Thread: How do you read this diagram

I read that as being poorly written also.

I would interpret that as meaning the centre of the ball is to be not higher than 25mm lower than the tongue centreline. ie, don't shim the ball up or use higher rise balls on it - just use a standard 50mm ball.

It could also be describing not to use 70 or 75mm balls too.

Originally Posted by AK83

It could also be describing not to use 70 or 75mm balls too.

Yes this is what threw me.. is it just discribing that the max tow ball is 50mm..

I think Slunnie is correct ... poorly written and you need to use the standard D5 tow hitch... thats ok if the car was supplied with it but its not ... the land cruiser 200 series tow hitch is exactly the same and far easier and cheaper to source as well..

The down side for me is the towball will sit 100mm lower than it did on my D3, thats why i was wanting to fit my adjustable height set up..

Cheers Bulletman

That is not very well written, not very well drawn either as they have cut off the top of the ball in line with the horizontal reference line, making it look like the reference point is the top of the ball.
As a 'height' is generally a distance above the ground level, I would read that as meaning the centre of the ball cannot be higher above the ground than 25mm below the pin. An increased height confusingly makes dimension 2 smaller. Would have been better to say that 'dimension 2 must be at least 25mm'.

I prefer to fit a nut to hold the ball in place.

Originally Posted by Bulletman

Y

I think Slunnie is correct ... poorly written and you need to use the standard D5 tow hitch... thats ok if the car was supplied with it but its not ... the land cruiser 200 series tow hitch is exactly the same and far easier and cheaper to source as well..

FWIW,the LC200 hitch is solid,not hollow,and also braced,a very HD piece of kit.

Originally Posted by scarry

FWIW,the LC200 hitch is solid,not hollow,and also braced,a very HD piece of kit.

Yes it is a solid piece of kit, also rated to 3500kg according to the tag on it..

The only reason i wanted the adjustable unit is our off road van sits quite high and with the D3 it sat level but with the D5 its going to sit 100mm lower . Havent towed it yet with the D5 so it may not be an issue but having the option to raise the hitch hieght would have been good.. in saying that the person we bought the van off towed it with a D5 .

Cheers Bulletman

Originally Posted by Bulletman

Do you read it as the tow ball cannot be lower than that picture but higher isn't an issue... OR .. that the tow ball has to be in that exact position...

Reading the text it says maximum recommendation .. so is the minimum that the ball can sit higher..

I agree with Slunnie, that's an appalling piece of writing, but the upside is that if something went south and you ended up in court ?

The engineer in me thinks that you want to keep the line of pull within 25mm of the centre line of the hitch receiver to avoid twisting the receiver and mounting.
Which is one of the reasons you pay $50 for a recovery hitch, which has the line of pull on the centre, but is a $10 piece of steel with a hole in it.

Cheers Glen