A drawbar is a solid coupling

Coupling

A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. Couplings do not normally allow disconnection of shafts during operation, however there are torque limiting couplings which can slip or disconnect when some torque limit is exceeded.The...

 between a hauling vehicle and its hauled load. Drawbars are in common use with rail transport, road trailers, both large and small, industrial and recreational, and with agricultural equipment.

Agriculture

Agricultural equipment

Agricultural machinery

Agricultural machinery is machinery used in the operation of an agricultural area or farm.-Hand tools:The first person to turn from the hunting and gathering lifestyle to farming probably did so by using his bare hands, and perhaps some sticks or stones. Tools such as knives, scythes, and wooden...

 is hauled from a tractor mounted drawbar. Specialist agricultural tools such as plough

Plough

The plough or plow is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture...

s are attached to specialist drawbars which have functions in addition to transmitting tractive force.

Road

The drawbar should not be confused with the fifth wheel coupling

Fifth wheel coupling

The fifth wheel coupling provides the link between a semi-trailer and the towing truck, tractor unit, leading trailer or dolly. Some recreational vehicles use a fifth wheel configuration, requiring the coupling to be installed in the bed of a pickup truck as a towing vehicle...

. The drawbar requires a trailer

Trailer (vehicle)

A trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle. Commonly, the term trailer refers to such vehicles used for transport of goods and materials....

 which either loads the drawbar lightly (for example a small boat trailer, or caravan, where a load of up to ~50 kg is part of correct trailer loading practice), or the load is the weight of the coupling components only (larger trailers, usually but not always with a steerable hauled axle, front or rear). By contrast, the fifth wheel is designed to transmit a major proportion of the load's weight to the hauling vehicle.

A drawbar is mounted or located on the tractive vehicle and is used to accept the coupling of the load. The direction of haulage may be push or pull, though pushing tends to be for a pair of ballast tractor

Ballast tractor

A ballast tractor is a heavy haulage road vehicle designed to pull or push heavy or exceptionally large loads. Unlike the tractor unit from an articulated trailer, the ballast tractor is designed or adapted to pull or push loads from a drawbar...

s working one pulling and the other pushing an exceptional load on a specialist trailer.

Rail

Two or more passenger cars or freight cars may be attached by means of a drawbar. At both extremes there is a regular coupler

Coupling (railway)

A coupling is a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train. The design of the coupler is standard, and is almost as important as the railway gauge, since flexibility and convenience are maximised if all rolling stock can be coupled together.The equipment that connects the couplings to the...

.