Hi guys
As I plan to buy and tow a Sankey trailer once the 2a swb is finished and I know the Sankey dips when attached to a series landy, should I fit an 88" Dixon Bate hitch or a 109 Dixon Bate hitch, what do you think

? I tow a Sankey with a Series and the level is about right. The damn great NATO hitch goes on the rear cross member as its 4 bolt fixing. Will you have a swivel or fixed trailer ring? My Sankey narrow track has a swivel ring (I think the they all do?) so I use the hitch fixed. The NATO hitch just clears the bottom of the rear door so there's very little scope for going up.

narrow track Sankey, lightly loaded, std Sankey wheel and tyres, Series 2A mil chassis, mil std 2" lift, 235/85 tyres, hitch on cross-member. Rides level and tows really well. Door "just" opens. Drop plate is for tow ball not NATO.

rob1miles said:

? I tow a Sankey with a Series and the level is about right. The damn great NATO hitch goes on the rear cross member as its 4 bolt fixing. Will you have a swivel or fixed trailer ring? My Sankey narrow track has a swivel ring (I think the they all do?) so I use the hitch fixed. The NATO hitch just clears the bottom of the rear door so there's very little scope for going up.

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How come your Nato hitch is close to your rear door?

The stock rear Series crossmemeber is not drilled or designed for a Nato hook, which uses a 4 bolt fixing pattern. You can use the bottom holes and drill some upper ones, but these will lack the internal struts and will be prone to bending the rear cross member.

Military rear cross members or 90's onwards (until Td5's) do have the holes for a Nato hitch.

A Nato hitch will also not mount directly to a standard Series drop plate as the bolt patterns are different.

Re NATO hitch and door, well its a big lump, the real pain is that the door hits the Sankey hand brake lever if its on. The other pain is sharp end on the hitch locking pin. The pic shows it, I think the door hits the hitch if its open but of course the truck would have had a tail gate in service.

I supose it depends on where the trailer tow hitch is mounted to as the ones i have seen have the fitted in different places, some under the A frame, some inside the A frame and some on top of the A frame but most have them on top hence why i am asking.
Mine is a civi 2a with a rear door

Just re-read your op, what is the difference between an 88 and a 109 Dixon Bate?

Also re-reading your orginal post. Why do you need the DB plate? The NATO hitch goes on a set of doubler plates on the rear cross member.

Here's a photo of my set up. The white bit above the hitch is the door, the two ally brakets hold an ammo box we have on the door to hold camping kit. The std socket has a plug with a short lead that goes to the NATO 12 pin socket, if I tow a normal trailer I just unplug it. You can see where the hitch sits, if its open it hits the door. The holes were pre-drilled but I had to get the doubler plates. You can see the NATO hitch holes are on a different spacing to the std tow holes underneath. I would consider getting a Sankey that has been modifed to a 50mm ball, but only if it still uses the over run brakes. The modified ones are often cheaper, or fit 15" wheels and get it a bit lower. Sankeys are amazingly well made, can take huge loads and punishment, are exempt loads of regs because they pre-date them (my narrow track is 1966), they are plated with a date which helps if you go across the channel, but they are very high to load, pigs to reverse because the bar is short, the narrow tracks don't have a tail gate (I made one) and have a manaul reversing clamp so you have to get out everytime you reverse (and sooner or later you will forget and wonder when you are not moving or as happend recently, not have enough room to get out once the trailer is stuck) Oh, and they have no bracket for the disconnet brakes, you have to make one and weld it under the handbrake lever so the brakes come on if it uncouples. They do look great with a series though.

@rob1miles looks like you have a militarily style rear cross member. Not sure what the op has got. But a standard Series rear cross member does not have the upper holes for the Nato hitch, you will have to drill them. But the cross member is prone to bending in as it isn't internally strengthened here.

Note this one even has more holes than normal, but none are the right pattern for a Nato hook:

receiver hitch is the best option as you can take the hitch off to give you ground clearance if you plan to go offroad.
However if you don't plan to need the use for offroading then the dixon bate is probably the best option.

windy81 said:

receiver hitch is the best option as you can take the hitch off to give you ground clearance if you plan to go offroad.
However if you don't plan to need the use for offroading then the dixon bate is probably the best option.

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You won't likely find a bolt on receiver hitch for a Series though.

This has potential:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tow_hitch#/media/File:NATO_hitch.JPG