Auto-Trail Tracker EKS - No rear towing eye !

[locoman]

As I was in my overalls yesterday and it was dry, I decided to have a look at the underside of my 09 van, and discovered that where Auto -Trail had extended the chassis, they had cut off the rear towing eye.

Any ideas of what we are supposed to use if rear recovery is required, as there is no replacement on the extension that I can see, has any one else had to have recovery from the rear ? if so what was used to attach to the vehicle ? :-(

[Derek Uzzell]

I would have thought that's the norm rather than an exception when a motorhome has its original chassis extended.

 

My Hobby is based on a Transit platform-cab chassis with rear extension. It also has no rear towing eye and, frankly, I never anticipated there would be one. The Hobby's extension is massively constructed and clearly designed so that a tow-bar could easily be attached. I suppose it might be possible to drag the vehicle on to a recovery truck by connecting a rope/cable/chain to the extension (it's certainly sturdy enough), but it's almost certain that doing so would damage the motorhome's rear bodywork. I can't say that the possibility of 'rear recovery' and the Hobby's lack of a rear towing-eye have ever bothered me - if they had I would have added a tow-bar.

[Porky]

I also have a 2009 Autotrail Tracker EKS and it never occured to me that rear recovery would be necessary and I really do not think it is an issue. I agree that if you are really that concerned then a tow bar is the answer. Stay away from rivers and ravines and all will be fine!!!

 

Roy Fuller

[rolandrat]

The easiest way round the problem is to buy an eye bolt and put it in the place of one of the chassis extention bolts. Solved.

[Derek Uzzell]

The snag with the eye-bolt idea is that the rear body-panel of many (most?) coachbuilt motorhomes extends well down below the line of the chassis-extension.

 

This means that, wherever you fix the eye-bolt, any rope or cable attached to the bolt will be pulled upwards against the rear panel's fragile bottom edge, inevitably damaging it. Towing-points need to be beyond a vehicle's perimeter so that the cable between the towing-point and the towing vehicle (or winch) can be in a straight unobstructed line.

[little-jack]

Even if bodywork wasnt in the way, surely most chassis extensions wouldnt be strong enough to be used for towing- they are made of such lihtweight metal, which depends on its shape to give a high vertical strength but virtually no lateral strength.

 

little jack

[davenewellhome]

Two points:

 

1, the rear "towing" eye is actually a tie down point for when the vehicle is on a transporter.

 

2, Eye bolts are designed to be used so that the tension of the pull is along their length not at 90 degrees to it as would almost certainly be the case if used in the described position.

 

If a rear end recovery was the only possible solution then the connection could almost certainly be made via a strap (although in industry they're often referred to as a strop) around the axle but as Derek points out the angle of pull is almost certain to cause damage to the rear skirt.

 

D.

[Mel B]

We had to have our Swift Suntor towed out once! Our motorhomes have to slot their front ends into a fenced 'alcove' section which goes round the front and both sides. When we had the Swift the fencing came out a lot further on the passenger side than it does now, up to where the coachbuilt body started, so we could only get in and out of it through the rear habitation door but this wasn't a problem ... until ...

 

Unfortunately the engine battery went completely and utterly flat once as it developed a fault ... this was a major problem as we couldn't get to the engine compartment where the battery was, even though there was enough room at the front to be able to open the bonnet there was no easy way to get there!

 

We therefore had our local garage come and tow it out for us, I'm not sure what they attached the towing rope etc to but it was definitely under the ban and didn't snag the bodywork (but we do have a bit of aslope on our drive up towards the road which may have helped - not sure.

 

It wasn't long after this that we changed vans for a Rapido and had to adapt the fencing to allow the passenger door to open as we couldn't get in through the habitation door (which was in the centre of the van and covered by the fencing on the drivers side so couldn't be altered at all) and importantly it now meant that we can scramble over the bonnet if necessary!!!

 

This is a photo of Wally (my then Fiat 126) on the drive - you can see the fencing 'alcove' behind him after we adapted the passenger side.

[PJay]

We had to be towed a couple of weeks ago, from Glasgow to Portsmouth. we were lifted up at the front of MH onto the tow truck (the front suspension had been damaged ) due to a "runaway car" hitting it.

I guess you are thinking a rear tow out of maybe a ditch or water?

As stated before, stay away from them. At least we had a nice chatty driver to bring us back, as the tow had to be over two days.

I expect some of the MH that saw us being towed down the M6, thought "There goes another FIAT"

pauline

[rolandrat]

Dave,

I only mentioned an eyebolt because my Autotrail Tracker rear end is prominent and the use of an eyebolt attached to the chassis end will not snag the body work. The eyebolt should be attached to the main chassis NOT THE FACTORY EXTENSION and if necessary a drop plate could be used to prevent body damage. This is only a suggestion and common sense should prevail. I'm not recommending the eyebolt for ditch recoveries, even though there is considerable strength in them no matter what the angle of towing is. We are talking about motorhomes not centurion tanks aren't we?