tow pole...

[premmington]

Anybody made up a tow pole to tow dead cars with...

Been looking at the Intertrade type as used by the AA - RAC...

But at £270 they are not cheap...

So has anybody got photos of a easy to make design...?






http://www.remmington.plus.com

 

[madkayaker]

i have used the clarke one's the one with a spring broke after some heavy breaking towing an empty escort van. The non sprung one works very well

 

[Robotstar5]

I modified something like this by changing one end to standard hitch to fit a towball.

 

[Bash_25]

Ive got a ex AA intertrade A-Frame that i use reguarly. The solo-matic that its called now.

Mine dates from the 70's and just this week i got the original webbing straps replaced
They were a bit flakey..

A better option than a pole in my opinion ,not that ive ever used a pole ,but its a one man operation and cars tow just like a trailer.

These things are so simple - you could build yourself a good one for little or nothing.
Bit of advise tho, if the A-Frame interests you ,either buy "intertrade" or build yourself and be sure of quality.

There are a couple of people selling these frames on ebay quite cheap and the quality is shocking - i have one that i found dumped in a layby ,looks like new but its bent and buckled really badly - would be good money wasted.

 

[chriskelland]

I've used this type of kit for the best part of 20 years. Intertrade is good and can be used all day every day. We did try other makes, including I think Apex. Had problems with the welds cracking.

Can I ask what you want to do? Are you recovering from a place of breakdown to a place of safety, or are you moving a vehicle from one place to another? The law looks at these as two different things, gets complicated.


Chris.

 

[weldingscotty803]

ive got some really big springs that would be ideal for a sprung version to help damper pulling etc.
a couple of gypo's i know used a scaffol;d pole with some 20mm bar on the ends bent over as rings then used some shackles to fasten to cars vans and the range rover with locked brakes that i stripped out. gid me 100 quid for it lol

 

[109party]

i made one a while back was a long peice of box with a tow hitch bolted one end and a ring welded the other with a shackle on easy as to make and it happily tows minibuses and land rovers

 

[Bobtail4x4]

I have a scaffold pole with a tow hitch one one end,
the other end has holes at 90 degrees to give an option of horizontal or vertical holes to fit a shackle to.

 

[weldingscotty803]

are they actually legal then these home made jobbies?

 

[Robotstar5]

are they actually legal then these home made jobbies?

Good question, I have modified a commercial one and over engineered the mod in my opinion - but who is going to check?

 

[chriskelland]

(are they actually legal then these home made jobbies? )

They are supposed to be plated, you know bl***y eu and all that. As for checking, I'd like a quid for every time I got stopped in Thames Valley and Hampshire, mind you yellow van and beacons asking for trouble.

Chris.

 

[weldingscotty803]

ok. might be worth risking then lol

 

[109party]

what u mean risking i was thanked a few weeks ago by the police for doing something complelt illegal

 

[weldingscotty803]

why thanked?

 

[Bobtail4x4]

Dunno
but I would back my home made one against any of the cheap halfrauds ones anyday.

 

[premmington]

I bought an intertrade one with all the adapters in the end...






http://www.remmington.plus.com

 

[white van man 2]

I have a scaffold pole with a tow hitch one one end,
the other end has holes at 90 degrees to give an option of horizontal or vertical holes to fit a shackle to.

that's very similay to what i used to have. 8' scaf pole with 2 plates welded on one end with a hole to drop a pin thru, secured with an R clip. the other end had a standard 50mm hitch that could be bolted on in 2 positions, depending on the orientation of the towing eye. don't use it anymore though

are they actually legal then these home made jobbies?

not even slightly. they're a trailer of more than 750kg gross, and don't have brakes.

flatbed every time

 

[pedrobedro]

We used a 40mm x3mm wall square tube to tow an XJ6. Tow hitch bolted on one end and a piece of chain and D link bolted on the other. Wrap the chain round where you can and put the D link through to make the loop and it worked fine

 

[john224]

tow pole

If you are towing on the motor way you CAN only use an A frame or a solid tow pole ,, These two items arew leagle YOU can be fined and get points on your liesence if using a tow rope/ or wire !!!!
I use a piece of scafold ( 2 pieces 4ft long with sleave joint in middle tow hitch one end and ether tow hitch or piece of chain on other end used this to remove 7.5 ton truck of moter way,,,,,Never been bothered by the police in 10 years

 

[Bsmith]

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I have a scaffold pole with a tow hitch one one end,
the other end has holes at 90 degrees to give an option of horizontal or vertical holes to fit a shackle to.



Same as mine, about 8 feet long.