Towing a sankey trailer with a P38

[DMJ51X]

Hi I currently have a 300tdi disco but am thinking about buying a P38. I tow a sankey trailer behind the disco with a nato hitch fitted to a heavy duty rear bumper. Can I get the same style of bumper for a P38? Does any body tow a sankey behind a P38 and if you do what set up have you got?
Cheers
ralph

[Brett69]

I don't but would love too, I tow alot of different trailers behing my P38 from hoarse boxes to cars on trailers an multi bike trailer, tows great an never had any problems

[DMJ51X]

Its getting the height of the Nato hitch correct that i am worried about - i have had a look around on the web but so far havent found anything.

[Brett69]

the towbar on my p38 is really too high for all the trailers I tow so don't think you'll have a problem, Plus I now have a body & suspension lift lol! or will have soon as I can get my eas reset  :(

[Range Rover Blues]

Nato hitch want sot be a lot higher than a standard tow hitch.  Typically around 16-18 inches to the top of a towball (though our Brian James car trialer sat lower) whearas a Nato should be at least as high up as the crossmemeber on a 110.

[DMJ51X]

Yeah i know - but what height is a normal towbar set up on a P38 compared with a 90 / 110 rear cross member? As I said on my Disco I use a NATO hitch fixed to the bumper which is a bit low but tows OK.

[Range Rover Ron]

Hello mate,
regarding you issuewith the P38/Sankey...........
I have a P38 and a Sankey trailer.

I have not towed the Sankey yet with the P38 but can suggest the following.......
Try lower profile tyres and the trailer,
I'm looking at fitting standard LR alloys to my Sankey which will lower the height of the Sankey as the normal military standard tyres have a tall side wall.
also the P38 can be "locked" in any suspension setting, so you can set the height to "high/off road" and lock it, this will give the P38 a 2" lift.
doing both these things will probably get you as close to a good tow height with the Sankey as you'd need to be.
that is what I'm going to do ASAP.
Good luck,
Ron.

[James.Harwood]

I wouldn't advise towing with the suspension raised.

[lambert]

Also if the car is after 1998 vintage then you ought to have a type approved tow hook which a pintle is not.

[Range Rover Ron]

I'm thinking of making an adaptor for the P38.
My thinking is to have a tube just inside the ID of the hook on the Sankey, have a locking pin in the top of the tube to hold the tube in position and slide the tube down insode the hook up to the pin, then have a plate welded to the bottom of the tube and fix a "normal/Standard" tow hitch to the plate. I know it is not "Type approved" but there are a few Land Rovers out there wtih a non-type approved tow hitch set ups on their Land Rovers which are probably better and stronger than the Type approve type!
Then again it might be easier just to sell the Sankey!

[Moneypit]

There is a type approved hitch available from Sparex 10642. This will tow a Sankey.

[Range Rover Ron]

Thanks moneypit, I'll check it out.

[Range Rover Ron]

Hi Moneypit, I've had a look at Sparex and I think you may mean the dual use ball and locking hitch, the hitch is not the problem it is the height of the hitch, I can use a similar hitch, a NATO hitch, a pin and ball or a normal 50mm ball type hitch. The real problem is then the height of the coupling with the Sankey sitting at almost 45 degrees and not looking right. I need to lift the height of the Sankey/NATO hitch to have the trailer more in line with the P38, I know you do need a bit of noseweight so I'm not looking for level but need a way to get the unit sitting right and looking safe. If I raise the hitch it will also give me problems with the tailgate dropping onto the riased hitch so making a tube type coupling to the correct height seems to be the way to go. Cheers,
Ron.