OT: Perfectly Normal For Norfolk

It happens that SteveW formulated :

Yep. However, I notice the FB regularly checking the ones around here.

Where’s the U bolt? I can’t see one. Looks like a fairly heavy duty hook type hitch with a catch to retain the “eye” of the draw-bar. The shock absorber looks a bit home made but not necessarily dangerous.

Tim

There was something similarly nuts from India, sadly the vid got deleted for unknown reasons. An ancient farm tractor pulling I forget how many rickety looking home made trailers, over 30 iirc.

I did have to blow it up to 500x, and it still wasn't that clear. However, it looks to me as though the eye of the draw bar is held onto a cross bar on the living van by nothing more than a U bolt through it and bolted around the bar.

In any case, the drawbar does not really look substantial enough for the load it is pulling, both Land-Rover and a trailer laden with fuel and water, and there are no fail-safe devices should the hitch fail: nothing to stop the Land Rover and the trailer it is pulling from running away by themselves, which could be a problem if it happened on a hill.

Colin Bignell pretended :

Modern caravans have a breakaway chain or wire rope, between the handbrake and separately attached to the tow vehicle, so that should some means of attachment fail - the handbrake will be yanked fully on.

Unfortunately, if it's going to happen at all, it'll be on a hill.

Incidentally, is there anything to stop the trailers overtaking the tractor on a downhill section?

GB presented the following explanation :

Over run brake - I cannot see anything which might do that. On a modern trailer, they have a couplong which is designed to close up if the trailer tries to over take the tow vehicle. As it closes, the trailer brake is applied.

Common on any braked trailer. I have it on my 1400kg box trailer and I would expect it on the coupling between the Land Rover and the end trailer. In this case, the trailer is a Land Rover, so applying the brakes is not going to be simple. I would, however, have added a hefty chain each side to stop it becoming completely detached if the coupling broke. Then again, I would also have used something that looked more like a NATO hitch than a collection of bits found in the workshop junk box.