[zacs7]

G'day,

Had a towbar on my '91 Sierra. Which got burnt in the black saturday fires . However, the towbar survived ... about the only thing that did, block melted, sunraisers turned into ovals, etc. (See avatar).

Would the towbar be safe to use on another Sierra? Or best to just chuck it? Doesn't seem to fit on my '97 Sierra though.

[SuziBlu]

If the fire was hot enuf to melt the block, I would be giving it the big biffo.

Im not a metallurgist tho.

[v.w.dave]

paint it then Ebay it....

[zacs7]

v.w.dave wrote:

paint it then Ebay it....

Thought of that, two reasons why not:

1. I like my fellow Suzis
2. Liability if it snaps in half

[Scrawny]

Bin it, not worth the risk

[Rusho]

v.w.dave wrote:

paint it then Ebay it....

Hmm.... Not to start an argument or anything but that is one of the most suupid things I have ever heard. From what I can tell from a few of your threads you are a QUALIFIED mechanic? (correct me if I am wrong), comments like that just seem pretty idiotic. The guy is asking a genuine question because he actually cares about the safety of others. Just my opinion though

X2 with Scrawny..not worth the hastle buddy

[zacs7]

To the bin it goes. Might even saw it in half so no one else uses it

[jimbo_jones]

Rusho81 wrote:

v.w.dave wrote:

paint it then Ebay it....

Hmm.... Not to start an argument or anything but that is one of the most suupid things I have ever heard. From what I can tell from a few of your threads you are a QUALIFIED mechanic? (correct me if I am wrong), comments like that just seem pretty idiotic. The guy is asking a genuine question because he actually cares about the safety of others. Just my opinion though

X2 with Scrawny..not worth the hastle buddy

I think he was joking dude relax were not on ol

[Rusho]

jimbo_jones wrote:

Rusho81 wrote:

v.w.dave wrote:

paint it then Ebay it....

Hmm.... Not to start an argument or anything but that is one of the most suupid things I have ever heard. From what I can tell from a few of your threads you are a QUALIFIED mechanic? (correct me if I am wrong), comments like that just seem pretty idiotic. The guy is asking a genuine question because he actually cares about the safety of others. Just my opinion though

X2 with Scrawny..not worth the hastle buddy

I think he was joking dude relax were not on ol

I couldn't be anymore relaxed...just thought it was a bit odd to say that when the man was asking a serious question, he might not have known any better and painted it and flogged it off to someone.

Absolutely no disrespect to vwdave what so ever.

[lump_a_charcoal]

Chiil people, VW just forgot the [joke] [/joke] tags...

[Gwagensteve]

It's a bit 50-50. I assume the photo on your avatar is of the remains of your car. The condition of the panels, bumpers, B pillar etc would indicate that maybe the heat wasn't all that intense. The wheels are especially vulnerable, because they are loaded, and because they have very flammable rubber tyres wrapped around them. A truly hot fire would hav seriously sagged the B pillar, for instance.

I've been involved in a little bit of metallurgical fire investigation work. AFAIK, you will need over 570˚C for some time to cause significant metallurgical changes. Did your car get hot enough... maybe - maybe not. My hunch is that if the very light panel work didn't distort, the towbar should be fine. The problem, IIRC, is that the material softens slightly if the temperature exceeds that. For structural applications (as opposed, say, to pressure piping that holds gas or hydrocarbon) the changes shouldn't be significant enough to bother you- 10% of so.


It's also wroth remembering that the bar should have "free air" cooled - I don't imagine anyone put the car out with cold water - and chilling a hot part quickly will cause embrittlement, not cooling it slowly. It will also have been heated and cooled evenly and regularly - nowhere near as hard on the material as the welds that assembled it in the first place, and nowhere near red hot.

Maybe I have just enough knowledge to be dangerous, but I think that towbars are VERY conservatively designed and any likely changes to the material very insignificant. I'd run it.... if it fitted your 97 (coiler)... which it wont.

Steve.

PS I'm from Kinglake - My house was OK, but I feel your pain.

[lump_a_charcoal]

A towbar is about 12mm thick isn't it? Surely a fire couldn't do that much damage...

[31zook]

lump_a_charcoal wrote:

A towbar is about 12mm thick isn't it? Surely a fire couldn't do that much damage...

you would be suprised, we pulled 610mm "I" beam out of a burnt out winery and it bowed about 2m, this is 25mm steel also.... Rafter size wood will stand up better in intense short fires then steel will... Im not a fire expert or anything btw

[lump_a_charcoal]

Yeah but if the panels didn't melt too much then I doubt a tow bar would have -

However destroy and bin it just to make sure.

[Mugwui]

Hey Zacs7,
Sorry, just off topic for a bit, but I moved from Whittlesea to Brisbane in the week the fires started, so I never got to see the damage, so nowing how bad it really was...I hope to hell that your zook (+ tow bar) was as bad as it got for you, maybe a house... but I hope your friends and family all made it out. Ditch the tow bar mate...

[jdk81]

Vic roads towbar capacity..
Longitudinal load 1.5 towbars rated load (675 kg)
Transverse 0.5 rated load (225 kg)
Vertical 0.5 rated load (225 kg)

The rated load is 450 kg.

I will take it off your hands and test it. If it passes the vic roads requirements then ill ebay it.

[zacs7]

Yeah thanks for the info guys,

Going to destroy it and bin it.

Mugwui wrote:

Sorry, just off topic for a bit, but I moved from Whittlesea to Brisbane in the week the fires started, so I never got to see the damage, so nowing how bad it really was...I hope to hell that your zook (+ tow bar) was as bad as it got for you, maybe a house... but I hope your friends and family all made it out. Ditch the tow bar mate...

Yeah lost the house and lots of other stuff. But oh well! Still had the Vitara

[Mugwui]

zacs7 wrote:

Yeah thanks for the info guys,

Going to destroy it and bin it.

Mugwui wrote:

Sorry, just off topic for a bit, but I moved from Whittlesea to Brisbane in the week the fires started, so I never got to see the damage, so nowing how bad it really was...I hope to hell that your zook (+ tow bar) was as bad as it got for you, maybe a house... but I hope your friends and family all made it out. Ditch the tow bar mate...

Yeah lost the house and lots of other stuff. But oh well! Still had the Vitara

Thats shit man, but so long as there were no lives lost then its all good.
I went through the Ash Wednesday fires as a kid and we lost the lot, and then I saw the fires headed for whittlesea, prorerty was on the market and we took off and moved to Brisbane, and left it behind thinking it would be an insurance claim again, but it missed Whittlesea by 1km, so I feel your pain too.

[hutch]

Put the tow bar up at your local watering hole. RIP little zook.

[v.w.dave]

Rusho81 wrote:

v.w.dave wrote:

paint it then Ebay it....

Hmm.... Not to start an argument or anything but that is one of the most suupid things I have ever heard. From what I can tell from a few of your threads you are a QUALIFIED mechanic? (correct me if I am wrong), comments like that just seem pretty idiotic. The guy is asking a genuine question because he actually cares about the safety of others. Just my opinion though

X2 with Scrawny..not worth the hastle buddy

I was joking when I said ebay it. It is a welded fabricated load bearing safty item. The fire would not have hurt the metal but it would have killed the welds. if you put that kind of heat on a normal weld like the ones used on the off the shelf towbars. The welds become very brittle. It will take the weight for a bit but if you start towing a trailer the side to side pull will make it fail.

For those out there that have not picked up on my odd quotes and odd answers to some questions.
I give stupid answers to questions that bring that kind of answer on its self.
I am a very outgoing happy go lucky jester of a person.
If you can't see that I am being stupid about some of the things I say I am sorry. If anyone out there really needs me to dabb your cheeks of the tears let me know I have a full box of tissues and plenty of dummies to pasify the babys out there.
Some of your guys out there need to sit back a little in your computer chair and relax its ok I promiss your pudding will be there in the fridge when you get back to the fridge.

[RIKSTR]

zacs7 wrote:

Yeah thanks for the info guys,

Going to destroy it and bin it.

Mugwui wrote:

Sorry, just off topic for a bit, but I moved from Whittlesea to Brisbane in the week the fires started, so I never got to see the damage, so nowing how bad it really was...I hope to hell that your zook (+ tow bar) was as bad as it got for you, maybe a house... but I hope your friends and family all made it out. Ditch the tow bar mate...

Yeah lost the house and lots of other stuff. But oh well! Still had the Vitara

Feel your pain, we lost a house in Canberra, with all my stuff in it a few years back.

From the metal stuff we salvaged, I would suggest that the t-bar will be stuffed. It does not have to warp to ruin the integrity of the metal and a car will burn at a huge heat.

Good luck mate

[weaves]

my towbar is only there to land on instead of the fuel tank. Never towed with it, never intend to.

but unless your using it for anything other than that, cut it and chuck it.

weaves