Problem Inverting drawbar

[DiscoStew]

Picked up the camper trailer yesterday (woohoo!!) but found I have a problem with the ballmount. As far as I know the setup is as manufactured (2000 TD5 Disco). The ballmount (I think is called a 4" drop ball mount) has a near vertical section attached going down to the tow ball, making the towball quite low, probably to suit a standard trailer height.

The trailer I purchased is an offroader so the camper trailer vendor inverted the ballmount so that the vertical section went up. This makes it the perfect height for the trailer and seemed to be a standard procedure for them.

However the ballmount would not insert into the towbar reciever far enough to insert the pin. It hit the bumper. He said I would need to find a ballmount assembly that would fit.

Has anybody else encountered this problem? Is it just a case of shopping around to find a ballmount with a long enough gooseneck?

Cheers
Paul

[disconut]

There are a range of these available from any Hayman Reese retailer.
You can drill another pin position hole if the shank is long enough to allow it. The big issue that I found is the increased leverage on the car from the trailer / van as the ball is further from the axle. A camper trailer and its light drawbar (ball weight), should not be an issue, but with a caravan I found adding polyairs to keep the car level was the way to go. I prefer polyairs to the weight distribution bars. I also have a Treg Hitch, but believe there is a way of fitting distribution bars to this type of hitch if required. Polyairs also allow you to level the car for normal "in cabin"
loads.
Trev.
:!: PS The shanks with the vertical welded tongues have a lower tow load rating than the 45 deg (approx) welded ones. Originals supplied by LR are the 45 deg ones rated for 3.5 tonnes. (ARB supplied mine).

[DEFENDERZOOK]

<span style="color:blue">also remember that you wont be able to open the tailgate with the trailer on or will ding the door on the coupling.....</span>

[DiscoStew]

There are a range of these available from any Hayman Reese retailer

I have been told that the LR standard hitch is a diffferent size as Hayman Reese but am yet to verify as shops are not open.


PS The shanks with the vertical welded tongues have a lower tow load rating than the 45 deg (approx) welded ones. Originals supplied by LR are the 45 deg ones rated for 3.5 tonnes. (ARB supplied mine).

I believe I have the original LR with the 45degrees. I used the word vertical loosely :roll: It is badged as LR and has a rating of 3.5 tonnes.

If I drilled a new hole in the right place only 100mm of the gooseneck would be inside the hitch (compared to 150mm if put in the right way) and only 30mm of metal aft of the hole. I suspect this would be compromising the joint too much, especially with the extra leverage you mention.


also remember that you wont be able to open the tailgate with the trailer on or will ding the door on the coupling.....

That will be a pain with the fridge going into the luggage bay style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif Already a bit of a problem even with the trailer hitched in the low position. Door hits spare tyre on trailer. Perhaps fridge will need to go into trailer.

Thanks for your comments,
Paul[/quote]

[disconut]

re your comments below,

"If I drilled a new hole in the right place only 100mm of the gooseneck would be inside the hitch (compared to 150mm if put in the right way) and only 30mm of metal aft of the hole. I suspect this would be compromising the joint too much, especially with the extra leverage you mention."

What is the ball weight of your trailer?. It may not matter that much compared to a van with 150 to 180 kg ball weight. The pin holes do not wear greatly, mine is still like new after 8,500 klms towing a 1500 kg van. My van hitch tongue is Hayman Reese, and the trailer hitch tongue is LR Genuine, the hitch reciever on the vehicle is HR.
I think the Tojo's are different from HR and the hole is also offset to prevent it being turned over.
Trev.

[MT]

[quote=DEFENDERZOOK]<span style="color:blue">also remember that you wont be able to open the tailgate with the trailer on or will ding the door on the coupling.....</span>

Not necessarily, I have one and there is no issue at all - I just have to watch that the trailer is relatively straight so that the door does not hit the spare mounted on the draw bar. Guess it comes down to the type / length of the insert.

Regards

Mark

[DiscoStew]

Originally posted by disconut+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(disconut)</div><div class='quotemain'>What is the ball weight of your trailer?. It may not matter that much compared to a van with 150 to 180 kg ball weight. The pin holes do not wear greatly, mine is still like new after 8,500 klms towing a 1500 kg van. [/b]

A good point but my father has a caravan and if he had to abandon it somewhere (he is not all that well) I would like the option of being able to go get his caravan and bring it back. So I don't want to compromise too much. That is probably not consistent with yesterday's post but I spent the day with him today which prompted this latest thought process. :?

<!--QuoteBegin-mt
Not necessarily, I have one and there is no issue at all - I just have to watch that the trailer is relatively straight so that the door does not hit the spare mounted on the draw bar. Guess it comes down to the type / length of the insert. [/quote]

I think I will get a 2inch "drop" instead of the 4inch to prevent this problem.

Thanks for all your comments, the solution seems to be the obvious one, to go and get a new insert that has the right specs, or get a mod to the existing one. I just wanted to see if this was something other's had dealt with in an innovative way.

Cheers
Paul

[DEFENDERZOOK]

<span style="color:darkred">just a thought.....if you are going to replace things....how about going to a treg hitch coupling?

it may work better and sit well below the bottom edge of your door.......


like i said...just a thought....</span>

[DiscoStew]

[quote=DEFENDERZOOK]<span style="color:darkred">just a thought.....if you are going to replace things....how about going to a treg hitch coupling?

it may work better and sit well below the bottom edge of your door.......


like i said...just a thought....</span>

I have an "American Style Off-Road Hitch" which I think is an Orac coupling from photos I have seen of them

http://www.campertrailers.org/couplings.htm