RE: European trailer hitches

[Chris Sweetapple <Highwood@domain.elided>]

Message text written by INTERNET:alfa@domain.elided
>>Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2002 21:42:05 +0100
From: "Nick Koleszar" <npk@domain.elided>
Subject: RE: European trailer hitches

I don't think there is a standard size over here, I know I've seen at least
two if not three different sizes plus the collar and pin type. Can't you
spend a month with a grinder to get the size down? ;-)
<<

Although there are other shapes and sizes of trailer attachment about, the
50mm tow-ball is by far the most common, and has long been regarded as the
standard size, certainly in the U.K., and I think in the rest of Europe as
well.  I have owned several trailers myself over the years, and have hired
many more.  When you hire a trailer, at no time are you asked what size of
tow-ball you have, it is simply assumed that you have 50mm.  Our own
standard used to be 2 inch, I remember buying a used towbar many years ago,
which had a 2 inch ball, and I was unable to attach a trailer to it.  Some
years later I had a rather old trailer which had a 2 inch fitting which
meant that it rattled a bit on a 50mm tow-ball, but it was perfectly safe.
The old 2 inch tow-balls are perfectly round at the top, whereas the 50mm
ones have a flat piece on top, so they're easy to tell apart.

Chris Sweetapple
Highwood Motor Company
Swansea, U.K.
www.highwoodalfa.com
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