Fitting a tow bar. (Need to read)

[charlysays]

I've often pondered this scenario. Many of us drive old cars where there are lots of minor "non factory" repairs, mods etc, some which we may be unaware of.
As such I always try to insure with specialists these days, Adrian flux, Peter James, RH, insurers who will insure pretty much all minor modifications like remaps, hybrid turbos, tow hitches etc . If you fail to declare something which the insurer would otherwise have insured, I understand that the ombudsmans view is that they should not cancel the insurance but just ask for the extra premium you should have paid in the first place.
If the insurer had a policy of not insuring the specific mods on your car then they can cancel the insurance without repercussions from the ombudsman.
This is basically why I always use a specialist insurer.
I renewed with Peter James this year and got a multi car classic policy with commuting, unlimited mileage on both my Merc and my scimitar, all mods declared, breakdown cover etc for half the price I could get anywhere else.
They were so cheap it would actually pay to get a knackered 40+ yr old classic and just park it up and insure it to get those benefits.

 

[MetalMonkey]

Cars registered before August '98 (UK) or April '99 (NI) don't need a type approved tow bar.

Which is annoying when you have one registered in NI on June '99 and need to retrofit what is now unobtanium.
Quite how much they check into it and validate the providence, given its often on a paper sticker, I don't know.

 

[bricol]

I had one as of late that did rattle a bit, it didn't engage very far so I re-drilled the cross pin hole approx 2 1/2" further back, and it is now rattle free.

I need them to be able to change them out, as we run 3 sizes of ball, along with a pintle hitch.
As well as different heights for different trailers.

Luckily we only run one standard size - 50mm diameter. Regs also require the tow ball to be within a certain range of height from the ground, which means most trailers/caravans suitable for towing by a car sit pretty okay behind them. (I'm aware all sort sof other types are out there for other trailers etc)

Dodge is lower than the ones on my Alfa and Lancia, but my car transporter trailer sits pretty level behind it, so I've not been tempted by any more rise in another mount - although every time I have to remove the jockey wheel to prevent it hitting the ground I do rethiunk that. I did redrill it to sit it further in, simply to reduce the amount of overhand from the receiver.
I was surprised at the different options in the USA - then I thought it seemed a good idea that would limit the trailer sizes to that could be towed behind vehicles that were too small to do so . . . and then I saw the adaptors

I know there is humour in the USA over our standard tow balls - look weedy compared to some US ones, but I don't think I've ever heard of one breaking itself - heard of a few mounts rusting through etc. but then I saw the US trailer electrical connections I do think our fixed sockets do a better job. I did use a plug-in trailer wiring adaptor to allow me to modify the rear lights to add separate turn signals from the brake lights easily.

 

[bricol]

Errrr, no!

Only if the tow bar was the cause of the accident, or was towing at the time. If it was not material to the accident, then they cannot refuse to pay the third party. Might not stop them trying, but it wouldnt stand up for 5 seconds in law.

that's not what I said - I said they will claim costs back after having paid out. There was something in the news about a case relatively recently.

If you do some looking on the ombusman site - they have cancelled insurance over undeclared mods. And that's something you don't want as you then have to admit it when looking for cover.

 

[Roger440]

that's not what I said - I said they will claim costs back after having paid out. There was something in the news about a case relatively recently.

If you do some looking on the ombusman site - they have cancelled insurance over undeclared mods. And that's something you don't want as you then have to admit it when looking for cover.

My comment stands. They cannot claim costs back if the undeclared mod wasnt a material fact in the accident. For the simple reason that it in no way affected what happened, and they have therefore not suffered any greater loss as a consequence.

If it WAS a material fact, then of course they can claim it back. But that can only occur because you did not correctly insure.

Cancelled insurance is a seperate matter entirely.

 

[Robotstar5]

The brackets for mine fitted to tapped holes in the "chassis" on my Grand Vitara, although I did have to run a tap through to clean them first, luckily having had Jap bikes I had the correct fine pitch tap no cutting of plastics or removal of anything.

 

[indy4x]

Interesting, with our 2" square detachable hitches, if you don't remove it when not being used, police
are starting to ticket drivers.

I have a 2" receiver hitch on my Jeep GC, its not type approved in the UK so I can't use it for towing, recovery purposes only

 

[indy4x]

Rutt Roh....supposed to taker them out, and grease them up a bit.
I have a 2" sq. wire brush for just that, has a large handle on it for rusty bores.

Others on here have said out system is illegal in the UK, how did you manage to get it ?

You can get type approved reciever hitches but they are few and far between

 

[Erie Fred]

I have a 2" receiver hitch on my Jeep GC, its not type approved in the UK so I can't use it for towing, recovery purposes only

...and use of a "Bumper Dumper"....

 

[Roger440]

I have a 2" receiver hitch on my Jeep GC, its not type approved in the UK so I can't use it for towing, recovery purposes only

Interestingly, the new ford ranger factory tow bar is a reciever style hitch.

 

[Ton-up]

I'm sure its been mentioned before in this thread, but on modern vehicles, its just not fitting the towbar that's important, the vehicle needs to be told it has a towbar, so it can alter abs, etc, when towing. I have read of people having hassle when claiming for an accident when the vehicle hasn't been coded correctly.

 

[Robotstar5]

I'm sure its been mentioned before in this thread, but on modern vehicles, its just not fitting the towbar that's important, the vehicle needs to be told it has a towbar, so it can alter abs, etc, when towing. I have read of people having hassle when claiming for an accident when the vehicle hasn't been coded correctly.

I noticed that when I was looking at cars a couple of years ago, I always check the towing capacity and saw mention of car software needed changing when fitting a towbar.

 

[cheb]

Mine, a 2020 Vivaro, needed the software tweaking. It knows if the trailer electrics are connected and working correctly, and deactivates the reversing sensors. There may have been other adjustments I don't know about.

 

[bricol]

The brackets for mine fitted to tapped holes in the "chassis" on my Grand Vitara, although I did have to run a tap through to clean them first, luckily having had Jap bikes I had the correct fine pitch tap no cutting of plastics or removal of anything.

Exactly the same on the rear of my '91 Lancia - everything there, the Lancia bar just bolted up.

2007 Alfa - manual has a drawing of where to drill holes (as did the tow bar instructions) - as did, come to think of it, my '87 Alfa 75 TS.

Dodge bar came with bits of bent wire to slide and orient nut plates inside box sections at the rear over existing holes

 

[PhillipM]

Most of them are made to bolt to existing holes and fixing where possible tbh.

And yes, coding is a pita - even worse now some cars are coming with the function/options settings on the vehicle heavily encrypted, so that they can paywall upgrade options - so there's plenty of Mercs, etc, that can no longer be coded to tell it there's a towbar fitted without taking it to the dealer only, or running full dealer software (£££££'s for the merc stuff per year) - absolute pain and every vehicle will be going down that route soon because of concerns with ECU tampering the past few years.

 

[JOEPRO]

This is really all we need to see:

Allianz tells Auto Express it was ‘right in principle’, but has agreed to cover the claim in full​

Insurance company got called out for it - had to do a U turn and case closed. No case law to support any future rejection of a claim on this basis

 

[jmp49]

Oh it absolutely does. In fact they're often worse because they're reinforced more around the beam for the detachable mechanism.

Almost any commercial towbar out there for cars or vans means replacing the rear deformable crash beam on the vehicle and also cutting or removing any of the low speed protective plastic, foam or composite springs that stop low speed ~5mph parking or traffic shunts from doing any chassis damage.

They all get taken off and replaced with a hunking great chunk of steel section with 8-12mm thick legs to the chassis. Often some cutting to the bumper itself too, including trimming away plastic reinforcement or stiffeners that are behind the bumper itself.

I do a fair few, I've probably fitted or been involved in fitting 40-50 off-the-shelf towbars, fabricated another 20-30 custom ones, and fitted similar in front towing frames in the past 6 months alone, I haven't seen one that doesn't have a massive change in the passive crash systems of the vehicle.

Ok, I had in mind the factory fit ones that are designed as part of the car but I imagine the aftermarket bars are as you described. I hadn't even considered the front attachment frames for flat towing, but its illegal here anyway I think.

Wrt the other discussion running through this thread, Ive got a 2" box hitch reciever on my originally German but imported to the UK motorhome, because the previous owner had it made specially to tow a classic jaguar racecar on a transporter when it was UK registered and the reciever frame has a data plate on it, though I doubt its legal. As everything rear of the axle on the motorhome seems to be made of ply, it actually adds a bit of assurance that if someone runs into the back of it, that it has something substantial to resist as motorhomes of that era just tend to expode in a cloud of spintered ply and plastic rather than having actual crash structures for occupant safety. But its nothing like a modern car with crash absorbtion systems. Motorhomes are pretty appaling in crash tests in general. And yes its declared though the ball itself lives on a hangar in the wall as the irony is that any towbar at all is very optimistic, because it can barely get out of its own way on anything but flat level ground with a asthmatic old non turbo diesel engine.

One of my landrovers has a nato claw hitch coupling on it front and rear along with a factory winch fairlead socket. I told the guy who does my insurance and he said as its basically brick shaped, if its in a another accident a towbar or fairlead protusion is the least of anyones issues but its noted.

 

[PhillipM]

Motorhomes are hilarous, you have to have a type approved towbar fitted. But that towbar doesn't have to be approved to that vehicle. Or fitted to any particular place. So you can have a type approved bar that's then been fitted to any old ****ty lash up of bolted/welded parts to get it back to the chassis underneath, and none of that (currently, in the UK) needs to be checked or approved. You could use 2x4's and woodscrews if you like.

Zero point in the type approval.

 

[sako243]

Others on here have said out system is illegal in the UK, how did you manage to get it ?

As others have said as long as its type approved it's fine (on a vehicle post 1995). See below too.

You can get type approved reciever hitches but they are few and far between

Most modern Land Rovers (at least the full size ones) have them. All L322s certainly had 2" receivers. There were three options from factory I was, 2" detachable swan neck, I think this has a tapped receiver hitch and big bolt since it wasn't meant to be removed often. The Swan neck had a key to remove it, my 2011 has this. The 2007 I had before had a "farmers" drop plate, basically a big plate to allow the hitch to be mounted at different heights. This had just a pin and r clip to slide it out of the receiver. There was then a permanent rigid setup for more heavy duty stuff. Quite why I'm not sure since I heard from some staff it was designed around towing 12t.