Factory fitted tow bar
To my mind, from when I had a fixed towbar on my Golf many years ago, the towball cover served 2 purposes.
1) To keep the towball lubricated;
2) To stop the towball leaving greasy marks on my trousers (and softening the impact) when I walked into it.
So with a retractable towball only the first reason seems appropriate, but I've no idea how much clearance there is to allow you to fit a cover.
Chris
1) To keep the towball lubricated;
2) To stop the towball leaving greasy marks on my trousers (and softening the impact) when I walked into it.
So with a retractable towball only the first reason seems appropriate, but I've no idea how much clearance there is to allow you to fit a cover.
Chris
VW Golf GT 1.9TDI from 11/98 to 3/06; Skoda Octavia L&K 2.0TDI from 3/06 to 12/11; VW Golf Plus SE 1.6TDI DSG from 12/11 to 2/15; VW Golf SV SE 1.4TSI DSG from 2/15 to 11/20; Skoda Karoq Sportline 2.0TSI 4x4 DSG from 11/20.
There is enough clearance for the hitch to be swung up into where it lives with a cover fitted to the ball.
Whether you put a cover on depends to some extent on what you are using the towball for.
If you are towing something which requires having grease on the hitch, then using a cover will keep your hands (and probably your trousers) cleaner.
If you are towing something with a friction-damped coupling (like most caravans have), you will need to make sure that the paint on the towball is removed and that it’s kept free of grease of any kind which will wreck the friction pads in the caravan hitch.
You’ll also need to keep it free of the rust which will form when you’ve take the paint off, which means using a cover for the ball.
Snag is that when the hitch is stowed, it’s stowed upside down.
That means that the ball cover collects rainwater and crap off the road, and that makes the ball go rusty, and you have to clean the rust off before hitching up the coupling on the caravan or the friction pads will get contaminated by the rust…
There are ways round this, but it’s a bit of a compromise.
And a bit of a pain in the arse, to be honest.
As far as I’m aware, if you are intending to use the towing hitch for a bike rack (which is clamped immovably to the ball when in use) then you don’t need to faff around with a cover for the ball because you won’t be wanting to grease it or need to take the paint off.
Whether you put a cover on depends to some extent on what you are using the towball for.
If you are towing something which requires having grease on the hitch, then using a cover will keep your hands (and probably your trousers) cleaner.
If you are towing something with a friction-damped coupling (like most caravans have), you will need to make sure that the paint on the towball is removed and that it’s kept free of grease of any kind which will wreck the friction pads in the caravan hitch.
You’ll also need to keep it free of the rust which will form when you’ve take the paint off, which means using a cover for the ball.
Snag is that when the hitch is stowed, it’s stowed upside down.
That means that the ball cover collects rainwater and crap off the road, and that makes the ball go rusty, and you have to clean the rust off before hitching up the coupling on the caravan or the friction pads will get contaminated by the rust…
There are ways round this, but it’s a bit of a compromise.
And a bit of a pain in the arse, to be honest.
As far as I’m aware, if you are intending to use the towing hitch for a bike rack (which is clamped immovably to the ball when in use) then you don’t need to faff around with a cover for the ball because you won’t be wanting to grease it or need to take the paint off.
Good point Soup. I only used my towbar to tow a light dinghy, and hold a bike carrier, so it was greased for the dinghy trailer - but I never had any problems with the bike carrier moving around.
Chris
Chris
VW Golf GT 1.9TDI from 11/98 to 3/06; Skoda Octavia L&K 2.0TDI from 3/06 to 12/11; VW Golf Plus SE 1.6TDI DSG from 12/11 to 2/15; VW Golf SV SE 1.4TSI DSG from 2/15 to 11/20; Skoda Karoq Sportline 2.0TSI 4x4 DSG from 11/20.
