Miller Industries recently unveiled its redesigned 5-inch-girth towing forks for towing Class 8 heavy trucks.
The company said the new forks, which are manufactured to fit into the standard Miller fork receiver, will be available in January 2019. These wider towing forks are universal and can be used on all Century and Vulcan heavy-duty units.
“We began working with the over-the-road chassis OEM manufacturers and their suppliers as soon as we heard that there was a change in the works for the over-the-road LTL truck axle platforms,” the company said.
“Knowing that this change would affect the towing and recovery industry, we partnered with the axle manufacturer Hendrickson. We both worked to develop a solution that would accommodate the newly upgraded axle configurations. The arrival of a wider-based axle from Hendrickson sparked the need for this change.”
The updated towing forks are cast steel and have a wider base (throat) than the industry standard 4.5-inch towing fork.
This new wider 5-inch towing fork ensures that all three versions (short, medium and tall) no longer are put in a “point load moment,” because the base of the axle now sits in the girth of the fork.
“For close to a year we have been working directly with Hendrickson to revamp the current version of the popular towing fork to meet the new requirements,” the company said. “We have also done extensive testing of material content and have approved these new castings for mass production.”
Beginning in January 2019, these 5-inch wide forks will become standard, Miller said, replacing the previous version fork on all 20-ton and above units, and will be available as an option on medium-duty units.