Tow pole recommendation?

[knighty]

Anyone have a recommendation for a decent tow pole?

Something heavy duty?

Bought one a while back that was supposed to be good for 5ton but I wouldn't trust it towing a go kart :-(

Had a good one years ago but lent it out and it dissappeard :-(

Looking online it's hard to tell what's good

 

[premmington]

intertrade type

3 Tonne Tow Pole - RED - RECOVERY EQUIPMENT DIRECT

red-bhw.com

 

[Mick Annick]

intertrade type

3 Tonne Tow Pole - RED - RECOVERY EQUIPMENT DIRECT

red-bhw.com

Never had any poor quality stuff from RED

 

[NickW]

My recommendation is to never use one to tow cars with screw-in towing eyes.

 

[premmington]

Never had any poor quality stuff from RED

I not had too much stuff off them over the years - the stuff I have had has been good thou.


Both intertrade tow poles I got - are donkey years old when intertrade was still going - (they went under in 2020).


All the early AA and RAC self loading dollies were made by them.

 

[Robotstar5]

It was a weird sensation been towed in my Landy (I didn't have any brakes) by my mate in his Landy, been only a couple of metres behind just didn't seem right at speed.

 

[bricol]

My recommendation is to never use one to tow cars with screw-in towing eyes.

If you've been in the towed car, regardless of type of towing eye, as long as it remains attached to the car(s), it feels brutal!

However, on the bright side, at the right moment, you can drop the towed car into gear, dump the clutch, get it fired up and give it a bootful . . . makes the tow-er wake up as the the towing eyes are never in line . . .

 

[colnerov]

If you've been in the towed car, regardless of type of towing eye, as long as it remains attached to the car(s), it feels brutal!

However, on the bright side, at the right moment, you can drop the towed car into gear, dump the clutch, get it fired up and give it a bootful . . . makes the tow-er wake up as the the towing eyes are never in line . . .

That's another thing to watch for, keeping the bar central and in line, otherwise it can push or pull either vehicle sideways. The towed steering wheel attendant needs to pay attention.

 

[Porkypine]

I'd say fabricate one, I saw a mate who does Land Rovers the other day who's still using one I made about 20 years ago. If you make it yourself you can have it virtually indestructible

 

[fizzy]

This topic brings back some very fond memories.

1990s. Swansea - the Kingsway. Dual carriageway in the middle of Swansea thronged by nightclubs - one the biggest in Europe. Roundabout each end. Kingsway cruisers would drive up and down all night. Rather a sad bunch. I would only drive up and down a few times getting an eyeful
Anyway much younger mate of mine had a ford escort diesel with black tinted windows and a sports exhaust. He had just bought himself a fancy new towing pole which was his pride and joy. He picked me up for a spin. I hadn't been well and didn't really feel like a trip up. He decided, on this Saturday night, to cruise the Kingsway about 20 times! Halfway along we see an almost new VW Golf Cabriolet. White. 5 gorgeous girls in it. All barely dressed of course!
Mate stops to help - next thing out comes his pole

I stayed in the car - rather embarrassed at all the fuss and gathering crowd. He jumps in the car so pleased - off we go and BANG! Pole comes off his car. Digs into the kerb and goes under the front wheel of the Golf. Girls are yelling at him. I am trying to hide. You have got to help me he pleads - their car is stuck. I got out - and to this day I don't know how I did it. I lifted the front of the Golf into the air so he could pull the pole out. My incredible hulk moment. I think it was pure adrenaline to get the hell out of there.

When he gets back in the car he is all smiles. She asked for my phone number he boasts. I told him - no you pillock that is to claim off your insurance

Mate is a lot more sensible these days. in fact he is a Freeman of the City of London and very high up in the Transport sector

 

[Robotstar5]

I'd say fabricate one, I saw a mate who does Land Rovers the other day who's still using one I made about 20 years ago. If you make it yourself you can have it virtually indestructible

I did that, 2 metres of scaffold bar with big machine eye bolts welded in each end, to say it was heavy duty was an understatement.

 

[fizzy]

I did that, 2 metres of scaffold bar with big machine eye bolts welded in each end, to say it was heavy duty was an understatement.

Saw the fire brigade towing another fire engine like that!

 

[Bornfree]

I made this one year's ago.

 

[Mick Annick]

My only towing pole tale was - aged 18 and an apprentice - driving an Albion 6 wheel mixer truck from Chertsey to Camberley on the end of a six foot rigid bar being pulled another mixer. The discharge chute of the tow truck was a couple of feet from my windscreen, I couldn’t see anything else and had no power steering as my truck was dead. I did protest to my manager that I didn’t have an HGV licence but he said it doesn’t matter, it’s technically a trailer so you don’t need one. That was one scary ride.

 

[qwakers]

give this a try for a interesting evening.

 

[NickW]

If you've been in the towed car, regardless of type of towing eye, as long as it remains attached to the car(s), it feels brutal!

However, on the bright side, at the right moment, you can drop the towed car into gear, dump the clutch, get it fired up and give it a bootful . . . makes the tow-er wake up as the the towing eyes are never in line . . .

I should have been more specific:

screw-in towing eyes aren't really meant for this sort of towing. The threads are too coarse and not long enough; they're made from crap metal and the fittings on the car are made down to the same standards. They're barely enough for winching a car onto the back of a recovery truck - you can watch the eye bend while the car's panel fit changes, then you have the fun of trying to unscrew the now bent eye. That's assuming the eye didn't pull the bumper structure off the car, which I've seen a couple of times. One manufacturer we did warranty recoveries for insisted that a secondary strop around the suspension was used just in case of this. But if you're going to do that, you might as well just use the strop and save yourself the post damage paperwork. If you're daft enough to use a screw in eye on both vehicles, then you're really asking for trouble...

 

[qwakers]

tell that to both the aa and rac who have recovered me, my dad and many people i know using that eye on a pole, without bending it and with no issues.

 

[m_c]

AA and RAC will only use the screw in eyes for short distance recovery with a pole (which in their cases, is sprung to reduce the shock loading you'd get from a solid pole).
Any winching is done using a strop around the suspension, as most towing eyes aren't rated for recovery, and on older vehicles, you don't know how sound the metal around them is.

 

[qwakers]

i must have been dreaming when they towed me 60 miles on one then....

 

[bert]

I had a 70mile pole tow by the AA to save us waiting 5 hours for a flat bed.

No damage done to my car but I was absolutely knackered after that.