Remove your hitch when not towing?

[Pete79]

I tried to get one out of a partially burnt out hilux in the bush once, damn thing was stuck solid. Wonder how many won't ever be coming out again?

I recon there's tons rusted solid in the receiver.

My brother came wheeling with us once in his Colorado, his highway tyres slipped into a muddy rut and got stuck on his front arms.
Just needed a gentle pull back a meter so he could get back on the right line, but his hitch was never coming out. There was no force required so I made the call that it was safe to strap onto the main bar, but if he was really stuck it could have been an interesting recovery.

And the second hand towbar that I bought for my MN triton was rusted solid. It took 2 days of soaking it in WD40 and absolutely belting the crap out of it with my big f....off hammer before it budged. There was no chance of getting that hitch out on the tracks.

[Julian Kaye]

I recon there's tons rusted solid in the receiver.

My brother came wheeling with us once in his Colorado, his highway tyres slipped into a muddy rut and got stuck on his front arms.
Just needed a gentle pull back a meter so he could get back on the right line, but his hitch was never coming out. There was no force required so I made the call that it was safe to strap onto the main bar, but if he was really stuck it could have been an interesting recovery.

And the second hand towbar that I bought for my MN triton was rusted solid. It took 2 days of soaking it in WD40 and absolutely belting the crap out of it with my big f....off hammer before it budged. There was no chance of getting that hitch out on the tracks.

   Did you read the topic about the man being killed while snatching a mate's car at Yeppoon?

[Pete79]

   Did you read the topic about the man being killed while snatching a mate's car at Yeppoon?

Yes I did.
Just to be clear here, by "safe to strap around the main bar" I mean wrapping the TOW strap around the main cross bar that goes between the chassis rails and makes the body of the tow bar. Not the tow ball.

But seriously we could have easily pushed my brothers car out of the rut if we wanted to get our feet muddy, I'd hardly even call it a recovery.....
And it was a looooooong way away from snatching at full noise with a length of the strap run up like everyone loves to do these days.

Anyways, everyone can do want they want with their hitch.
Leave it in, leave it out, I couldn't care less.
My point was, if you leave it in make sure you slip it out every now and then to make sure it's not rusted solid in there.
You never know when you might need to connect a strap to your receiver, even if you are just a highway cruiser (like my brother) one day you might slip into a rut and need a hand to get out.

[Julian Kaye]

Yes I did.
Just to be clear here, by "safe to strap around the main bar" I mean wrapping the TOW strap around the main cross bar that goes between the chassis rails and makes the body of the tow bar. Not the tow ball.

But seriously we could have easily pushed my brothers car out of the rut if we wanted to get our feet muddy, I'd hardly even call it a recovery.....
And it was a looooooong way away from snatching at full noise with a length of the strap run up like everyone loves to do these days.

Anyways, everyone can do want they want with their hitch.
Leave it in, leave it out, I couldn't care less.
My point was, if you leave it in make sure you slip it out every now and then to make sure it's not rusted solid in there.
You never know when you might need to connect a strap to your receiver, even if you are just a highway cruiser (like my brother) one day you might slip into a rut and need a hand to get out.

    Fair enough, I thought that's what you meant, I was being a bit cheeky.

[Pete79]

    Fair enough, I thought that's what you meant, I was being a bit cheeky.

All good mate.
Sadly humor tends gets a bit lost in any 4wd recovery discussion. The default positions are always Attack or Defense these days.

[alnjan]

why does it "just make sense"?...mine is used regularly and doesn't protrude past the ladder or rubbish bag on the back of my canopy, so it "just makes sense" to me that I leave it on.

My reasons make sense to me and your reasons make sense to you.  There fore neither is wrong and neither is right but what we want to do 

[NewieCamper]

All good mate.
Sadly humor tends gets a bit lost in any 4wd recovery discussion. The default positions are always Attack or Defense these days.

And not just about 4wd recovery either, pretty much everything.

The hitch stuck in the second hand towbar on my navara was stuck solid, tried Soaking it in wd40, smashing it with a hammer, using a fence puller connected to the house (with damper on the cable), driving around without the pin in (but a cable tie safety strap) even tried moving the trailer around the yard. In the end I was lucky the towbar was subject to recall, so I got a brand new one from Nissan!

[ATC]

And not just about 4wd recovery either, pretty much everything.

The hitch stuck in the second hand towbar on my navara was stuck solid, tried Soaking it in wd40, smashing it with a hammer, using a fence puller connected to the house (with damper on the cable), driving around without the pin in (but a cable tie safety strap) even tried moving the trailer around the yard. In the end I was lucky the towbar was subject to recall, so I got a brand new one from Nissan!

Score

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