Hitch on front of vehicle ?

I used to have one on my old FJ 55 when we were on the road full time. Very handy to move big vans(ours was 27ft) into tight places. I had a L-shaped steel bracket bolted to the steel bumper of the old Tojo with the regular towball fitted to it. No doubt you could weld a square tube to the bullbar somewhere to take a Hayman Reece or similar tow hitch.

Cheers

Hi ya Scrubcat,
"the benefits or otherwise of fitting a receiver for a tow hitch and ball to the front of a vehicle" hmmm!
Well can't really talk about towing, cause putting your tow hitch on the front changes it to pushing!
What I wanted to say is that setting up a hitch to another forby, front to rear, makes quite a substantial 8 wheeler vehicle for crossing long stretches of mud or sand,etc., etc..
When one vehicle gets stuck the other is there pushing it through & out of the problem & then roll reversal, the once stuck vehicle now pulls the other out. Ta Da!

Thats my 2 cents worth.

cheers,
madCrow

I had a tongue bolted to my 1990 Maverick's alloy b/bar when I owned it. It made placing my tandem trailer into a tight parking spot at the flats where I used to live, a real doddle.

I can thoroughly recommend it, but wouldn't think you'd need to use it when camping........more a case of getting back down tight driveways, where you need to turn the van at a crucial time etc.

Hello Scrubcat,

Just a thought;
If you push too hard the airbag will go off!!!

LOL Chard.

A bar on the front is OK for quiche eating wooses who can't back a van or trailer.

Yep ........

I've got one welded to the bullbar mounts on my Troopy. Left of centre ... etc .......... as you say above.

Very much a useful addition .... I use the rear hitch for rough locating and, if neccessary, fine tune the park from the front.

The first trick is to remember NOT to put your foot down too hard ..... embarrassment is really hard to live with !!!

Second trick is to remember to take the towball out before hitting the road as I believe it is illegal in most states to have projections protruding beyond your vehicle front. Pedestrian impalement is still frowned upon, generally.

I found it easier to have a second towball welded/bolted to a length of square tube to fit inside the front hitch tube and then secured with an appropriate bolt, holed at the end to take a spring clip with a bright key-ring float attached. As they do in the aircraft maintenance field ..... so they dont 'take-off' with an unsafe plane !!!

Works for me .............

scrubcat,
I had one mounted on the bullbar of my old HJ45 for getting an 18 foot f'glass put put into a tight spot in my yard.
Makes it so much easier and didn't block the street for as long.
Cheers,
Bros.

Thanks everyone, looks like I`ll have to add it to the "Gunna Do" list. Thanks again.
Scrubcat.

I just saw the exact same thing today while walking through the Onslow Caravan Park and thought "What a great idea". They have a permanent park vehicle set up that way and they "place" the vans for the customers and it is easy to see how an instant precise adjustment, when required, could be made immediately the steering is turned rather than the delay time that is mandatory when backing after the front wheels are turned before the rear end moves laterally by the required amount. Seems like a great idea that would save a lot of backing and filling, frayed tempers between engine driver and navigator at the end of a long days drive as well as the possibility of minor panel damage. Also speaking for myself the neck doesn't swivel like it used to so rather than have to reverse the vehicle, watch both sides including what cannot be seen in RV mirrors if the rig is "bent" in the middle, estimate what is at the rear and how far away it is and allow for the swept path of the rear overhang this has got to be the answer with better vision in front rather than behind, better control and less hassle overall.

my bullbar has an integrated receiver ..
very handy when pushing a trailer or recovering a smaller vehicle with these receiver mount shackles ..
some have a winch on a portable frame which attaches to the receiver in the front or the rear for temporary mount ...
I have not seen anything like it for a Toyo or such though, but that does not mean it doesn't exist ..
have fun
gmd

i made a towbar for the front of my Prado , originally to put a portable winch up there but now i put the rear tongue in it i want to push the trailer or i have an ARB attachment in there for the tow rope if i every get into too much trouble.

It is very handy to have.