Lightweight recovery tow bar hitch receiver

[twr7cx]

Anyone using a lighter weight recovery tow bar hitch receiver?

The common steel ones weigh a bit:

https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/media/catalog/product/cache/80/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/h/i/hitch_receiver_2_2.jpg
hitch_receiver_2_2.jpg (https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/media/catalog/product/cache/80/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/h/i/hitch_receiver_2_2.jpg)

I noticed that George 4X4 have units made out of solid aluminium < 5 T D-Ring Hitch Receiver Tow Bar & one Shackle Kit
– George4x4 (https://www.george4x4.com.au/products/5-t-d-ring-hitch-receiver-tow-bar-one-shackle-kit) >. They have the same load rating (5T) as their standard steel units and on their current sale are not drastically more expensive. I enquired about the weight saving and was advised:


The standard one is 160mm




Made by solid Aluminum: 0.82kg/pc

made by solid steel: 2.14kg/pc




extended one made by Aluminum 230mm length: 1.5kg/pc.






The shackle net weight: 1.03 kgs per pc.

A fairly substantial weight reduction. Personally I keep my recovery tow bar hitch receiver in the storage bin in the cargo area all the time just incase so I like the idea of less weight to potentially bounce around.

Any other brands people are using?

[roverrescue]

I’ve always considered those things as a solution looking for a problem

Slip out pin
Poke strap into hitch
Slip in pin

Voila

S

[Tombie]

I’ve always considered those things as a solution looking for a problem

Slip out pin
Poke strap into hitch
Slip in pin

Voila

S

Yep, a purchase for the sake of it and nothing more.

And this version is even lighter [emoji41]


After hundreds of recoveries I still don’t have any of this “surplus”

Why add a lump of metal, then fit a lump of metal to it...

[Bill Wallace]

I alsways use these recovey hitches after i bent a pin and had to wrap 1 end of a hacksaw blade with tape as a handle to cut said bent pin.

It took ages.

[Tombie]

If the recovery was violent enough to bend the pin, a kinetic recovery wasn’t the correct choice (or the pin was poor quality).

[p38arover]

After hundreds of recoveries I still don’t have any of this “surplus”

Hundreds? [bigwhistle]

[roverrescue]

I would have been in hundreds of individual recoveries.

A few years back
Early Storms in at a coastal camp on Cape Melville in December
5 vehicles 3 trailers - 9 hours to essentially winch a section that normally be driven in 2.(this was before things like council roadwork and road closures)
We would have made 50 plus recoveries that one day?
We were getting one vehicle through tree to tree , then winching the other 4 vehicles and 3 trailers seperately through each section.

That trip was my final use of dynamic recovery - broken strap no damage - vehicle stuck fast
Winched slowly and surely out

Oh we did break a dyneema winch rope that day too - tied it together and kept winching.


And I agree with Tombie, leave the bling on the shelves - but another 30m length of Dyneema!


S

[Tombie]

Hundreds? [bigwhistle]

Yep hundreds, been doing this a long time.

Was active with a local recovery group for a few years, in that time probably did 30-35 recoveries alone.

Remember, Offroad for me is only 5 minutes away.

Most fun recovery was a fully bogged Road train, to be fair I used a WA900 as the recovery vehicle [emoji41]

Another was a 10t fuel pod truck, stuck in a Clay Pan. Took us 8 hours to get that one out.

[Tombie]

I would have been in hundreds of individual recoveries.

A few years back
Early Storms in at a coastal camp on Cape Melville in December
5 vehicles 3 trailers - 9 hours to essentially winch a section that normally be driven in 2.(this was before things like council roadwork and road closures)
We would have made 50 plus recoveries that one day?
We were getting one vehicle through tree to tree , then winching the other 4 vehicles and 3 trailers seperately through each section.

That trip was my final use of dynamic recovery - broken strap no damage - vehicle stuck fast
Winched slowly and surely out

Oh we did break a dyneema winch rope that day too - tied it together and kept winching.


And I agree with Tombie, leave the bling on the shelves - but another 30m length of Dyneema!


S

Didn’t you have a couple of good ones on your top end run with Stephen all those years ago?

I seem to remember a couple of pics from back then.