Are you allowed to make own tow bar?

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YBOD

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Quick question, are you allowed to weld up and make your own tow bar in New South Wales?

As far as I understand you are allowed to DIY a rear bumper bar but are you allowed to incorporate a tow hitch receiver?

Cheers
 
Why not?
If you are a competent, trained and experienced welder following a common pattern, then there shouldn't be a problem. The crunch may come should the shite hit the aerial distribution device and it is found to be a factor.
 
You can make any type of towbar incorporated into a rear bar or stand alone, along as it is rated to handle the load and stresses.
For example, If you are involved in a towing accident and the towbar failed, then you would have wished that you just brought a towbar because the insurance companies would have a field day with you.
 
I don't see why not, you can build a trailer so why not a tow bar, I built a box trailer a while ago and all it need was a blue slip for rego, no rated test or anything like that
 
I built my own tow bar years ago for an F100 and I had to have it engineered and certified to carry xxxx weight before rego would allow it. I believe these days they all have to have a compliance plate fitted as well.
Keep in mind that this is in the ACT so not sure how it would be for others.
 
Yep, all tow bars need to be certified, without the compliance plate it wont be roadworthy. You coud try an Engineer but I imagine it wont be cost effective as I understand they need to go through a destructive test.
 
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Your correct in that the compliance plate would appear to be the engineered certification.

At rego checks I've had them inspect it and other times not in NSW.

Also what Scoopa mentioned about trailers...they arent so called engineered although the blueslip guy does give them one hell of a "check out"..there is also a RTA booklet for manufacturing home made trailers.

When I built my 6m enclosed trailer it was rated at 4 tonne..had to provide evidence of axle specs, then tyres and bearings...also there are austrailan stds for drawbars I recall and I provided the calcs for these too---but they were over his head.

I can assume rightly or wrongly that tow bars would be looked at in a similiar light ?

EnclosedTrailer001.jpg
 
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I actually had one of the welders at work ( when I was working at ADFA) do all the welding for me. As Engineers they made sure everything was done to the letter. I came back at one stage and I found my truck was hanging from the overhead crane connected via chains and scales all onto the tow bar. They tested lateral tensions and chassis flex and the list went on and on. they certainly tested the crap out of it lol
 
Mmmmmmm cheers fellas for the quick responses. Sounds like the answer is you could try but it REALLY wouldn't be worth it.

Aussie Fronteer, I love the image of your truck hanging from the ceiling.
 
I near shat myself when I walked in and the ass is 6ft in the air and the guys are all pissing themselves laughing.However being an older truck the damm thing was near bullet proof .It started as a 1976 F100 Custom with a 200cuin 6 cylinder. That then became a 302 V8 and it dragged the race car without a problem. Being the long wheel base it had a huge 8ft tray .We used to load it with 2 tonne of firewood then go play in the snow.
It met its demise when a commodore pulled out on front of me on slippery roads. I drove over the bonnet of the car and put a bend on it from the A pillar forwards so exit stage left to the commodore. The damage to the truck was it ripped off half the exhaust and pulled the diff around so much it popped out the spicer shaft. No damage to the chassis but it bent the diff by 1 degree and needed new springs. The thing that wrote it off was they couldnt find a new tub for it. I had it sold actually , well the guy put a deposit on it , but they wrote it off for 3 grand more so I gave the guy back his deposit and went car hunting
 
Your correct in that the compliance plate would appear to be the engineered certification.

At rego checks I've had them inspect it and other times not in NSW.

Also what Scoopa mentioned about trailers...they arent so called engineered although the blueslip guy does give them one hell of a "check out"..there is also a RTA booklet for manufacturing home made trailers.

When I built my 6m enclosed trailer it was rated at 4 tonne..had to provide evidence of axle specs, then tyres and bearings...also there are austrailan stds for drawbars I recall and I provided the calcs for these too---but they were over his head.

I can assume rightly or wrongly that tow bars would be looked at in a similiar light ?

EnclosedTrailer001.jpg

The weakest link on that brute would have to be the spring hangers?.

There are clear guidlines on towbar manufacturing in Victoria that details the design and testing methods and who is authorised to carry it out.

Got love how these days stress analysis is just a few clicks of a mouse.
 
I actually had one of the welders at work ( when I was working at ADFA) do all the welding for me. As Engineers they made sure everything was done to the letter. I came back at one stage and I found my truck was hanging from the overhead crane connected via chains and scales all onto the tow bar. They tested lateral tensions and chassis flex and the list went on and on. they certainly tested the crap out of it lol

When you say the it was done to the letter...you mean the welding as per AS std's or the bar was designed by an Engineer ?...if so do you know what load conditions were used ? and to to what guidelines ?


also quite often its easy to design a tow bar BUT its mounting to the chassis is the crux of the issue.
 
The weakest link on that brute would have to be the spring hangers?.

There are clear guidlines on towbar manufacturing in Victoria that details the design and testing methods and who is authorised to carry it out.

Got love how these days stress analysis is just a few clicks of a mouse.

The spring hangers were fine---it was the springs and bearings in the outback that gave me hell.

All of that system is being changed out to have fitted a dual Simplicity setup ....I have a single Simplicity system on my offroad trailer running Landcruiser IFS 5 stud 12" electric brakes.

Don't get carried away with FEA---garbage in garbage out..folks that dont understand get all carried away with pretty images that often mean SFA
 
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I have a bar fitted to my D22 now and no compliance plate.......the gooseneck does though !!!!
 
Your correct in that the compliance plate would appear to be the engineered certification.

At rego checks I've had them inspect it and other times not in NSW.

Also what Scoopa mentioned about trailers...they arent so called engineered although the blueslip guy does give them one hell of a "check out"..there is also a RTA booklet for manufacturing home made trailers.

When I built my 6m enclosed trailer it was rated at 4 tonne..had to provide evidence of axle specs, then tyres and bearings...also there are austrailan stds for drawbars I recall and I provided the calcs for these too---but they were over his head.

I can assume rightly or wrongly that tow bars would be looked at in a similiar light ?

EnclosedTrailer001.jpg
wow , looking at my enclosed trailer chassis in the making brought back a few memories of some long hours..9 yrs ago
 

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