45 degrees do absolutely nothing.

[Crips]

Ouch, glad you are all ok Oom Henri!

Does the towbar have any ratings etc on it? Everyone always notes that the manufacturer says the 4x4 can tow 3500kg (or whatever their claim might be) but I dont think they check what the towbar is rated ?

[KurtG]

I would love to know what the static towball nose weight (mass in kg) of the caravan is.

[Chris Stoffel]

Lever action at work here. One can't just extend that bar to clear the door mounted spare wheel and think it will hold.

[HenriSteyn]

Chris I am going to do a follow up thread on so called Tow Bar ratings.

These car manufacturers are feeding us bullsh!t as regards this.

We going to scratch deep........

To answer your kwessiun:
This towbar is rated at 110 kg vertical load. For those that own Xplorers the nose weight is substantially over that.

So Jurgens manufactures a few thousand Xplorers with a nose weight that exceeds the rating of any known towbar manufacturer in SA.

Go figure....

[HenriSteyn]

Kurt I have read on Xplorer forums around 140kg

[BushWacker]

... the tow-bar is at the end
of a long-necked beam from the chassis
and there is a consequently too big a moment
imho ... ( in my humble opinion ... )

[KurtG]

It would be interesting to weigh yours, Henri, just before you depart for a trip like NKZN.

Not disputing all the other comments of pendulum action etc. which caused the failure but as you said the caravan’s balance is probably out of spec for most of the tow bars made in SA.

Also, your tow bar doesn’t look like the one I had on both my Pajero’s which in my useless opinion is a stronger design to yours.