Topic: Message #909992

[79coyotefrg]

Simply telling me to shut-up doesn't bestow upon me or any other member on this board the wealth of knowledge regarding tow bar/trailer tongue design and function that you must have, and is a reply more suited for Pirate than this Marlin, or is Pirate something this forum is striving to become.  So Omnipotent one, since you claim to have all the answers, please explain what was wrong with the advice I have given? 

If you read my post I stated the best place to attach a tow bar would be where the the bumper tabs attached to the frame in the first picture.  There is nothing wrong with this point,  A buddy flat towed his rig from that same point through mountain passes and winding roads for several years, all w/o issue.  No bending of the bars, no issue with the flat towed vehicle drifting either, even on windy passes or winding mountains at highway speed. 

YEA for your friend.  was his tow bar "custom made" or rented?

If you are referring to the single bar idea, JRock asked how it could be done using a single tow bar rather than a triangulated one.  My response was that it might be doable seeing how a "T" tongue is used on trailers that don't have a lot of tongue weight.  However I stated it would have to be something that would need to be looked into, since I was unsure of what type of lateral forces might be applied to a single bar, what size the bar would have to be to counter those lateral forces, and tht it all depended on if that section under the bumper was in fact designed to be a drop hitch receiver.  If it is strong enough to be used as a recovery point, it should be strong enough to flat tow the truck from.

NO I went back and reread his post and yours and he did NOT ask if he could use a single bar. he asked "and how would I do that" after you shared your idea.

As to the need of the tow bar to pivot up and down, is there any reason for it to do so other than being able to lower it onto the tow vehicle?

um no, not if both vehicles have the exact same suspension and there are no curbs, dips potholes, or anything other than a PERFECTLY flat plain to be driven on.  since we KNOW that isnt going to happen then the tow hitch MUST pivot up and down at the towed vehicles front end and pivot on the towing vehicles ball hitch so that when pulling into a gas station or your favorite fast food place the solid bar hitch would either lift the drive tires off the ground or lift the front tires of the towed truck off the ground.
 

Does it need to move any more than the 45* of travel that a standard ball and hitch have in order for the flat tow to work, if the bar is at the same level as the ball on the tow vehicle? 

nope, thats all the movement it needs

Would it not be similar to a tandem axle trailer, or does a tandem axle trailer pivot enough at the wheels to not need a tongue with vertical pivots in order to cycle its suspension? 

no, the tandem trailer is very close to one another and the suspension allows the axles to almost float under the trailer.   try raising the tongue of a tandem trailer and see how far you have to lift it to get the front axle off the ground or how low it must go to raise the rear tires off the ground.

These were questions I was asking, something you didn't bother taking the time to answer, if you actually do know the answers.

If my advice is indeed worthless, yours isn't any better, you gave no practical reason as to why you feel moving the ends as far as possible out on a vehicle would be benefitial, other than that your friend's had his fold up.  You didn't even bother to explain how the bars folded up, or why moving them 2" out on each side would have prevented them from folding up under the same conditions?

leverage