Towbar fitting

[ICBongo]

Hi all,

A really quick question. I'm thinking of fitting a towbar to Frosty, I have seen some for sale on eBay but can anyone tell me is this a DIY job or should I get one fitted? And are the anchor points already there?

If you can point me in the direction of some information I'd appreciate it.

Many thanks

[Tony x]

Search the forum although I expect someone will be along soon.
There appears to be two types (at least), one of which can cause a mounting bracket to fail which, in turn, can cause the bumper to drop at one side.

[Simon Jones]

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.

[Purple Pixie]

Hi!

Just spent an evening fitting a second hand towbar to our 1999 Bongo..... as usual all the photos up to the point of downing tools are on my Flickr album here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnbulla ... 5464488764



I made sure I gave the towbar a brush down and a token lick of paint to make it look less like a cannon recovered from the wreck of a 1700 naval cutter!





The cross-header plastic expanding rivets used to secure the rear closer and liner to the rear bumper were very soft and a few needed drilling out, I will be refitting these using soft grip rivets instead.

The bolts holding on the towing eye were too short to be reused. Replacements were part of the lucky bag contents that came with the towbar!

QUESTION: the central mounting on the floor pan needs to be bolted into place up and through the upper boot floor (accessible under the plastic trim adjacent to the boot lock) AND a spacer tube is needed (dropped over the clamping bolt down an oversized hole) to allow the load to be spread but NOT to allow the floor to be distorted.

WHAT DIAMETER of Tubing is needed? Just big enough I.D. to fit over the bolt? flush or slightly undersize to be clamped up?

n.b. The towing eye is purely for supporting a monster bike rack and not for towing per. se. so any electrics will be on a loose fly lead.

TOMORROW is (i) off to the motor factors for a pair of HT bolts for the towing ball fitment and a backing plate for the towbar to protect the bumper (ii) to metalsupermarkets for a wee bit of thick wall tubing if not in my stores [peer review most appreciated on this with respect to the diameter and thickness]

[g8dhe]

The spacer on mine is
19 x 76 Spacer Bush and has a 10x30 flat washer at the top to spread the load out and uses a M10x110 bolt with sprung washers top and bottom.

[Purple Pixie]

The spacer on mine is
19 x 76 Spacer Bush and has a 10x30 flat washer at the top to spread the load out and uses a M10x110 bolt with sprung washers top and bottom.

Looks good, found this datasheet online too!

[g8dhe]

If that is the type your fitting then bear in mind the nearside support is only spot welded, we had an extra strut welded to the towbar frame and angled up to bolt onto the chassis above the exhaust after having the support peel away !

[mikeWalsall]

For heavy duty (caravan) towing the A1 MA465 is the one that's generally recommended .. and I believe is sold in the Bongo Shop ..



http://www.towbars-uk.co.uk/fitting_ins ... 4d9ab2.pdf

[Simon Jones]

Yep, that's the best one . I removed one of the type Purple Pixie has it has too much 'bounce' when using it with a towbar-mounted rack. They are the design that tends to cause the spot welds to fail resulting in a saggy bumper. The MA465 has plates about 8mm thick that extend about 30cm along the chassis rail to counter-act the force applied on the bar.

You can see the plates here in this photo taken looking up inside the O/S wheelarch:

[Purple Pixie]

Update

I got the spacer tube for nothing from Metalsupermarkets (the manager recognised me).

Only bit of butchery was fashioning the 20mm hole in the top face of the boot since I didn't have a bit big enough I used a nibbler to open up the 15mm hole I created via more traditional means..............

The towbar is fitted, the only thing left to do is to fasten the bumper securely to the bodywork. Surprisingly, Halfords stocked the correct plastic clips needed for the inner wheel arch liner to wheel arch!



Question: do people have spacers as standard on their towbars?

[Gasy]

The bumper drops with those tow bars as it breaks some spot welds on the chasi , I beleave
I'd get it welded were it is spot welded

[Simon Jones]

Question: do people have spacers as standard on their towbars?

The spacer is intended to prevent the rear cross-member being crushed when the bolt is tightened which can cause problems with mis-alignment of the latch for the tailgate.

[Purple Pixie]

Question: do people have spacers as standard on their towbars?

Apologies, I meant the spacer blocks between the ball and the towbar bracket like this one:



http://www.trailertek.com/cgi-bin/sh000 ... ml#aTBA120

[roosmith]

I believe these are used when you are towing something with a large hitch, such as a stabiliser. I needed one on a previous car, as when you turned hard one way the stabiliser hit the bumper.

[Simon Jones]

I've used a spacer when using a towbar-mounted rack to get the required clearance.