Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[IslandTractor]

"What's the problem? U-Haul has no balls?"

Nah, U haul has too many mismatched balls.

 

[TMGT]

The key difference is that all Eurohitches are one size so they are certainly not "fundamentally identical" to ours. An engineering solution is always better than hoping an operator will choose the right ball during the rain at night before hauling a ton of firewood down the highway.

When did they standardize? I've never found it difficult to select between the 3 sizes in the U.S.
My Land Rover have a proprietary adaptor to provide a 2in receiver, it's an LR3 and has a higher towing capacity as my dad's F150 so seems to be pretty stout.

I don't mind the look a a receiver honestly, heck my truck has 2!

 

[Btown]

Nah, get rid of all of the receiver hitches and go to the European solid permanently mounted system. One size fits all. No muss no fuss.

Why the 50 mm is 1 31/32". So it is just like our 2". Some countries drive on the wrong side of the road. Should we do that too. Some do it already here and the results are not good.

 

[ultrarunner]

When did they standardize? I've never found it difficult to select between the 3 sizes in the U.S.
My Land Rover have a proprietary adaptor to provide a 2in receiver, it's an LR3 and has a higher towing capacity as my dad's F150 so seems to be pretty stout.

I don't mind the look a a receiver honestly, heck my truck has 2!
View attachment 518321

My Range Rover is problematic for towing... not the power or traction... it is the placement of the factory hitch... it is too low and recessed for many applications and the manual has several cautions about using any type of "Extender" as it significantly changes the geometry...

Had a nice Chipper reserved for the day and there was no way possible to make the hitch work... thankfully, a friend on Speed Dial with a new F150 came to the rescue!...

 

[TMGT]

My Range Rover is problematic for towing... not the power or traction... it is the placement of the factory hitch... it is too low and recessed for many applications and the manual has several cautions about using any type of "Extender" as it significantly changes the geometry...

Had a nice Chipper reserved for the day and there was no way possible to make the hitch work... thankfully, a friend on Speed Dial with a new F150 came to the rescue!...

There's 2 different hitches for the LR, I have the one that drops it and moves it back, that one is hard to hook a receiver to. I need to try to trade for the other style that comes straight off the mount (much higher and not as recessed).
Also helps that my LR3 is lifted 2in and has larger tires that lift it up bit.

 

[BigBlue1]

The metric ball does one very important thing: it eliminates the confusion and potentially catastrophic consequences of putting a 2" hitch on a 1+7/8" ball.

Think about any well engineered safety system. It would never have two nearly identical but incompatible parts where the wrong choice could lead to a severe accident.

Looks take some getting used to but imo it's actually less of a visual eyesore than a 2x2 receiver hitch.

Doesn't seem like there are really that many accidents related to the possibility of mis-matching ball sizes, given all the millions of miles of trailer towing that happens annually in the US. I guess we Americans aren't too bad at paying attention. The good thing is that if you feel you want to eliminate the risk for yourself you can set up all your trailers to the same size ball and you're magically European. And the rest of us can just keep on keeping on in a happy fashion with the various choices available. I love it when everyone wins! Don't need government telling us the best way to do things.

Rob

 

[Raspy]

Ugly part! Like a lot of Euro items. No thanks. And I'll stick with our good old SAE stuff. Other than the "me too" aspect there is zero material benefit to moving to the metric system. It doesn't do anything better, just different. And if someone says "well, it's easier to work with the numbers in base 10 than fractions" then I guess they're a product of new math. Fractions aren't that difficult. Embrace our differences, don't scorn them!

Rob

The only advantage to the SAE system is that we are already using it and have been for a long time. Meanwhile, buy a Harley or a Ram with a Cummins engine an an Aisin transmission, and you have to figure out which fastener is metric or SAE. Mechanics need both sets now days.

Then, while machining, you have to convert all fractions to decimal inches to be able to use a micrometer. Decimal inches? Really? But not metric? Have you seen the decimal equivalent charts commonly displayed in garages and machine shops so guys can quickly convert fractions to decimal inches? Try measuring out tablespoons per cup, or pints per gallon. How does that go? None of them are base 10 multiples. Now mix your 50-1, 2 stroke oil in a gallon. Quick, how much is 1/50th of a gallon in SAE measurement? Please show your calculations.

Why not use the freezing point and boiling point of water as 0 and 100 in temperature? No, we want to use freezing minus 32 for 0 and 212 for boiling. Is that common sense?

England used to use the Whitworth system and change was difficult. But who would argue that we should have stayed with it? "Hand me that 1/2" wrench Bill", "wait, that looks like a 3/4" wrench", no it's the wrench that fits the nut that screws onto a 1/2" bolt!" It wasn't the opening of the wrench, it was the size that fit the nut, that matched a bolt size. The wrench was for the bolt size. Huh? SAE was much better. But it's not that great either.

Multiplying by 10 is not "New Math". It's the oldest and easiest multiplication there is. Try it sometime: .1, 1, 10, 100, 1000, etc. Look how well it works with money: 1 cent, 10 cents, 1 dollar, 100 dollars. Thousand, million, etc. All base 10.

Metric is more accurate (fewer conversion mistakes), easier to learn and easier to visualize. But it's harder to change than stick with a poor system we're used to. And many scorn it because they are afraid of any change. It would be much more honest to simply say "I don't want to learn something new", than to say "there is something wrong with it", or to say that since it's used in Europe, it's bad. Give it another generation or two and we'll be there.

 

[sixdogs]

Don't know but once was enough... I know because when I came to pick up the truck the pallet with about thirty 60# sacks was in my short stepside bed...

He offered me the left over but unless there is a need... it doesn't keep long around here.

I can only imagine if I had a fleetside long bed just how many more sacks he could have fit...

I've found I can have up to 7 pallets delivered to a job for one delivery fee... much easier all around.

Prior to that I was picking up with my utility trailer... all the time.

I was amazed at how little it costs to have most stuff delivered. Two pallets of seed at a ton each and another two partial pallets of stuff--24 miles-- unloaded and forked into the barn for the princely sum of $25. These days I have awkward things delivered whenever possible and leave the driving to them. Life is too short.

 

[bcp]

It would make make more sense if we hadn't lost some of the intermediate measurements.

Jack.......2.5 fl oz
Gill........5 fl oz
Cup.......10 fl oz
Pint.......20 fl oz
Quart....40 fl oz
Pottle....80 fl. oz
Gallon...160 fl oz


Bruce

 

[spacemanspiff]

Unfortunately, drivers train themselves to ignore the LED so they can spread-dump; and if equipped with an alarm, they rip it totally out or bypass it. What is needed is something that limits the truck speed to 5MPH or less if the dump is raised. Such a thing does not yet exist.

Wasn't the CDL created to prevent that? I remember a saying the only the best will drive. Sarcasm.