A-FRAME GALLERY A FRAME GALLERY A TO Z RECOVERY A-FRAMES
Don't be misled into thinking you can save some cash by using an un-braked A-frame to tow a car behind your motorhome . The law says that if brakes are fitted to the car they MUST be used! Towing A-frames used to recover broken down vehicles are subject to different rules and stringent speed limits. |
CUSTOMERS IN THE NETHERLANDS PLEASE CLICK HERE
CUSTOMERS IN IRELAND OR NORTHERN IRELAND CLICK HERE
Motorhome A-Frames. Widen your options...
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Remember the days when a holiday in a motorhome meant squeezing wife, two children,a labrador
and all your goods and chattels into a tiny Dormobile? Thankfully, today's motorhomes are a much
more sensible size and a thousand times more civilised, they go well and they stop even better.
But there is one drawback with all those extra feet and inches; Cornish country lanes, French Bocage
country roads, village streets and supermarket height barriers suddenly become nightmarishly small.
Forget the cruel joke that is public transport, the answer is to take a car with you. Spanish
hamlets and the likes of Robin Hood's Bay pose no problems for the great little cars that are
on the market now. And increasingly, motorhomers are choosing a Motorhome A-Frame as the best
way to take their car along.
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Armitage's braked A-Frames are the ideal way to hitch your car to the back of a motorhome. They
are safe and easy to use. And, most importantly, cars on towing a-frames cannot snake like a
conventional trailer. We can make and fit Motorhome A-Frames to most popular makes of small car
for an all-in price of £799. The price gives you an easy-to-fit towing braked a frame, complete with over run
brakes and full electrics. Our price goes to £849 for cars that are either over a tonne or have multiplex,
computer-controlled electrics and to £899 for cars that have multiplex electrics and weigh between a
tonne and 1600kg. But we do tell you in advance, there are no nasty shocks.
PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT CARS WITH TRADITIONAL FLUID CLUTCH AUTOMATIC
GEARBOXES OR CVT TRANSMISSION ARE NOT SUITABLE TO BE TOWED BY A-FRAME.
CARS WITH SEMI-AUTOMATIC GEARBOXES WITH ELECTRONICALLY-OPERATED DRY
PLATE CLUTCHES ARE FINE TO BE TOWED FOR LONG DISTANCES IN NEUTRAL.
Cars with multiplex electrics (more computing power than the original lunar module!) need to be fitted
with several diodes, a kind of electronic non-return valve, to prevent damage being done to the on
board computer. This type of electronics appear on many European cars but on few from the Far
East.
A standard jockey wheel with a solid rubber tyre is a £24.99 extra; a jockey wheel with a wide,
pneumatic tyre, ideal for use on soft ground or gravel, is £29.99. A jockey wheel makes all the
difference when hitching up, transforning the operation into a one-person task. Instead of someone
having to support the hitch and walk with it while you drive up to the rear of the motorhome, you simply
wind out the jockey wheel and drive to your target.
It's easy to see the hitch from the driver's seat. AND if you happen to get the motorhome/a-frame car
into a tight spot where reversing is impossible, just drop the jockey, unhitch, and drive the car away to
where you can safely hitch up again and carry on. The jockey wheel is removed in seconds for
stowage.
The Motorhome A-Frame is engineered so that the fixing points on your car are as unobtrusive as
possible, yet conveniently placed. The towing eyelets used on all our a-frame cars can be removed
readily to give complete discretion and cause no raised eyebrows at MOT time.
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There is no laying on your back on cold, wet concrete with a bag of spanners to fit an Armitage
Motorhome Towing A-Frame.Versions for cars up to 1000kg weigh a mere 22kg. Up-to-1600kg versions
are 26kg.
The Health and Safety watchdogs say that 25kg is a sensible maximum (It makes you wonder how
our forebears ever lifted grain sacks weighing 100kg, all day, every day!).
Best of all, Armitage's is a one-stop shop. At the same time that we are making the Towing A-Frame
we can fabricate and install a towbar for your motorhome so that it's all done and dusted in
the day.
Give yourself the best of both worlds with an Armitage braked, motorhome A-Frame. Give us a ring and we
will set your wheels in motion.
NUMBER PLATE
If you need a number plate (by law, the towed car must have the number of the towing vehicle covering
its own rear number plate), we can make you one with a GB badge for £10.99. Just bring along your
driving licence or similar ID and the log book of the towing vehicle to keep things legal with the DVLA!
We can only make long number plates on the day. We have to buy square ones in, so please give us a
little notice if you need one like the Daihatsu Copen (above) has.
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This is what the towing braked a-frame looks like when it is removed from the car and folded ready to take its place in the boot of the car or in the motorhome. So far, we have only encountered problems squeezing the a-frame into a very small number of cars. Up to press, the only cars that have refused to accommodate the a-frame have been the convertible versions of the Smart and the Mini. BUT we have found a solution. We can set up the a-frame so that the a-frame module (the part with AT on it) and the towing hitch can be separated by withdrawing two spring-loaded pins. This capability adds £30 to the cost. This function can also be a great boon if you wish to split the a-frame to reduce its weight. |
SECURITY
Many customers ask us how to make sure that their braked a-framed car stays hitched to their
motorhome while they break for a cup of tea at motorway services.
Short of an armed guard, probably the best answer is to upgrade from the standard Al-Ko hitch
to the insurance-approved Triplelock hitch for just £65.99 including VAT.
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The Triplelock hitch is made by Indespension and has a great advantage over most other locks in that you use it by default. The lock is built into the hitch and you have to unlock it to hitch-up. As soon as you hitch, the lock springs into operation and cannot be unlocked without the use of the key. Foolproof! The head comes with a special anti-theft capped bolt which sits in the recess you can see. It can only be removed with a cutting disc, an ear-splitting din and a Guy Fawkes night sparks shower lighting up the sky. |
