Good Day fellow 'Vanners and Trailers towers. 

Recent posts about the Tare mass of 'vans and the steps taken by fellow 'vanners to rectify the low Tare mass of their caravans made me wonder about the impact of the certificates issued with towbars.  The average towbar comes with a plate, similar to a VIN plate, that reflects the towing capacity, towball weight, etc.  What is not listed is the limits if a drop plate is fitted.   

I contacted the SABS yesterday.  The response arrived today.  It reads:

"The SANS 1505-1: 2007 is applicable on towing brackets and integrated towing devices.

This means that drop plates could be deemed to be an "integrated towing device" but then it would have to be part of the certification process and be mentioned as a specific item on the SABS Certification Permit, with the towbar that was tested for a specific vehicle model.  The towbar will thus have to comply with the requirements with the drop plate fitted to it.

Currently there are no SABS Certified towbar manufacturers certified with the SABS that have tested any drop plates to be included on their permits.  "

The implication of the above is obvious.  The towbar fitted to my Ranger, somebody's Jeep, Kia, Chev, Mazda, fishy Tuna, etc, is not certified if a drop plate is fitted to it.  

I checked Bosal and Thule (the Ranger has a Thule).   Thule has sold its towbar divison and this is now Brink Towing Systems.   Neither offer drop plates as part of the products they supply.   

I can sleep peacefully as I do not use a drop plate (anymore).

If the Tare and GVM of your caravan is a worry for insurance purposes, also worry if you use a drop plate as your towbar is no longer a certified component .

Regards

PietG wrote:

And what next. Is it permissible to tow a trailer or caravan in future?

I have even gone to the extreme to strengthen my drop plate with added ribs, cutting a piece out at the top so that it fits from the rear of my towbar, cutting it shorter to give methe exact height requirement to make my van level and when loaded the nose is very slightly down.

So as far as all the nitty gritty of details go, they should then also check if I drove on a smooth road, or one with potholesand bumps, or do they want all the roads I drive on to be certified by SABS as well?

Brommer wrote:

"I have even gone to the extreme to strengthen my drop plate with added ribs, cutting a piece out at the top so that it fits from the rear of my towbar, cutting it shorter to give methe exact height requirement to make my van level and when loaded the nose is very slightly down."

Brommer, I am sure you realize you have no claim agaist the drop plate manufacturer should your insurance claim be rejected.

The chances of a towbar/dropplate breaking is very remote. One that has been tampered with, I am not so sure.

Agree with Theo - fortunately I don't need a drop plate.

Cannot agree with Jorg - have seen thick ones bent - however, they may have bent without towing as they hang below the vehicle so far back that they can catch in some cases.

Hurricane wrote:

The drop plate discussion re-appears from time to time. Bottomline the plate certainly adds extra leverage forces to the tow bar, but I think the majority of tow bars can handle this with ease (most only add a very short lever length), provided the tow bar is properly made and fastened to the tow vehicle one should be OK. I have seen a number of bent drop plates but these are typically the cheap and thin types. Trapezium for example sells a plate that is something like 20 or 22mm thick, these are extremely strong and should not easily bend. I'm happy towing with it (the new Ranger's tow bar is in any case built like a "ploeg"!)

As mentioned the dropplate add these leverage forces. We must just remember that the manufacturer of a towbar certifies that towbar in the way that he supply it to the customer.

We as the customer now fit dropplates or whatever to it. Thus you must know that there is a change in forces when you lift a bucket of water close to your body or with your arm extended. Same pricipal applies when extending a towbar to the rear, upwards or downwards.

If you choose to do that you must make sure what the implications are. The Towbar manufacturer can not cater for all our whims and changes it will make the product he supplies very costly.

Thus if your vehicle require a very long dropplate, you must know that the bolts securing the towbar should be checked regularly because of excesive forces. Mine that only drops about 70mm need not to be checked that regularly.

This all boils down to maintenance. I can make a product that is heavy very thick and will last 50 years and it will cost you R5000-00. On the other hand I can supply you a similar product that is thinner, very light, will last you 50 years, is cheaper, but you need to do a bit of maintenance.

So if you were to take your towbar dropplate combination to SABS, they will probably test it and tell you the following. You can tow a caravan of 2000kg 100 times then replace the towbar or if you check the nuts and bolts every 6 months and replace them once every 5 years you could probably tow with it the rest of your life. Which certification would you like?

So tow your caravan with a dropplate. If its a long one, go to a towbar fitment centre and have it checked once a year. That invoice should surely be enough proof to the insurance that you regularly checked the service-ability of it.

Ther's the legal....

And ther's the practicle...

The cause of many a bent drop plate, is people attaching towropes with shackles to the plate and tow or pull other vehicles that way. I have also seen someone trying to pull a treestump out of the ground using the towbar dropplate combination.

As Leon said above, if the maintainance is done and we have proof/ sertificates of testing and or maintainance, you can prove to the insurance company in the event of an accident that you have acted reasonably.

HM wrote:

Brommer wrote:

"I have even gone to the extreme to strengthen my drop plate with added ribs, cutting a piece out at the top so that it fits from the rear of my towbar, cutting it shorter to give methe exact height requirement to make my van level and when loaded the nose is very slightly down."

Brommer, I am sure you realize you have no claim agaist the drop plate manufacturer should your insurance claim be rejected.

The chances of a towbar/dropplate breaking is very remote. One that has been tampered with, I am not so sure.

En net soos met enige ander accessory op jou kar, stabiliseerders, bullbars, roll bars, spacers om voertuig te lig ens ens.. als het n invloed, sommige vir verbetering, sommige "verslegting"

Roofracks, hoe beheer die SABS wat jy op hom laai?

Op die ou einde moet die gebruiker aanpas by dit wat hy op sy voertuig doen of verander sodat hy veilig bly. Ons kan dan net sowel NIE voertuie koop nie, en hulle maar in museums gaan plaas oin glaskaste..

Vliegtuig. Die risiko is daar dat engine faal, en jy in see gaan val... so wie in hul normale verstand klim dan in n vliegtuig?

Now with all this talk of drop plates.....

Yes, and how is the towbar mount bolted to the chassies? With stock standard M8 commercial bolts.....

Any jan-rap en sy maat kan n towbar by die flea-mark gaan koop, maak n lekker plan om dit te modify, en dis "legal"

Maar ons, wat kennis het en dit reg uitvoer deur die hele aanpassing van chassies aansit tot die coupling op die trailer, ... Ons is "onwettig"....

Warren, that's what is so frustrating, the law abiding citizens get nailed all over, but the people who just could not care less, are getting scotfree.

Chris Centurion wrote:

Nog 'n klip in die bos......Wat van 'n stabiliseerder soos bv. Tando of Yellow blade wat se "bracket" ook aan die sleepstang geheg word?

But what happens to the "on the ball weight" of a caravan when

using a stabilizer, does it make the weight less, heavier or stay the same.

The Tando arm pushes down on the caravan?

Good Day All

As the MD of Brink Towing Systems (formally Thule) please allow me to explain a bit about Drop plates.

Towbars are holmiligated as a complete system and in our case not only approved by SABS but also the TUV and which ever OEM the towbar fits onto. When designing a towbar we take into account the GVM, Vertical loading Specifiactions, Maximum towing capacity of the vehicle and mounting locations holmoligated by the Vehicle manufacturer. We then use this data to detirmine the geometry for the towbar. Any change to the location of the ball or the mounting points renders our calculations useless.

When the towbar is tested all ball positions need to be confirmed with fatigue testing - so on a towbar with 2 hole positions like the Toyota Hilux we are required to test both positions.

Regarding drop plates; Adding a drop plate changes the ball position and thus the towbar will not be as it was holmiligated and it stands to reason that the loading needs to be reduced as you are generally moving the ball away from the mountings and thus increasing the leverage. There is currently no standard reference sheet or data available, that i know of, for you to confirm how much less you can tow or how much to reduce your vertical load but if you are using a drop plate i would advise you to review how much you load it. Always consider that the highest forces on your towbar are when braking and thus ensure the plate and towbar can with stand the load. - Toyota do sell a drop plate for the hilux which has been holmoligated and tested but they are the only ones to do so.

I saw in one of the earlier posts that towbars are fitted with Mild steel bolts. I would like to reitterate that all Brink towing systems use high tensile bolts, only the OEM specified mounting points and are always tested to exceed the OEM maximum towing mass.

Finally i was camping at Scottburgh this last week end and noted that a lot of the towbars fitted to vehicles in the park had data plates with towing capacitys far less that that of the vehicle so please ensure that you look for the data plate and confirm what the towbar was tested to tow and not what the car manufacturer has in the hand book.

Happy towing.

Mark wrote:

Good Day All

As the MD of Brink Towing Systems (formally Thule) please allow me to explain a bit about Drop plates.

Towbars are holmiligated as a complete system and in our case not only approved by SABS but also the TUV and which ever OEM the towbar fits onto. When designing a towbar we take into account the GVM, Vertical loading Specifiactions, Maximum towing capacity of the vehicle and mounting locations holmoligated by the Vehicle manufacturer. We then use this data to detirmine the geometry for the towbar. Any change to the location of the ball or the mounting points renders our calculations useless.

When the towbar is tested all ball positions need to be confirmed with fatigue testing - so on a towbar with 2 hole positions like the Toyota Hilux we are required to test both positions.

Regarding drop plates; Adding a drop plate changes the ball position and thus the towbar will not be as it was holmiligated and it stands to reason that the loading needs to be reduced as you are generally moving the ball away from the mountings and thus increasing the leverage. There is currently no standard reference sheet or data available, that i know of, for you to confirm how much less you can tow or how much to reduce your vertical load but if you are using a drop plate i would advise you to review how much you load it. Always consider that the highest forces on your towbar are when braking and thus ensure the plate and towbar can with stand the load. - Toyota do sell a drop plate for the hilux which has been holmoligated and tested but they are the only ones to do so.

I saw in one of the earlier posts that towbars are fitted with Mild steel bolts. I would like to reitterate that all Brink towing systems use high tensile bolts, only the OEM specified mounting points and are always tested to exceed the OEM maximum towing mass.

Finally i was camping at Scottburgh this last week end and noted that a lot of the towbars fitted to vehicles in the park had data plates with towing capacitys far less that that of the vehicle so please ensure that you look for the data plate and confirm what the towbar was tested to tow and not what the car manufacturer has in the hand book.

Happy towing.

The material is about 8mm thick, then from top to bottom this is marked with different load capacaties. If you adjust the drop plate higher or lower the indicator shows what load capacity is allowed.

If you know what I am refer to, is this a SABS approved drop plate?

No Jorg - I cannot agree with you as I have seen bent drop plates!

Good day DK

I have also seen a drop plate similar to the one youare refering to but have not checked on how they do the SABS approval for the various hieghts. All i can say is that it would have to have its complete SABS approval as well as the full approval information for the specific towbar it relates to printed on it. There is no option for a generic drop plate with generic towing capacities.

OOM JEEP wrote:

Brommer wat het jy gedoen met dropplate om dit te vesterk. Kan jy foto plaas. Eks nou nie juis n kundige (witjas ) maar het n biki common sense.

If it includes welding then there is a chance that strenghtening could in fact be weakening as the heat may change the characteristics of the steel.

I maintain your insurance may be compromised by home modifications to tow bars and dropplates.

Mark, thank you for the valuable input.   Just for the record, the drop plate from Toyota has apparently not been certified by the SABS as per their e-mail. 

My kids bought a Nissan fitted with a OEM towbar from Bosal.  The spec plate on the towbar indicated a lower weight than Nissan claimed for the specific X-Trail model.  I took this up with Bosal who would not respond but they referred me to Nissan.   All Nissan did was to replace the initial spec plate with another indicating the increased towing capacity !!!!   At that stage the X-Trail came in 6 models with 4 different towing capabilities.    Now I know that Bosal does not have a certified towbar with a drop plate.  Just as Brink (Thule ), nor Toyota have certified towbars and dropplates - as per the e-mail from the SABS.

As julle dus 'n sakplaat gebruik versterk die ding.

groete

NS.   I have sent an e-mail to the NRCS wrt the issue of tare weights of caravans.   The SABS referred me to the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications that deal inter alia with this type of problem,  When (if) I receive a response, I will let all know.  Bye for now.

Good Day Butts

Brink supplied the previous level hilux up until February this year with an SABS certified drop plate to Toyota SA, I am more than happy to post the Certificates should that be nessesary. We do not supply the current hilux to Toyota but have an aftermaket product with a drop plate that is certified. This issue may be that Brink is actually a fully certifed SABS, TUV and VCA test facility and thus do all of our own testing and issue the certificates directly to the OEM's.

Kind regards

Mark, thanks again.  Do not intend to argue your input.   I am just reading what the SABS states in their e-mail.  They make no mention of manufacturers with own certified testing facilities.  So I made a unfortunate assumption in Brink's case,  even though the product list does not mention a drop plate if one is lucky enough to find Brink.  

By the way, Google Brink Towing Systems and see where you end up.   As of a minute ago on Mozilla, not in PMB or anywhere in KZN.    I have an issue with companies that have websites that are not kept up to date.  Garmin, before they sold out to the Yanks, gave their street address (9 Zeiss Str) at a site you could not find on their own product.   Hope you will look at Brinks website info as well.

Regards

The previous Hilux had a "boude in die lug" look. When I asked the Toyota dealer he said tha load box has to have weight in it to make it level !!!

After my response to Mark above, I realised that those of us that buy a vehicle and have a towbar fitted in the buying process , seldom buy a drop plate from the OEM.  It is when we arrive home and find that the towbar is too high we buy a drop plate from the nearest exhaust/tyre/ towbar dealer.    The towbar that was fitted by the OEM Dealership does not state anything about the drop plate as an "integrated towing device" as required by the SABS spec 1505.

I happily drove away with an Isuzu (3 of them) and recently a Ranger without giving any thought to the drop plate requirement.   I bought my Isuzu  plates from Midas.  

With respect Mark, unless the spec sticker on the towbar mentions the drop plate, it is not certified as an integral part of the towbar -or do I totally misinterpret the last para of the SABS's response.   if you disagree, you should take issue with Johan Gouws at the SABS.

Regards all en lekker slaap almal.

Hi Butts, A bit confused about the website, I just Googled Brink Towing Systems and Google went straight to The South African Site, The Dutch site and the Group Site including a google map on how to get to the Pietermaritzburg factory. Please let me know exactally what you googled so i can add it to the key words with have with them

Theo, klik onder op die skakel.

Skakel

 Dan onder op die web adres.

HI Butts

The full interpretation of SABS 1505 1/2/3 details what a fully intergarated towing system is and one of those requiremnts is that the ball hieght must be between 370mm and 420mm from the ground when the vehicle is fully laden thus in the case of a pick up that would include the full payload. Thus the issue is that not very many people would tow with their vehicles fully loaded and so the ball position would be significantly higher than the caravan. For this reason drop plates are used to get the towballs to a" üseful" hieght. 

Again im more than happy to send you the full data related to any towbar we make along with the SABS/TUV documentation that will explain how holmoligation is done.

Regarding the Ford Ranger, We are the supplier to Ford South Africa for the towbar fitted on line at time of manufacture - this towbar was homoligated as part of the vehicle.

KR 

Moet erken, dit lyk baie netjies Brommer.

Mark, thanks again.  I have no problem with the Thule towbar on my Ranger.   I do tow slightly nose up as I do not want to fit a drop plate.  Ford never mentioned that they have a drop plate that fits on the towbar and that both are certified as a single unit and that they are able to produce a data plate that states the combined certificate.     This may be the point that you are overlooking.   (If Ford had 16 inch rims the problem would be reduced).  

I am not questioning your data or your certificates and don't need to see them.   Outsurance may need to see them.    Please note again what Johan Gouws from the SABS stated in his mail.

My Mozilla query as of one minute ago takes me to  1.    Brink.eu;   2.   brinkgroup.eu.   3. www.ntla.co.uk  ; 4.   brinktowingsystems.co.za/whytts.php .   When I click on the last I get a contact of angelique,pienaar at brink.eu.   The brink.eu applies to your own e-mail address as well.    Waar is die SA adres?

Nou gaan ek slaap.

Groete almal en Mark.

neef Herman wrote:

Op n vorige bespreking het ek vertel van n 4x4 Hilix se towbar wat afgebreek het reg agter die flens waar bal normaalweg aan vasbout.
Daar was n lang drop-plate op , n lae kar sleepwa met n ou Merc op, teen n hengse steil rypad af.
Als verkeerd op daai stadium, maar wys maar net, dit towbar het gevaal, nie boute of dik plate nie.
Daai oomblik as jy n pletterstop doen met 2 ton wa agter jou, druk die spulletjie seker maar taamlik hard daar agter.

Die vermoe van bestuurders in ons land deesdae noodsaak sulke stoppe. Nog grooter rede om te verseker als is 100% veral as jy n dropplate gebruik.

Chris Centurion wrote:

Nog 'n klip in die bos......Wat van 'n stabiliseerder soos bv. Tando of Yellow blade wat se "bracket" ook aan die sleepstang geheg word?

Gelukkig trek hulle nie regtig nie maar verseker is daar n mate van kragte. Mens moet net meer gereeld sekermaak alles is nog vas en werk korrek.

Kyk, ek is 'n absolute leek as dit kom by staal kwaliteite ens, maar ek kan darem sien as iets kwaliteit is en of saam geplakte goed.

Daai hele drawbar van Pieter, Brommer, is duidelik hoë standaard, en gaan hom nie in die steek laat nie.

I have never seen a drop plate fail through normal use. Some insurers may however try such an escape route to avoid liability.

Ask your vehicle's dealer or another reputable company to install a towbar and if needed a drop plate, telling them what you plan to tow. Do it in writing so you can prove this fact. Do not tamper in any way with that installation. 

If something then does go wrong and the insurance company repudiates the claim, you sue the insurance company and add the dealer or installer as a defendant. Put both of them in the ring.

If the dealer or installer can prove that the installation meets the legal requirements, the insurer will be held liable.

If the installation turns out to be illegal, the dealer or installer will be liable for the damage.

Sit back and enjoy the fight.