Tow ball location

[Dawso]

Can someone tell me the preferred distance from back of van to the centre of the tow ball, also the height to centre for a van with stock suspension? I know the standard says 350-460mm height from ground, I just need a number to set mine up for a unladen van with stock suspension. Thanks for any help.

[Sandaro]

I am just going by memory but you'd probably want it to sit out 6 inches off the beaver panel (number plate). As far as height if you are going to get a tongue made up, I would suggest taking the ideal level height off whatever you intend to tow and make the tongue to suit

[Geopaj]

I don’t know if it’s an original Holden towbar or not, but my ute definitely has a ‘period’ towbar - including trailer chain pigtails and bolt through towbar.

My understanding is the rear chassis and rear beaver panels are the same for utes and vans so I assume the towbars were interchangeable??

Mine is;

90mm (or 3 1/2 inches) from the numberplate to the centre of the ball, and

455mm (or approx 18 inches) from ground to the top edge of the towbar tongue (with stock suspension).

[wbute]

Looks similar to Hayman Reese one on my WB.
I tried to tow my Hilux on a car trailer behind my WB the other day. No way I would do it again. Anything over 75 and it was too much. It had plenty of power,it was just too heavy.
People tow cars behind them but bugger that. They just are not heavy enough.

[Valencia]

Looks similar to Hayman Reese one on my WB.
I tried to tow my Hilux on a car trailer behind my WB the other day. No way I would do it again. Anything over 75 and it was too much. It had plenty of power,it was just too heavy.
People tow cars behind them but bugger that. They just are not heavy enough.

They weren’t design to tow heavy loads the old Holden ute having said that seen many of blokes back in day the tow weight way above the braking capacity
Makes me shudder

[wbute]

They weren’t design to tow heavy loads the old Holden ute having said that seen many of blokes back in the tow weight way above the braking capacity
Makes me shudder

Yeah used to live those Holden tow trucks. Got a lift back to boarding school in one once when my brother T bonned his LX Sunbird into a car in Liverpool when he was taking me back. It was fast for a tow truck.

[Dawso]

Hey Geopaj, I have the same period towbar and towball setup as shown in your pics. To save my beaver panel from getting redented :-( I'm thinking 90mm feels too tight so I'm inclined to add 50mm to the length to make it 140mm to the beaver panel. I'm not towing anything in particular so the height will be Ok I think. Thanks everyone for your replies.