Getting towed off grass in a smaller lorry - towing eye

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Horsemad12

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I think this only effects the smaller 3.5t end of the lorry market but not 100% sure.

However if you have a "coverted van" lorry with a smooth bumper at the front then you will need a towing eye to get towed. This metal hook with a screw thread at the end will screw somewhere in the front to allow you to attach a rope / hook and be towed off. This is the same as with most cars.

Without this there is nowhere substantial to make the attachment without potentially causing damage.

I have a 3.5t renault master and the towing eye cost me in the region of £20 from the main dealer (had to order). They do come with cars but I suspect if they do come with the vans they get lost during the conversion, so if the summer stays this wet and you plan to park on grass I would double check!!
 
Also if you own a DAF LF you need to check your towing pin is in your tool kit. There isn't a towing eye, inside you have to take a grill off outside and insert the towing pin into the bracket
 
Agreed. I am always amazed when people don't know where their towing eye is, just as the tractor drivier is amazed when I have mine screwed in and ready when he comes to pull me out ;).

Plus, I don't know whether it's country-wide but it's generally customary to give the driver a couple of quid for a pull - beer money! They're never paid to be there, generally totally uninterested in horses and use up diesel helping out so I tend to keep a fiver tucked away in my glove pocket just in case!
 
urgh yes this is just another reason why we don't run our own events, dad used to this and people rarely tipped and would generally do stupid things like leaving handbrake on or rev furiously and cut the field up!! (was often pony club mothers, who seem the most ungrateful to be fair!)
 
Gamebird said:
Agreed. I am always amazed when people don't know where their towing eye is, just as the tractor drivier is amazed when I have mine screwed in and ready when he comes to pull me out ;).

Plus, I don't know whether it's country-wide but it's generally customary to give the driver a couple of quid for a pull - beer money! They're never paid to be there, generally totally uninterested in horses and use up diesel helping out so I tend to keep a fiver tucked away in my glove pocket just in case!
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Agree about the fiver, but just to be accurate, we certainly do pay our tractor drivers at Monmouth, it is in the budget: we assume we will have to pay a day either for aggrivating or puuling out lorries - the rare years where neither are required are a bonus! Doesn't mean a bit extra isn't welcome, though :)
 
Jen_Cots said:
urgh yes this is just another reason why we don't run our own events, dad used to this and people rarely tipped and would generally do stupid things like leaving handbrake on or rev furiously and cut the field up!! (was often pony club mothers, who seem the most ungrateful to be fair!)
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hubbie has often helped with towing at Weston Park, he, James and Gary would have you in stitches with the stories they could tell. But to be fair, he often found that lorry drivers were petrified when they were being pulled off, (he was the big Irishman with a beard and great smile) xx
 
Blimey I've got a daf, there's been a couple of times I thought I might have to get towed, mk this week was one of them, couldn't see the towing hook, so presumed it was behind the grill, last lorry an iveco, was easy to see but had better check my tool kit now!
 
TableDancer said:
Agree about the fiver, but just to be accurate, we certainly do pay our tractor drivers at Monmouth, it is in the budget: we assume we will have to pay a day either for aggrivating or puuling out lorries - the rare years where neither are required are a bonus! Doesn't mean a bit extra isn't welcome, though :)
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Gosh. You Welsh lot ARE generous after all! :p Certainly at all our PTPs and local stuff they don't get paid, we just grab a bunch of Young Farmers and tell them that a) there will be lots of girls there, b) there's a beer tent (even when there isn't ;)) and c) it's compulsory.
 
Freddie19 said:
But to be fair, he often found that lorry drivers were petrified when they were being pulled off
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It doesn't worry me, until at Kelsall when the tractor drive said they'd already had a bad day where the tow rope snapped and recoiled into the lorry windscreen, smashing it. It made me want to shut my eyes!
 
mil1212 said:
It doesn't worry me, until at Kelsall when the tractor drive said they'd already had a bad day where the tow rope snapped and recoiled into the lorry windscreen, smashing it. It made me want to shut my eyes!
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Scary!!!

Another thought is that the tractor rope maybe too fat to get through the smaller towing eyes so a spare strong rope or decent spare lead rope is useful. (Can you tell I have been there and done that!!)
 
Have also surprised tractor drivers that I know that a) I need a tow eye and b) I know where it is and how to put it in!
Swalcliffe tractors where collecting all their tips for air ambulance which I thought was a great idea (and I suspect they were being paid)
 
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