Chassis Extended drawbar

[1756mick]

hi all,
I have a std length drawbar on my 1756.
I am going to cut it off next week and weld on a new one.
I am ditching the spare wheel frame and will put the jockey wheel to the outside, though just wondering wether it is worthwhile extending it.
I want to fit a front box to house the gas bottles and a few odds and ends, but don't want to get caught on tight corners later and jamming up on my tailights.

What has everyone found. Do I need to, and if I did how much longer is everyone going? I have 8m of duragal up my sleeve.

 

[dagree]

Hi @1756mick ... I posted a similar question when contemplating doing the same to our 2104 17.56.2OB as it has a std length bar. I fitted a 1500L x 500H x 600D box on it and it hit and cracked the plastic bumper cover doing a tight u-turn.

Replies can be seen here http://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/retrofitting-an-extended-drawbar.6059/

I would check with your local Jayco dealer, licensing dept and insurance company before doing anything. I believe it will change the ball weight etc so may need re-certification etc.

I overcame the hitting bumper issue by fitting an extended HR Hitch to the Prado which extended the distance from the Prado to the tow hitch.

The hitch has 3 holes and is setup using the middle one so still room to move if needed.
To counter the towball weight of the box and contents I fitted the spare wheel to the rear bumper with a drop down bracket and the towball weight ended up withing 5kgs higher than original.



As for length of the extension if you do it...... An extended drawbar fitted during build is normally 300mm extra!

 

[achjimmy]

I would think if you copy a 17:56 extended drawbar exactly as the way Jayco would do it you would be okay legally wise. Van repairers replace van draw bars all the time. And they usually change them to boot. I'd think that there is only every going to be an issue if something fails and someone is injured and if it's done properly there should be no risk?

 

[Matty4]

I have a box on the front of mine too.
I also moved my spare to a new rear bar.
I also only have a standard length A frame, not an extended one.
Haven't had any issues with it on tight turns, but I do know to be aware of it if I need to.

 

[Glen Bundesen]

welcome 1756mick.

I do know that the DOT (WA) do measure/record the overall length of your van when registering. So it may be a lot easier to take dagree's suggestion of the extended Reese hitch. Also hitch suggestion depends on your tug's towbar height, eg Landcruisers re a lot higher than most vehicles - as the drop down is significant.

I had a 16.59.3 with standard drawbar and a box in front and yes tight turning can be a problem, but then my Triton doesn't do tight turns!

Glen

 

[Crusty181]

@1756mick I had a 16.49.1 with the std drawbar and a 600mm full width box on the drawbar which would hit the car on tight turns if I let it, as @dagree painfully pointed out. I did set some tap markers on the front of the van to visually know when I was getting close, but I never had any issues in over 25k km travelled with it on. Were been into some annoyingly tight squeezes, and sometimes backing into a site needed 7 corrections instead of 2, but no biggie, never stopped us.

 

[1756mick]

Off with the old drawbar and the new one is on. I went with a 150x50 duragal 3mm instead of the impossible to get Chinese 124x51mm 4mm. I stuck with the standard length but as you can see the weld quality is about 50x better.
Have sealed all the welds with GAL stick, which is like silver solder. You heat the weld to about 100 degrees and rub the stick over it. It melts and then wire brush the area smooth.
I ditched the spare wheel carrier underneath which offers no structural integrity. And moved the jockey wheel to external. I already had an under body spare wheel carrier as part of the a frame which holds the spare nice and high

 

[Crusty181]

Hi @1756mick, it was a little early for me this morning. I thumbed over the forum offerings and stumbled across you first pic .... my heart sank when I initially thought it had fell off. What prompted you to replace the draw bar ... and not extend it

 

[1756mick]

Hahha. Draw bar was bent from the tow car having a head on collision.(not me bought it like that)
It needs to go to the transport dept to have a measure and I didn't want the hassle of extended drawbar legalities.