Who tows with a std towbar?

[Sigma]

7 minutes ago, Fab1 said:

I did some research and on the caravan forums they reckon they use multiple layers of shopping bags on the ball then drop the coupling on.(yet to try) but your idea sounds good too.

That could be true with shopping bags but I think they would wear out after every trip. With tubes from tyres (especially truck tube as they are a good thickness), you would have it on for a very long time....just a thought.

I think you would only need to cover the top of the ball.

It made me think when you said that you tightened the screw and you couldn't get the hitch off and as soon as you loosened it, it rattled again. By using rubber, it should give you the cushioning against the noise. 

Edited January 11, 2018 by Sigma

[Fab1]

2 minutes ago, Sigma said:

That could be true with shopping bags but I think they would wear out after every trip. With tubes from tyres (especially truck tube as they are a good thickness), you would have it on for a very long time....just a thought.

I think you would only need to cover the top of the ball.

I've got some I'm the shed and will give it a go.

[Sigma]

3 minutes ago, Fab1 said:

I've got some I'm the shed and will give it a go.

Let us know if it works....

[Fab1]

3 minutes ago, Sigma said:

Let us know if it works....

I will.When I'm free on the weekend I'll try to do it and try it out.

[Sigma]

1 minute ago, Fab1 said:

I will.When I'm free on the weekend I'll try to do it and try it out.

On the weekend? And here I was picturing you in the shed at 11pm, looking for a tube.....hahaha.

Just joking.....I know how much you like fixing things. 

[Fab1]

9 minutes ago, Sigma said:

On the weekend? And here I was picturing you in the shed at 11pm, looking for a tube.....hahaha.

Just joking.....I know how much you like fixing things. 

I was just in the shed before here rebuilding a carburretor for my Father in-laws line trimmer actually.$6.95 and 15min of my time beats $80 considering he's a pensioner any day.And ready to install.

[Great_White]

Might sound strange ( no puns here ),  I noticed your spare tyre up on the hitch post ... that is not bouncing / loose is it ???

Have you thought of trying to actually see if the coupling and ball are BOTH actually Metric ???

Sounds weird (again no pun on the noise ) but depending where manufactured, could be the difference ?

Have you contacted the Trailer Maker at all ? , to see if this might have been an Issue ??

All food for thought 

Great_White

 

[antonywardle]

That sounds like my idea about the old rag ;-)

[Fab1]

1 hour ago, Great_White said:

Might sound strange ( no puns here ),  I noticed your spare tyre up on the hitch post ... that is not bouncing / loose is it ???

Have you thought of trying to actually see if the coupling and ball are BOTH actually Metric ???

Sounds weird (again no pun on the noise ) but depending where manufactured, could be the difference ?

Have you contacted the Trailer Maker at all ? , to see if this might have been an Issue ??

All food for thought 

Great_White

 

The spare tyre is solid.

Both coupling and ball are 50mm metric.

They are probably all manufactured overseas I am assuming.

Have not contacted manufacturer because I already now what they'll say.

Thanks for your ideas mate.

[noelm]

Just for fun, connect the trailer, then adjust the bolt right down to see if the noise stops (of course you will have to turn it back out again to unhook it) but it might just be interesting as a test before putting bags and rag and stuff on the ball.

[noelm]

Sorry, didn't see the post above.

[Fab1]

No,still bangs. Just say something annoying to the mrs at the begining of each trip so her going off drowns out the noise until we get to the ramp.

[mrsswordfisherman]

22 minutes ago, Fab1 said:

No,still bangs. Just say something annoying to the mrs at the begining of each trip so her going off drowns out the noise until we get to the ramp.

Not a smart move that one Fabian 😎

[jeffb5.8]

Take a set of Calipers and measure a few tow balls to make sure yours wasn’t made on a Friday and is a mm or 2 smaller than everyone else’s.

Insert ball jokes here

[Fab1]

28 minutes ago, jeffb5.8 said:

Take a set of Calipers and measure a few tow balls to make sure yours wasn’t made on a Friday and is a mm or 2 smaller than everyone else’s.

Insert ball jokes here

Mine are too dirty for public forums mate.The jokes not balls.

[Rebel]

Fabi,

Ring Colin at Bars N Racks Hornsby. He is the GURU when it comes to Towbars etc etc. He fixed my problem, when nobody else could.

Cheers.

[rickmarlin62]

sounds to me like you don't have enough weight on the ball

[Fab1]

4 hours ago, Mmg said:

Your wheels on the trailer look a bit too far foward

She's on Max ball weight rating for car mate.Can't go anymore "Legaly".

[JonD]

If you have a GoPro mount it facing where you think the noises are coming from to make sure you are trying to fix the right issue.

[Nolongeramember]

2 hours ago, JonD said:

If you have a GoPro mount it facing where you think the noises are coming from to make sure you are trying to fix the right issue.

If it is the in fact the tow hitch making the sound, he should be able to lift it by hand and replicate the loose noise on a light trailer like that.

I’m guessing the hitch and the tow ball are not perfectly matched to each other in size/ shape. 

[jeffb5.8]

Trailer parts on sale at Supercheap this weekend and new $10 tow ball might be worth the expense.

[zmk1962]

Hey @Fab1... I've been thinking about your conundrum because like you "I'm a stubborn B*ST*RD" when it comes to solving mechanical things.....my rig is a lot heavier but I only hear a clunk (tow ball hitch moving in the tow bar assembly) when there is a major shift in weight eg. heavy braking, a sharp turn etc. otherwise it all settles to give a quiet tow.

So here are a few thoughts that may help isolate the problem before you start spending cash:

1. Can you get someone else with a 50mm towball to tow the boat/trailer around the block.  This will isolate the Kia (towball/towbar hitch) out of the equation. 

2. If the noise is still there then you most of the way to concluding the cause is the boat/trailer...  you've already double checked the towball weight, so I suspect something may be causing vibration.

     2a. Are the wheels balanced? Sometimes on trailers they don't do that, my box trailer rattled like sh*t until I had the tires balanced.

    2b. Can you run a simple rope test to check that the axle is mounted square to the trailer and equidistant on each side from the towball. (Run rope from centre of towball hitch to centre of LH wheel hub - this should be the same length as centre of towball hitch to centre of RH wheel hub). If they are even slightly out, the tyres would not be running on the true round face. If you have done a few thousand kilometers you may also be able to see uneven wear on the tyres (ie the inside and outer edges wear differently on the same tyre).

    2c. Apologies, I can't remember all the previous posts but is the noise present at all speeds (say up to 50km/h or just at highway speeds)?  If it's just at highway speeds - looking at the picture you posted previously you rig doesn't appear to be very heavy at all. If slipstream over the Kia is getting under the bow I would not be surprised if it's lifting the bow and hence significantly reducing your downward tow ball weight to the point that the the trailer is acting stern heavy, floating and clunking around on the tow ball. So you may actually benefit from having greater than recommended towball weight.

    2d. Or as you have said the trailer tow ball coupling is oversized (>50mm) so you're looking at changing it to fix the issue.

Anyway, I guess I am encouraging some diagnostic testing to isolate the problem.

I have a 50mm towball kit on my Landcruiser and as I said, I can vouch that its a quiet tow whether I tow my boat, or my 6x4 box trailer, or a couple of other trailers I have towed. So if I was to trial tow your rig,  I know we can pretty well eliminate my towball/tow hitch as a contributor - only problem is I am in Castle Hill not Campbell Town way. Maybe another raider is closer and can work with your schedule or you tow your rig to my place and we test before/after your work commitments.

Cheers 

Zoran

 

Edited March 1, 2019 by zmk1962

[Fab1]

On 3/1/2019 at 8:37 PM, zmk1962 said:

Hey @Fab1... I've been thinking about your conundrum because like you "I'm a stubborn B*ST*RD" when it comes to solving mechanical things.....my rig is a lot heavier but I only hear a clunk (tow ball hitch moving in the tow bar assembly) when there is a major shift in weight eg. heavy braking, a sharp turn etc. otherwise it all settles to give a quiet tow.

So here are a few thoughts that may help isolate the problem before you start spending cash:

1. Can you get someone else with a 50mm towball to tow the boat/trailer around the block.  This will isolate the Kia (towball/towbar hitch) out of the equation. 

I've towed it with my ute and theres no noise other than the usual noise with a haymen reece tow bar you get.

2. If the noise is still there then you most of the way to concluding the cause is the boat/trailer...  you've already double checked the towball weight, so I suspect something may be causing vibration.

     2a. Are the wheels balanced? Sometimes on trailers they don't do that, my box trailer rattled like sh*t until I had the tires balanced.

It maked noise driving at very slow speed over ,speed humps,gutters,braking etc.Even at 10-20 kays.I agree with unbalanced tyres but that occurs at much higher speeds.

    2b. Can you run a simple rope test to check that the axle is mounted square to the trailer and equidistant on each side from the towball. (Run rope from centre of towball hitch to centre of LH wheel hub - this should be the same length as centre of towball hitch to centre of RH wheel hub). If they are even slightly out, the tyres would not be running on the true round face. If you have done a few thousand kilometers you may also be able to see uneven wear on the tyres (ie the inside and outer edges wear differently on the same tyre).

Axle is square as i have moved it to balance trailer.(Trailer has always made noise).Iv'e towed a few thousand kms with those tyres and are wearing evenly.

    2c. Apologies, I can't remember all the previous posts but is the noise present at all speeds (say up to 50km/h or just at highway speeds)?  If it's just at highway speeds - looking at the picture you posted previously you rig doesn't appear to be very heavy at all. If slipstream over the Kia is getting under the bow I would not be surprised if it's lifting the bow and hence significantly reducing your downward tow ball weight to the point that the the trailer is acting stern heavy, floating and clunking around on the tow ball. So you may actually benefit from having greater than recommended towball weight.

It's fine on the freeway at 110k up and down hills etc is when you accelerate and stop that its worse as theres play in the ball and coupling.

I can and have tightened the grub screw on coupling and noise goes away but then i can't remove hitch without loosening it again.

On 3/1/2019 at 8:37 PM, zmk1962 said:

    2d. Or as you have said the trailer tow ball coupling is oversized (>50mm) so you're looking at changing it to fix the issue.

Anyway, I guess I am encouraging some diagnostic testing to isolate the problem.

I have a 50mm towball kit on my Landcruiser and as I said, I can vouch that its a quiet tow whether I tow my boat, or my 6x4 box trailer, or a couple of other trailers I have towed. So if I was to trial tow your rig,  I know we can pretty well eliminate my towball/tow hitch as a contributor - only problem is I am in Castle Hill not Campbell Town way. Maybe another raider is closer and can work with your schedule or you tow your rig to my place and we test before/after your work commitments.

Cheers 

Zoran

Thanks for the offer mate but i will give it a miss as i know the issue is in the ball and coupling.

Ill put both new ones on.

 

[deek]

On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 3:07 PM, Fab1 said:

Apparently they are pretty good from what I've read.They are probably overkill on a small  boat trailer like mine.

Went shopping for a new coupling,towball today armed with my vernier calipers and micrometer and guess what?Couplings and tow balls vary in size by as much as 0.7mm.

I bought the best match up I could find,moved my axle back to give me my max ball weight of 75kg and  the bloody thing is still banging under tow but not as much as before.

Will have to live with it I guess but geez it's annoying.

Just turn the music up and you won't hear a thing.

[Sea Ranger]

Hey Fab. Have you thought about mounting a GoPro or something on your trailer looking at the area and driving around so that you get some video and sound of your coupling.  Video is worth a thousand guesses

 

Bear