Towbar fitting

[Gasy]

I've used a spacer as the alko caravan stabiliser was touching the bumper
But you can get extended neck towballs
Which would be better I think as less chance of bending the longer bolts needed with the spacers

[xt600]

The best one in my opinion is the MA465 made by A1. Ian sells them in the club shop for less than you can buy them from the manufacturer. A reasonable DIY job but you will need a decent small holesaw to drill the chassis to fit the bolts.

If you've got a later Aero model, you'll need to made a small cutout to the rear bumper splitter.

I agree that this is the strongest (and heaviest!) towbar available. However, had do do a surprisingly large amount of grinding to get mine to fit snugly on the exhaust side. Solid once its on though. Managed to get mine for less than £100 direct from A1:-)

[Simon Jones]

That's interesting. I've fitted two and they both went on fine although they're flipping heavy as you say.

[xt600]

That's interesting. I've fitted two and they both went on fine although they're flipping heavy as you say.

Yeah it was a right faffage! It was about 12mm off the chassis, because of the curves being too tight. Also had to take some off the spot welds which hold that bracket on the rear of the van, the one which the 'other towbars' rely on as a sole fixing point for that side. I didn't want to bolt it on and have gaps for water to sit, so hopefully the two hours or so spent grinding it into shape will be worth it in the long run One of the main reasons for the towbar was to provide a little rear protection for the lpg tank....now that IS a pain to fit! Been days welding and drilling trying to get decent fixing points....

[Tertiary]

Ok, it would appear that I have the 'wrong' towbar so what would be the best course of action now?

1. Re-weld the spot welds
2. Fit another bracer to the chassis from the towbar
3. Both of the above
4. Bin it and get the proper one

I favour just a re-weld because I'm not going to be dragging a caravan around - the heaviest weight would be my half tonne trailer.....

Over to you guys.....

[g8dhe]

We don't tow a caravan around either but it still happened!
Get the nearside support seam welded back into the right position as a starter.
Then check out the towbar itself as the opposite side takes all the strain and may have started to crack where it is bent into the vertical position for fixing on the offside. If its OK then we got our garage to weld on an extra support on the towbar on the nearside angled up to meet with the main box element supporting the chassis on the nearside. Just make sure they keep the support well clear of the exhaust, otherwise the exhaust can tap against the new support causing much searching for the noise!

[sotal]

Just read this and you've got me worried now!

I hadn't really paid much attention to ours as it came fitted to the Bongo and I shouldn't need to use it very often. Having said that I've already used it to tow a light weight caravan ~800kg and a trailer full of rubble ~1500kg.

Can I take it that as nothing seems to be sagging that it is OK?

Is there an easy way to tell what type is fitted?

[g8dhe]

When its starts to sag then that's because the plate is breaking the welds ;-(

The two designs are;

The better one
http://www.g8dhe.net/bongo_images/A1_To ... 65_A-3.pdf

and the cheaper one
http://www.g8dhe.net/bongo_images/Tow_Trust_TMZ168.pdf

[Tertiary]

We don't tow a caravan around either but it still happened!
Get the nearside support seam welded back into the right position as a starter.
Then check out the towbar itself as the opposite side takes all the strain and may have started to crack where it is bent into the vertical position for fixing on the offside. If its OK then we got our garage to weld on an extra support on the towbar on the nearside angled up to meet with the main box element supporting the chassis on the nearside. Just make sure they keep the support well clear of the exhaust, otherwise the exhaust can tap against the new support causing much searching for the noise!

Thanks for the reply, Geoff

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my previous post but the spot welds are NOT broken off (yet!) and the towbar isn't bent cos I haven't fitted it yet!
I should have asked whether getting the spot welded bracket fully welded would suffice or get an extra support as well but I think I can guess what you would recommend, based on your own experience

I'm leaning towards getting the proper towbar now, to be honest - just for peace of mind if nothing else

Paul

[g8dhe]

No it won't be sufficient, the first time it happened to us, we had the plate seam welded and the same style of towbar put back on, and the whole cycle repeated. The design of the cheap one is actually quite poor, the offside support is created by bending the plate thru 90° which stresses the plate to begin with, then if the nearside support gives at all the offside plate cracks on the bend. The A1 design has the support bolted to the horizontal bar which is a lot stronger than bending a plate!
Our load has only ever been the Thule 900 series backbox and after the first problem, we have carefully measured and kept the weight to less than the 50Kgs limit, but it still went the second time. Since having the extra support its been fine, so I would always stick with the A1 in the future!

[Tertiary]

Thanks again Geoff

All useful information - its just a shame that you had to find out the hard way...

I am partial to a bit of steel fabrication but I don't think I'll alter the towbar I have because of potential insurance issues should things go horribly wrong - best to just buy the proper one methinks...

[sotal]

When its starts to sag then that's because the plate is breaking the welds ;-(

The two designs are;

The better one
http://www.g8dhe.net/bongo_images/A1_To ... 65_A-3.pdf

and the cheaper one
http://www.g8dhe.net/bongo_images/Tow_Trust_TMZ168.pdf

Thanks for that,

Just been out to look and it looks more like the cheaper one

I won't be towing very often so should I be worried? Naively I towed a fair weight already and it all held securely. The nose weight wasn't overly heavy though. I did have thoughts of getting a towball mounted bike rack and still may - will that cause any issues?

I take it that the other side will always hold and it isn't going to go flying off with a heavy load on?