Scarey and Puzzling

Hank MI wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
I noticed early on that the hitch pins on our tow bar tended to drift towards the outside of the toad brackets. If the pins were inserted from the outside in, that meant there would be pressure against the retainer clips, potentially causing them to fail. To make sure I always inserted the pins from the center out instead, I added directional arrows to the brackets with a permanent marker and clear coat. Now we can drive hundreds of miles with the car in tow, and the retainer clips never get near the brackets. The likelihood is that the pins would stay nicely in place while going down the road even if the retainer clips were missing, but I'm not planning to test that theory.

There is another reason to install pins from the inside. If installed from the outside, during a tight turn those coiled safety cables can hook on the locking pin and unhook it. This depends on the base plate setup but it is possible, many have the safety cables just inboard of the tow bar arm.

I have seen situations where that could occur on some tow setups, but our ReadyBrute Elite tow bar has a metal loop that the coiled safety cables pass through at the pivot point. With that setup, the position of the cables relative to the pins doesn't change during turns, no matter how tight the are.