Toyota Towbar Failure

[leachy_9 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close leachy_9]

here is the link to a thread on Exploroz detailing the failure of a genuine Toyota towbar on a Prado.
http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/....aspx%3fpn%3d1
It send shivers up my spine to imagine the damage if similar failure were to occur on the highway.
I will be interesting to see what develops of this.

Leachy

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

Warrany will be denied as they were not using the Toyota hitch. It specifically calls this out in the owners manual.

[QUICKY Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close QUICKY]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

I have had a very similar experience with my Toyota bar. I use a toyota bar with a Hayman Reese Weight Distribution Hitch and on a trip up north a coulpe of years ago we cracked the cast section of the bar enough to render it unusably.At the time I put it down to to much twist when traveling side ways across an incline ( went of with a big bang ) but on closer inspection it appears it had had a small crack in it for some time looking at the rust in the old crack compared to the section i had just openend up . Luckily Kempsey Toyota had one in stock and we spent another day in Cresent Heads and on our way the next day

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

It looks like it's a cast item with the Tojo logo cast onto it.

Glad mine is non-genuine - but fitted by the dealer.

[Prado BB Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Prado BB]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

here is the link to a thread on Exploroz detailing the failure of a genuine Toyota towbar on a Prado.
http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/....aspx%3fpn%3d1
It send shivers up my spine to imagine the damage if imilar failure were to occur on the highway.
I will be interesting to see what develops of this.

Leachy

Thanks for the heads-up leachy. Guess what set-up I have............bloody hell, now I have rethink the set-up or change bars :x :x :x :x :x :x

[Bankrupt Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bankrupt]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

[quote=Prado BB]

here is the link to a thread on Exploroz detailing the failure of a genuine Toyota towbar on a Prado.
http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/....aspx%3fpn%3d1
It send shivers up my spine to imagine the damage if imilar failure were to occur on the highway.
I will be interesting to see what develops of this.

Leachy

Thanks for the heads-up leachy. Guess what set-up I have............bloody hell, now I have rethink the set-up or change bars :x :x :x :x :x :x

[/quote:2xd0bf6j]

Gees what's the purpose of such a long tongue? The extra leverage stress this would cause would be my concern...I suggest shortening it back to the Toyota length.

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

Gees what's the purpose of such a long tongue? The extra leverage stress this would cause would be my concern...I suggest shortening it back to the Toyota length.

Could be to give clearance when opening the rear door

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

If you are using such a long tongue, your towball weight has to be derated due to the longer moment arm.

Seeing that the weakest point of the hitch is where the sloping part meets the horizontal part, you can use that as the datum and measure the distance to the Toyota towball and compare with the distance to the HR towball.

As a guide:
New towball weight = 250kg x distance to Toyota towball / distance to HR towball

[Wil Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Wil]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

Holy Snappin Duck Poo!

I have been using one of those recovery points that slide into the tow hitch as my means of snatching the car out backwards. Its pretty heavy, and if you add a couple of kilo's of tow hitch to it you have one hell of deadly projectile if the hitch breaks like that half way through a snatch recovery!

I might need to re-think my snatching strategy as this failure does not appear to be a one off.

Will

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

Wil you raise a very good point with respect to recoveries and the towbar turning into a missile. You certainly don't want to end up in this situation http://www.themercury.com.au/article/20 ... -news.html

My understanding is there are way more forces involved in a snatch recovery compared to towing however the angle is completely different. Towing especially with a Hayman Reese drop down load levelling hitch creates perpendicular force in a pendulum arc every time the vehicle moves. A snatch typically is a parallel force therefore pulling against the threads on the bolts. Therefore the towing situation would fatigue the hitch faster than a snatch. Either way every situation is dangerous and care needs to be applied.

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

As a precaution, each object that has a potential to become a projectile when it snaps off needs to have a secondary strap to tie it back to the vehicle it is attached to. It seems a set of Maxtrax is the safer option.

[dereki Member Find all posts View Profile Close dereki]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

As a precaution, each object that has a potential to become a projectile when it snaps off needs to have a secondary strap to tie it back to the vehicle it is attached to. It seems a set of Maxtrax is the safer option.

Maxtrax are the go. Less stress on everything.

But if you need to snatch, apparently these things are required for competitions. Might be a good idea to use all the time, at < $40.
http://www.arb.com.au/products/arb-reco ... ry-damper/

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

As a precaution, each object that has a potential to become a projectile when it snaps off needs to have a secondary strap to tie it back to the vehicle it is attached to. It seems a set of Maxtrax is the safer option.

Maxtrax are the go. Less stress on everything.

But if you need to snatch, apparently these things are required for competitions. Might be a good idea to use all the time, at < $40.
http://www.arb.com.au/products/arb-reco ... ry-damper/

I've just been doing some training recently through my 4WD club and what they are preaching is the use of a drag chain as a dumper that is located about a third of the length of the snatch strap from each end and is long enough that when the snatch strap is pulled tight that the chain will still be loose. They also showed several demonstration videos comparing no damper, a tarp connected in various ways and finally a chain and the chain was very effective is reducing movement of the strap should the recovery effort fail due to some sort of mechanical breakage (eg strap or something else).

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

It makes me want to go out and buy a set of Maxtrax. Hmm will $295 buy me a new Toyota towbar; unbend chassis rails; replace a shattered windscreen; undo brain damage; bring someone back to life?

[OldGreyGuy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close OldGreyGuy]

Re: Toyota Towbar Failure

It makes me want to go out and buy a set of Maxtrax. Hmm will $295 buy me a new Toyota towbar; unbend chassis rails; replace a shattered windscreen; undo brain damage; bring someone back to life?

Agreed, I still have a Recovery Strap, Hitches and Shackles and a bag that can be used as a dampener, but I would prefer to use the Maxtrax