Thread: recovery from the towball.. (only if you have to)

Originally Posted by roverrescue

Inline with both Dougals:
"A 3.5T towball (usually have a 1 inch shank) is actually far stronger than a 16mm hitch pin with a strap around it"
and Daves:
"eyeball the thickness of the shaft of a 2.5t tow ball, compare that to the thickness of a 3.5t rated lifting shackle, how about an 8t shackle? 11T 12t...."

I wonder if in all cases of tow balls becoming missiles, that if the strap was put in the receiver hitch then the pin / tow bar / chassis bolts would be missiled instead. The force to shear a 24mm tow bar bolt is huge and would have to have done some uber damage to a "proper" rear recovery point. I guess it is a mostly untestable hypothesis. Dynamic recoveries are unpredictable... and unpredictable events occur.

I dont like snatch straps, except for towing dead trees back to camp or flat towing vehicles on the road.
Static pull recovery for me and use a shovel etc etc.

Has anyone actually seen a tow ball snap off?. Pat

Originally Posted by PAT303

Has anyone actually seen a tow ball snap off?. Pat

Not as such, a machined ball probably won't. It's about slipping off at an angle. I have frequently snatched off a towball, where a strong shackle point was unavailable. A snatch recovery, like any other procedure, should be done with due care, not yee-hah attitude.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

So you carry a tow rope AND a snatch strap???

I do.

Originally Posted by PAT303

Has anyone actually seen a tow ball snap off?. Pat

Yea I think the whole towball snaping off and launching itself a bit of a wives tale told to make people think a little more when it comes time to doing a recovery.

I would think that the pin in the hitch would break before the towball would? so any recovery using the toung would be as dangerous as using the tow ball? as the whole toung would launch itself?

just some thaughts.

Would love to be proved wrong

Mabee it should be mythbusted


Oh and i carry both aswell

Originally Posted by PAT303

Has anyone actually seen a tow ball snap off?. Pat

yes, it aint pretty and it wasnt a snatch recovery. It was an idiot doing the recovery who wouldnt listen to anyone becasue he knew what he was doing. We decided to stay up hill and about 100m away in the tree line forward of the vehicle being recovered.


Ive personally torn a the tongue off of a series with a tirfor.....

Originally Posted by PAT303

Has anyone actually seen a tow ball snap off?. Pat

Yes, but it was towing a trailer, and by the look of the ball bit left in the coupling and the tow bar, it had been quite lose for some time.

Tony

Originally Posted by roverrescue

Inline with both Dougals:
"A 3.5T towball (usually have a 1 inch shank) is actually far stronger than a 16mm hitch pin with a strap around it"

I wonder about the effect of the threads. They'll reduce the effective diameter of the bolt and introduce a weak spot.

Over the past few years we've seen several videos on here where tow balls have come adrift and through windows.