Topic: Tow bar questions

[germ]

So, here is my dilema.

I want to put a removeable tow-bar on the truck, but with Marlin's bumper, there is too much "stuff" in the way, and I'd have to do some fancy fabricating to get it to work. So, I was thinking I would use the reciever that's mounted on the bumper, and make a "T" out, and attach the tow-bar to it. I'm concerned however that the angle of the reciever may not be strong enough to handle it. So, here is a mock up of what I'm thinking, but want to know what everyone thinks. Am I asking for trouble with this set up?

[germ [OP]]

Here is another view of the mock up. Question I have is will this work, or am I just asking for disaster?

[*** YELLER ***]

Only disaster I see is you driving  and I have nothing of any use to add....... 

[BLACKDOG]

Looks sketchy to me.  With a little more thought it may work, mabye bring the "T" closer to the bumper, and come up with something to connect to the bumper tubing.   One on each side, creating 3 points of attachment. 

[germ [OP]]

Dave...I appreciate your insight!

Jason,
I plan on putting bracing on it to triangulate it off the reciever tube, give it some strength. The thing I'm concerned about however is as I turn, is it going to put too much strain on the reciever slot, and cause a failure?

Thanks for the insight

[*** YELLER ***]

If you can tow with a reciever why can you be towed by one if built right

[junya92toy]

Weld on a couple of shackle mounts and build a bar off that.

[germ [OP]]

Problem is not enough room to put the brackets on. I already have a shackle mount, dead center. If I had to do it over again, I might have re-thought the location, but it's there, and it aint going anywhere.

If you can tow with a reciever why can you be towed by one  if built right

I agree. There is just some hesitation on my part to trust that it will handle the angled forces when turning. I'm prolly overthinking it. Just don't want to see the $Runner sliding past me as I'm going down the street, without somebody in it.

Erik

[BLACKDOG]

If you can tow with a reciever why can you be towed by one if built right

I may be over thinking it, but here's my reasoning. 

With a tow vehicle, yes, you've got the single point of contact, terminating at the pivot point, which is the hitch.  From the pivot point back to the trailer, the load is almost immediately triangulated outward, to the edges of the trailer (very general I know)  On heavy trailers, you rarely (or never) see a very long tongue.  Without having a steering mechanism on the trailer, the extra force put on the tongue by turning necessitates the triangulation. 

Erik, I was thinking rather than triangulate to the hitch, perhaps go farther out the bumper, or at least directly back from the T bar?  Without using pictures, I'm just thinking of creating a more solid mount from the truck.  Basically if you were to look at the mount from the top, it would look like a 3 rung ladder, with the receiver being the middle rung, and the two outter rungs being the additional bracing. 

[SFD4x4]

Yeah I would build it based off the hitch, but with two supports coming off of each side of it.  I wish I had a picture of the one I built.  But it is basically the same as your ladder idea if I am following it right.  I connected my two side supports with hitch pins. That way I could have the entire setup on and off in less then a minute.  I have towed my truck from CA to UT multiple times without any problems.