Can a ball hitch be converted to a pin hitch for towing?

[JoceAndChris]

Does anyone know about this? Will I have to hire a 4x4 with a pin hitch for towing?

The situation is we urgently need to hire a bowser to go and get some water as we've run out. Again. But all the local bowsers appear to have pin hitches.

Any advice much appreciated as ever.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, just had a very technical conversation at Halfords, apparently not. Stupid silly cars why can't they be sensible and open to alteration, like curtains.

Looks like we might have to hire a car with a pin hitch tow thingy.

 

[Bayliss]

I have such a thing that I use when towing my vintage caravan. Whereabouts are you.
Ah I see from your profile its Lincolnshire, probably to far away. Why not have a chat with your friendly farmer he will be able to help I would have thought.

 

[Flyfisher]

Joce, you should be able to remove the ball hitch from your tow bar and replace it with a pin hitch. You can also buy a combination hitch like these ones: http://mgjuddltd.co.uk/tow_hitches.php

It's an easy DIY job, but you do need to use the correctly-rated bolts. Any place selling a combination hitch will also sell the correct bolts.

I've got this one for my tractor, which used to be on my 4x4. The towing pin slots into the two holes through the trailer eye. I don't understand Halfords' advice - probably it's just that they don't sell pin hitches. You need to find a local towing/camping/caravan shop. Might be worth calling this place: http://www.granthamcaravans.co.uk/

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Joce - you want one of these - very easy to fit depending upon your existing towbar:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ball-and-Pin-Tow-Hitch-/280852069063?pt=UK_Car_Accessories_Touring_Travel&hash=item4164167ac7

 

[Feltwell]

Joce - all the above is correct, but you can only fit those if you've got "flange fitting" towbar at the moment. This means that just behind your current towball, it should be attached to the rest of the towbar by 2 large and obvious bolts - i.e. it looks like this:-



If you've one of those then you're fine, it can be replaced by a combined ball and pin hitch as others have described above.

However, if you have a "swan neck" type towbar - as per the picture below (smutty comments are allowed!) - then you can't fit a pin hitch.



Check that whatever bowser you're hiring is for road use, some with pins won't be and are only intended for use on building sites. Also bear in mind that if you're stopped pulling a full 1000ltr bowser with your little 4X4, expect an invite to the local magistrates court!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Also bear in mind that if you're stopped pulling a full 1000ltr bowser with your little 4X4, expect an invite to the local magistrates court!

To be honest, your summons is likely to arrive quite some time before you actually come to a stop! :lol:

 

[eezageeza]

Cripes! Run out of water? How come? Do you have a private supply that's dried up?

 

[d49xc]

Well,
Weight of water will be 1000 Kg
Unladen wt of trailer will be in the region of 400kg I'd guess for something sufficently rigid/sturdy to carry 1 ton.
so with a total all up wt of 1400kg that would be too heavy for my car with a max limit of 1300Kg though I recall somewhere that the inexperienced are not advised to tow more than 85% of the max: needs more care when half empty as you will get a slosh effect of the water swilling back/fro.

So yes, you do need to carefully check the trailer's all up gross laden weight and your proposed tow vehicle's max tow limits

 

[JoceAndChris]

We did a few trips last summer with the Suzuki, the 1100 litre bowser and trailer, it was fine. Maybe not particularly safe or legal but we got away with it and had water! ( yes, we're on a private supply - 2 sources - the rain and the well, both of which are finished. Even with fetching water to fill up our rainwater tank we won't be able to use our dishwasher or washing machine which is plumbed into the well. You can't fill up a well. )

Thanks so much for all the helpful posts about the towbar, I've read all this out to Chris and he's going to have a proper look at it. The mechanic at Halford's ( he popped over from Nationwide Autocentre, which is next door) may not have had much experience in this area. It may be that we can't convert ours, in which case we could look at converting my Dad's, which a much more powerful car anyway. Only thing is Dad is a bit, well, senior, I try not to give him tasks that might perplex him or be too much for him these days.

Thanks for all the help anyway. How complicated the world of towing is!

 

[Feltwell]

If it's any help Joce, you don't have to have a 4 wheel drive to pull a bowser safely and legally. It's the weight of the towing car that is the main factor, not the power of the engine or if it's 4 wheel drive or not. Whilst your dad's 4x4 would be perfect (I seem to remember you said he had a long wheelbase Shogun/Pajero?) if you've got any friends with a people carrier, large van or even some large estate cars would do the job. My people carrier is heavy enough to legally & safely tow a bowser.

If traction to get it up the track to your house is a problem you could always just use your little Suzuki 4x4 for that.

 

[eezageeza]

Will you dig the well deeper, or instll a borehole...or just wait for rain and the for the well to recover??

(We are also "off mains" - the nearest main is 1000 mts away from our house, and we are getting just a little concerned for how much water there is in our borehole....)

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks Feltwell! I don't really know anyone well enough to ask for their car - in fatc - not sure I'd ever want to borrow something so valuable. Cars, tools, not sure they ought to be shared really. Interesting though!

Eezageezer - do you know how deep the borehole is? You sort of think the deeper the better but of course it doesn't work like that at all. It's all about the layers of rock and what's going on in them.

We're about to instruct BGS for the initial survey for borehole drilling. I really hope a borehole can sort us out. We're about the same distance from mains as yourself. Annoyingly, part of the condition of us buying Beacon Cottage was that it would come with mains water. We held back 6k for the previous owner to do it. He dug a trench and laid the correct pipework and then said "There you go, all you have to do is pay for connection". So we handed over the 6k and he went happily to the South of France. But connection is pretty impossible, Anglian water said that we'd need a pumping station built on land that isn't ours and then the road digging up. On top of that you'd then pay around £1000 (?) every year for mains water - so it just doesn't seem an avenue worth going down. We do feel pretty stupid though for giving over that 6k - but not for buying the house, which is very very pretty and more than makes up for lack of water in our opinion.

 

[Flyfisher]

While we're on the subject of towing, does anyone here understand the trailer laws in detail?

I understand that all cars have a max towing capacity, as defined in their handbooks, and that it is illegal to tow a trailer with a gross weight that exceeds this rating. Fair enough.

But I've recently been told that it is illegal to tow a trailer with a max rating that exceeds the towing vehicle's max rating regardless of the actual laden weight of the trailer. Thus, my car is rated at 1800kg but I've been told that it would be illegal for me to tow a trailer with a 3500kg rating even if it was only loaded to a gross weight of, say, 1500kg. The person concerned even told me that he knows someone who was 'done' for towing an empty 3500kg rated trailer because it was rated more than the car's towing capacity.

I find this all very hard to believe, but I've been unable to find a definitive statement from an authoritative source to disprove it.

Any comments or suggestions?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

FF - try these:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/CaravansTrailersCommercialVehicles/index.htm
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/CaravansTrailersCommercialVehicles/DG_4022564
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/CaravansTrailersCommercialVehicles/DG_10013073
http://www.ntta.co.uk/law/

 

[Feltwell]

I really have no idea why anyone would be confused about the laws around trailers and towing. I mean, take for instance the passage below - anyone who has passed their car test since 1 Jan 1997 has to take an additional test in order to be allowed to tow a trailer. I think the Plain English campaign must have endorsed this one, which is taken straight from the DirectGov website

Upgrading entitlement for trailers

In general, an additional driving test is required for each category or subcategory of entitlement. But there are certain exceptions to this where drivers have already passed one test which involves trailer entitlement for a larger or equivalent sized vehicle.

This means that passing a test for subcategory C1+E or D1+E upgrades category B entitlement to B+E. A test pass for subcategory C1+E upgrades subcategory D1, if held, to D1+E. But a test pass for subcategory D1+E does not upgrade subcategory C1 to C1+E because the trailer size required for a subcategory D1+E test is smaller than that required for a subcategory C1+E test.

Passing a test for category C+E upgrades category B entitlement to B+E and also confers entitlement to subcategory C1 and C1+E and, if category D or subcategory D1 is held, these are upgraded to category D+E or subcategory D1+E. A test passed for category D+E upgrades category B and subcategory D1 to category B+E and subcategory D1+E respectively. But it does not upgrade category C or subcategory C1 entitlements because the trailer size required for a category D+E test is smaller than that required for a category C+E or subcategory C1+E test.

There - that's clear then, isn't it! :roll:

 

[LadyArowana]

Clearly what is needed is a much more traditional approach to the problem. A couple of fine horses and a trailer full of lovely barrels, if German horses can pull a wagon full of beer I'm sure some British steeds could cope with a bit of water. There is the matter of where Joce might find a pair of lederhosen, but I bet the internet can supply.......

 

[Feltwell]

Being serious again for a moment - If anyone is changing their address on their licence, or is having to renew their licence either because they've reached 70 or are re-applying because they've had to surrender their licence (i.e. medical reasons or they've been a naughty boy/girl and have served a ban), check very carefully what entitlements are on your new licence.

Apparently, your entitlement to tow trailers and drive vehicles over 3500kg but less than 7500kg is removed unless you ask to retain it. To quote the DirectGov website:-

All drivers who passed a car test before 1 January 1997 retain their existing entitlement to tow trailers until their licence expires.

As everyone's licence expires when they reach 70, I wonder how many older caravanners are now unwittingly driving around illegally, despite having been towing trailers for years.

My father updated his licence when he moved house not long ago, when it came back he found that they had removed his motorcycle entitlement as well as the entitlement to drive up to 7.5 tonnes. He spotted it and complained and it was corrected.

 

[d49xc]

Sadly I can indeed understand why it might be illegal to tow a trailer with a higher max rated capacity than the car's tow rating.

In an industrial environment loads to be added to a trailer would have their weight listed so the driver would have a pretty accurate knowledge of the overall weight on the trailer - so in general there would be no problem.
However outside such a controlled situation, who knows what sort of loads could be added to a 3.5tonne trailer without any check being made of what their weigh. So it is much more likely that the vehicle's tow rating could be exceeded - particularly when the rated capacity of the trailer far exceeds the rated capacity of the tow vehicle.

The nearest equivalent I can think of is where a car maufacturer specifies that the tyre fitted shall be of a certain speed rating. It would be illegal to fit tyres of a lesser speed rating regardless of the fact the speed limit in the UK is 70 so you will never get anywhere near the speed rating of the lower rated tyre. However if you go somewhere that has higher national speed limits then you might. There will be those who are perfectly aware of this and could quite safetly use the car in the UK on the lower speed rating in the full knowledge that IF they take it elsewhere the tyres would not be suitable. However this issue would be lost on the majority of the population some of whom might indeed one day hammer along the autobahns's on their lower rated speed tyres.
So the solution is to overspecify the trye rating and make it illegal to use a lower rated one regardless of the max speed in the UK.

 

[eezageeza]

Joceandchris - our borehole is 60 ft deep, but you're right, the depth is entirely dictated by the underlying geology. Ours goes into sandstone - yours presumably would go into chalk?? We are reassured that it hasn't failed in 50 odd years (because we know all the previous residents of our house during that period) but also know from the environment agency website(a very interesting read if you haven't found it already) that groundwater levels are already below those during the '76 drought!

We have a man coming next week to do a health check on the borehole, and hopefully give us some reassurance!