home made tow bar done

[lutzy]

Here is my tow bar I came up with after getting a lot of advice from many of you. Not all that difficult but should work good. I used 1 ¼” metal conduit with carabineers at the sled and a snap hook bolted to both pipes at the other end. Creek Kid suggested rounding off the ends so they don’t cut the sled if they hit it. I did that and went one step further and dip the ends in plasti dip to give them a nice rubbery coating. Painted the rest of the pipes black and done. About 15 bucks instead of 65.

[Nordern]

Great job! I think I'll use your idea and fab one up for my Otter.

[McGurk]

Looks nice, and long to keep it out from underneath your ATV! Nice work!

[Lund79]

Nice job! What length did you cut the conduit, 5 feet?

[lutzy]

Nice job! What length did you cut the conduit, 5 feet?

yes 10' pipe cut in half. But mine sticks back another 2' or so because of the carrier.

[LakeoftheWoods]

looks nice

[tsande00]

Looks fantastic! The paint job makes it look like you bought it at the clam factory.

One question though - Are you sure that is 1 1/4" conduit? It looks like 3/4" or 1". 1" would leave you with an outside diameter of close to 1 1/4". Not that I want to copy you or anything...

[lutzy]

Looks fantastic! The paint job makes it look like you bought it at the clam factory.

One question though - Are you sure that is 1 1/4" conduit? It looks like 3/4" or 1". 1" would leave you with an outside diameter of close to 1 1/4". Not that I want to copy you or anything...

I stand corrected. I couldn't remember what I bought. I new it was bigger than 3/4. Turns out your right it is 1"

[bak2MN]

What did you use on the inside of the sled on the backside of the eyebolts? A big washer? Or something bigger to not pull through?

[lutzy]

just a big washer

[FrontenacPike]

I love it, i love it, i love it! Just one question, did your neighbors think you were nuts when you were all set to go ice fishing today?

[lutzy]

they must have. i was driving around the yard about 10 times. this will be only my second year on the ice and i think i am already addicted.

[McGurk]

b u m p

[Black_Bay]

Looks good, especially the cost. I wonder though, if the snap hook will will hold up when the sled pushes against it when stopping.

[CoorsCaptain]

The snap hook is going to be the weak link. I've bent hitches going over snow ridges. When you get the sleds loaded thats alot of force coming back at you.

[buddha]

Love it, I will be building one this next week. Good to see there is at least one smart fella from Shakopee! I'm only smart enough to copy.

[jBohmer]

I love it too. I to do not tow mine often but I think installing the eyebolts is a good idea regardless. I think found a good project Saturday if I cannot get out on the ice after the ice fishing show.

[B@ssmaster]

I made one like this last weekend, but modified it slightly. I shortened the length of the pipes to approx 30", so when finished the total length of the hitch is approx 24". Towed the house around and around the yard testing it out on tight turning radii, reverse, etc. Works great. Thanks for the idea!

The reason I shortened the pipes is when attached, my whole rig (house, hitch, and atv) is still short enough to drive up on my 3 place sled trailer as a unit. (My old hitch was the same basic length, got a new house and needed a new hitch for it). Works well that way, I never have to lift my house. Drive it on, back it off, house tracks just fine forward and reverse.

[Scott Stein]

nice work! the only problems I can see in the future are the snap hooks breaking/bending and the eyebolts pulling through. When I made mine I put a piece of 3/8 strap steel on the inside with the bolts going through it.

[tsande00]

I made almost an identical hitch for my sled, including the eye bolts. (All credit on the basic idea goes to this thread originator)

To reinforce the eye bolts I grabbed a piece of 1" x 3" off the extras pile at HD and painted it up black. It should keep the bolts from pulling through the sled and also minimize the stress point of the 2 eye bolts by evening it out across the whole face of the sled (I kept the board almost as long as the front of the sled).

I had to change the design somewhat to better accomdate a snowmobile bumper as teh connection point but I'm looking forward to some trial runs. I normally wouldn't have painted everything up, but after seeing how nice this one looked I had to do it too and it came out very nice.

[buddha]

How are all of you attatching the tow hitch to your ATV? I have a ball hooked up right now. Thanks for any ideas.

[Johnsonator]

Good looking hitch, I built one similar to this one last year and instead of the carabiners I used small clevis's. It took alot of the play out of the hitch and added a bunch of strength, the carabiner clips can be a week point. As far as the eyebolts pulling through I used large fender washers from the hardware store and have had no problems. Making your own hitch is a great way to save a bunch of money!

[tsande00]

TO connect my hitch to the bumper (would probably work for a ball hitch too) I bought 12" of steel cable, thin stuff, like 3/16" or 1/4" and made a loop out of it around the bumper. The loop was completed using the appropriate sized cable clamps, and the excess trimmed off. I"ll just clip the hitch to the steel loop when I'm ready to go. I believe the loop will allow a little more flexibility with turning and big ridges as well without allowing the sled too much forward or backward movement upon braking or accelerating.

[newalleye]

Thanks Lutzy, used your ideas and I think I'm ready for the year!

[newalleye]

Another pic...