Anyone made their own tow bar?

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:12 pm

Hey All,

Anyone made their own tow bar? Anything to look out for? I've fitted towbars to other cars with a little modification, but this time i have a toyota town ace (cough cough) hayman reece towbar i picked up for $10 that my dad and i are fitting under the rear bumperbar of my L wagon.
The towbar rail will be mounted backwards to allow clearnace for the bumper to fit over the top of it.
The bumper needs to be gutted out a little and i'm using the mounting points for the tow hitches under the car plus an extra bolt hole further back (if you check in the boot under the floor compartment lid you'll find a rubber grommet, this is where my other bolts will be going in - with a piece of tube to avoid crushing the chassis rail). I'm yet to check to see if there's a bolt mounted for the standard tow bar that just needs a hole drilled, if there is, that will be added to the setup.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Also, having the towbar mounted under the bumperbar retains my standard suspention setup ground clearance...

And another question: what's the most ppl have towed with an L-series? and in hindsight was it a stupid move?

SuBaRiNo · Post by **SuBaRiNo** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:02 pm

Vidler and I are attempting to make a tow bar for my Hatch in the next few weeks. Turns out there was never a factory option for this for my car.

I don't have any answers to your questions im afraid... but just for your knowledge and others... i was told today that legally any Joe Blow with a welder can make a tow bar for cars older than 1988.

Dave

Suby Wan Kenobi · Post by **Suby Wan Kenobi** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 12:03 am

I have towed a forklift out of a bit of soft ground. it bent the tongue down but that was it, yes it was a silly thing to do but i was the only one with a car capable of going around the forklift without getting bogged

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 12:36 pm

Suby Wan Kenobi wrote:I have towed a forklift out of a bit of soft ground. it bent the tongue down but that was it

Nice one... so long as it was only the tongue that bent and not the back of the car...

Heard of a girl who borrowed her dad's late 90's statesman to tow two large horses in the float... after that trip they couldn't open the rear doors cos it only had a light work tow bar setup and not a heavy duty one...

wagonist · Post by **wagonist** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:04 pm

While your attach points are good, there's not enough of them.
All the points you've mentioned are below the line of the tonque, especially if you're going to have a rail behind the standard bar.

You're going to need to either use the mounting points of the rear bar (a bitch to do because you need to cut the bar & bolt it to the towbar), or bolt your rail through the car into the cabin.
There is a box section built into the frame in line with the rear bumper to do this through, but make sure you use spacers in the the void of the rail, otherwise it'll crush.

That would give you a "light" bar upto maybe 800kg.
for me personally, I'd rather have the under part bolt to the holes used to hold the fuel tank on.
Gets it a bit further forward and you don't have to use new holes.

Xtreme_RX · Post by **Xtreme_RX** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:12 pm

Building a tow bar is not legal. They will not comply with ADR rules. So if your 'home made' tow bar comes off & hurts someone or damages another car your insurance won’t cover you.....

wagonist · Post by **wagonist** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:44 pm

Xtreme_RX wrote:Building a tow bar is not legal. They will not comply with ADR rules. So if your 'home made' tow bar comes off & hurts someone or damages another car your insurance won’t cover you.....

I forgot to mention that.
The only reason I did my own from scratch is that it only cost me $200, as opposed to about $800 for the quotes I received. One of the dramas of owning a grey import

I am a Civil Engineer, too, and when I was designing it I was constantly sticking my head under current model Falcon sedans & utes to get ideas.
The way mine is built, it'd rip the factory Ford one off before mine did if they were hooked upto each other.
I've also towed a car trailer with my L wagon rolling shell on it.