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Luis28
30-01-2009, 15:28
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how far should the trailer hitch be away from the bumpers:confused: :mad: :confused:

EricH
30-01-2009, 15:30
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how far should the trailer hitch be away from the bumpers:confused: :mad: :confused:The trailer hitch must be on the bumper perimeter. Other than that, the only rule is that the trailer must hit bumper-to-bumper rather than trailer tongue-to-bumper. How far that needs to be depends on your specific design. See <R18> for full details.

GaryVoshol
30-01-2009, 15:31
As someone has recently answered you, see <R18-E>

Russ Beavis
30-01-2009, 15:40
This should be an easy trigonometry problem for someone to work on. Nearly every robot will have its Trailer Hitch mounted to a long, straight section since every corner must have 6"+ bumpers on both sides.

With a 7" wide Trailer Hitch mounted on a straight section with nearby 3.5" bumpers (backing + noodles), someone should be able to calculate the required distance from the Hitch to the nearest bumper to avoid tongue-bumper contact.

Let us know what you get for an answer.

Russ

Luis28
30-01-2009, 15:40
can they touch the bumpers

Russ Beavis
30-01-2009, 15:43
I think that the trailer's tongue will touch the bumper first if they're butting. That's a no-no.

Inspectors will almost certainly be attaching a trailer to your robot and swinging it side-to-side to ensure bumper-to-bumper contact (although if the magic answer is, for example, that a 3" gap from the hitch to the nearest bumper is required, we might just use a tape measure instead).

Russ