Tow bar fitted.

[smiffy]

Just finished fitting my towbar.
Needed a recovery point at the rear and thought the bar at the back would stop the bumper gettin damaged as well.

With the bar fitted have i just made things worse??? Surely i've made departure angles,driving deep ruts..... etc worse the way the plate and tow ball are so low
Has anyone had major problems with the above after fitting a towbar????
Is it worth gettin a new bar made up without the plate and ball and maybe a shackle at either end just for off roading?????

Cheers

[MUD MUNCHER]

i went off roading yesterday with a towbar fitted with no problems the only thing i bent was the electrics socket

[smiffy]

I got stuck without it in a deep rut. Hope i'm not gonna get stuck in shallow ones to!!!!

[Hilux]

?????

Hi nice roof bars where did you get them.

[smiffy]

Hi nice roof bars where did you get them.

Ahhhhhhhh. My best mod yet. Just need to get some lights for them now!! That photo dont do them justice

This one does.........NICE

[NFC]

I was a little worried when I fitted the bar to mine. Like you I wanted a decent recovery point.

It makes a lot of noise when it grounds out, but it doesn't seems to have stopped forward progress yet, and that includes a day in the Norfolk quarry and a weekend on Salisbury Plain.

[Snoop]

I was a little worried when I fitted the bar to mine. Like you I wanted a decent recovery point.

It makes a lot of noise when it grounds out, but it doesn't seems to have stopped forward progress yet, and that includes a day in the Norfolk quarry and a weekend on Salisbury Plain.

Exactly the same comments m8 - it hits the deck a bit more with a thud but I've never got hung up on it. My electrics socket is well bent though.

[laser_jock@work]

A towbar will lessen the departure angle a little- but when it's as poor as the Surf is already it won't matter much! If you go offroading you can expect to loose the electric socket completely at some stage or other. I've found the best idea is to unbolt it altogether and tuck it up in the chassis (along with the foglight) so it's out of harms way. At the same time you should remove the towball especially if it's on drop down plates- otherwise it just adds to the 'plough effect'.

A towbar is good protectection for the rear end though. I happily slam the back of the car down onto it and don't worry too much about wrecking the bumper any more.

[kitesurf_phil]

I never went off road until after I fitted a tow bar. It does ground out a bit and mine has come up and hit the underside of the rear bumper after a hard wallop. I got round the problem of the electrics by utilising the hole in the rear bumper for lowering the underslung spare wheel.

[Diezel Weazel]

Just finished fitting my towbar.
Needed a recovery point at the rear and thought the bar at the back would stop the bumper gettin damaged as well.

With the bar fitted have i just made things worse??? Surely i've made departure angles,driving deep ruts..... etc worse the way the plate and tow ball are so low
Has anyone had major problems with the above after fitting a towbar????
Is it worth gettin a new bar made up without the plate and ball and maybe a shackle at either end just for off roading?????

Cheers

Yeah Smithsurf, I have a Pickup Towbar fitted, it's not ideal but found it worked like a(Plough) at Salisbury over the weekend, I could of sown seeds, while doing the rounds.
I did manage to get stuck & it may have helped if me 4WD was working proper
& I wasn't towing a plough check out the salisbury pics....

There's always a Payback.... You just can't see it Comin !!!!

[Bunkle]

Fitted one to mine last weekend - the tubular towequipe one and think it hangs down far too low, i'm going to take off the bumper and modify the geometry of the brackets to lift it up under the bodywork, considering welding another tube ontop first to go all the way across the back, like you i bought it purely for a recovery point so never bothered with the electrics !!

[laser_jock@work]

Fitted one to mine last weekend - the tubular towequipe one and think it hangs down far too low, i'm going to take off the bumper and modify the geometry of the brackets to lift it up under the bodywork, considering welding another tube ontop first to go all the way across the back, like you i bought it purely for a recovery point so never bothered with the electrics !!

Has your Surf had a body lift done? This would create a big gap between towbar and bumper.

[smiffy]

Think i'm going to see about gettin a bar made up without the angled tow plate/bar section and change over when going off road. At leat it should be easy to copy and it can go onto the existing plates off chassis. Shackles on either end as well.

[Chillitt]

theres an american half track (from White i think) that had a roller on the front bumper to help it over stuff... now if the tube across the back revolved its got to help..

[smiffy]

theres an american half track (from White i think) that had a roller on the front bumper to help it over stuff... now if the tube across the back revolved its got to help..

Now it's gettin technical!!!!!!!!