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Old October 28th 20, 06:22 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Truck vs Car as a tow vehicle


Beware of vehicles with a long overhang, i.e. distance between the rear axle and the tow hitch.


A few years ago, there were some Cobra tongue (drawbar) failures behind long-overhang RVs. The instances involved the older round tube drawbars vs. the newer square tube versions. I recently converted my 1981 Cobra round tube drawbar to the square tube design. The wall thickness and surface area of the square tube is much larger than the round-tube. Plus, the new drawbar has the gas spring operated emergency/parking brake lever vs. the "ratcheting" handle lock mechanism.

Not a difficult conversion, but I had to modify the brackets that hold the tube on the trailer floor for clearance and hole spacing requirements.