50mm Cast Tow Bar Receiver - now Australian Made
Announcement posted by Couplemate Trailer Parts 10 Apr 2021
50mm Cast Tow Bar Receiver
Couplemate's 50mm cast tow bar receiver is Made in Australia for Australian conditions.
Covid-19 has provided an ideal environment to enhance Australian Made parts produced by Couplemate.
Many Australian companies have experienced unusual extended production times from overseas manufacturers.
Delays in shipping have frustrated many Australian companies importing goods for sale within Australia.
Further, many customers were inverting the receiver arm in an effort to gain height. Inconsistent welding of this important product often caused breakages or separation between the tongue and the box section.
As a result, we concluded that fabricated receiver bars could cause an unsafe situation in some circumstances.
The main image above shows 1/2 of a receiver casting die. Yes, it is quite expensive to produce goods in Australia. We think Australian jobs are worth the expense.
Receiver Design
The tow bar receiver is also known as a hitch. In Australia, hitches are designed to withstand static loads according to the tow bar rating.
Fabricated hitches may pass stratic tests in both a normal and inverted position.
As a result, cast hitches are used in an inverted position even allowing for shock loading events. Given the opportunity for human error in fabrication, Couplemate decided to manufacture a cast model to build in an extra safety factor.
Shock loading events up to 3 times the coupling loading places extreme forces onto fabricated hitches.
The robotic welding looks strong enough at first glance. However, changes in ambient temperature and humidity must be compensated by the operator. In many cases, this does not occur, because the operator is untrained.
Further, no batch testing or product testing exists on many imported products.
Australian Made
New Australian made products start on the drawing board.
You can image from the tooling profile above, design and tooling for new products are easy. In fact, it is quite difficult.
The first batch saw a tooling change that imprinted useful customer information into the casting die.
The first hitch Couplemate produced was a 50mm drop model. The 100mm drop model is currently in production. Thes model suit a standard 50mm Australian towball.
Further, also in the product are 70mm towball models that suit 50mm and 100mm drop.
These Australian products replace products that were previously imported.
Find further information on cast towbar hitches below
What Deals are on offer?
Couplemate offers deals to resellers and occasionally to retail buyers.
Contact the Company for wholesale quantity buy prices.