Removable tow bar ramblings

I had a tow bar before having a new Black sheep rear cross member fitted but it was a bit of a bodge , the supports were welded to the chassis. I don't really need a tow bar but was thinking an easily removable on may be handy. Bearing in mind the cross member is 6mm plate in a "U" section would the rough drawing below work.

'Fraid not. You need to brace upwards to the chassis or xmember. As you have it now, either the pipe will bend or the weld will fail through fatigue.

Here is mine.
It's bolted both through front of cross bomber and in the bottom of cross member.
I have two large metal straps back to the chassis legs which have removable pins through chassis.
The main tow bar piece itself is a piece of box section into a larger piece of box section again with pin through it for strength and saftey
To stop it ratting about to much I use a old vice and tapped a thred on it and that also goes into box section to just stop any rattling. This vice handle has noughting to do with towing itself.
Hopefully my picture explain it better. This makes it fully removable. I can also make other items like hooks or towing rings etc etc to enter that box section. So it can be a muliti purpose item.

Cheers for that will have to have a rethink

Seem to remember reading somewhere that tow bars etc. need to be type approved so making your own no matter how strong or well thought out is illegal????
Just saying ......

Shifty1962 said:

Seem to remember reading somewhere that tow bars etc. need to be type approved so making your own no matter how strong or well thought out is illegal????
Just saying ......

Click to expand...

Depends on Age of vehicle Only applies to post Aug 1998 vehicles.

Aye my tow bar isnt technically removable it bolts up with 2 bolots through the chassis.







About to fit a dixon bate adjustable lump on it as I could have done with it at the nationals this year as nothing on road tyres was moving

This is by no way a dig at you the OP But. IF your asking weather the design is good enough...... I'd personally be concerned about build and design ability. Concerned thats all. If you need to ask then I'd personally ask a fabricator and or someone who can once you have ultimate strength built into the design.

Personally I would weld in plates to beef up the mounting point on the chassis however I would also make it so a Std off the shelf removable ball like what is used on freelanders or later Rangies that way the ball and its design is strong enough. you just have to build the socket to the same spec or over engineer the socket to fit the off the shelf item.

The design you have will twist the centre 6mm or not. it needs more support for the box tbh

Shifty1962 said:

Seem to remember reading somewhere that tow bars etc. need to be type approved so making your own no matter how strong or well thought out is illegal????
Just saying ......

Click to expand...

Didn't realise that was the case. Seen many tow bars home made on old a new vechiles. Many vintage shows I go to some way shape or form a old type vechile has been modified to tow a modern caravan or showmans van, or vice versa.
And also anyone can buy a approved tow bar from ebay or a dealer but it doesn't make them approved to fit it to there vechile.? I know of one such silly sod that decided on his fiat punto he couldn't be bother to drill out the chassis holes to the correct size bolt so only fitting 6mm both sides. And drilled the holes himself into the tow bar as the holes were behind the fuel tank which he couldn't be bothered to take off. So I can see your point but buying a approved tow bar doesn't stop people with no idea fitting them approved or not.

Found it. Makes interesting reading looks like we are all find to do what we want. To land rovers.



Towbar EC Type Approval

EC 94/20 type approval regulations were introduced in the United Kingdom on 1st August 1998 as a part of the wider European Whole Vehicle Type Approval.

The regulations mean that for passenger cars registered on or after this date, if fitted with a towbar, the towbar must be designed and manufactured to EC94/20 standards.

An EC Approved towbar will carry a plate or other durable label bearing the EC approval number plus other information including the S-Value (maximum tested noseweight) and the D-Value (the test load as calculated by EC94/20 requirements - note the D-Value is not the same as the towing capacity).

The main requirements of an EC Approved towing bracket are that it is fitted to all of the towbar mounting points specified by the vehicle manufacturer, that it has undergone a rigorous testing procedure overseen by the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA), and that production towbars are subject to Conformity of Production (CoP) to ensure that production towbars are manufactured to the same standards as required by the initial test towbar.

If the car* is registered on or after 1st August 1998 and you fit a towbar, it MUST by law be approved to EC94/20 and installed correctly according to the manufacturers' instructions. It is an offence under the vehicle Construction & Use Regulations to fit, use or permit to be used, a non-approved towbar on the vehicle

* The regulations apply to Passenger carrying vehicles up to 3500kg Gross Vehicle Weight. Light commercial vehicles are not covered by this requirement, so for instance a Ford Transit van is not required to have a Type Approved towbar even if registered after August 1998.

Does the towbar have to be professionally fitted?
The towbar must be installed correctly under the EC94/20 regulations. However there is no requirement for the towbar to be installed professionally, there is no qualification required under the regulations.
Provided the towbar is installed in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, it is perfectly permissible for the owner or anyone else for that matter to fit their own towbar to their car.

By The Way: HMRC confirm that even a Landrover Defender 110 Station Wagon with either 5 seats of 7 seats is indeed classified as a commercial vehicle.

jai_landrover said:

This is by no way a dig at you the OP But. IF your asking weather the design is good enough...... I'd personally be concerned about build and design ability. Concerned thats all. If you need to ask then I'd personally ask a fabricator and or someone who can once you have ultimate strength built into the design.

Personally I would weld in plates to beef up the mounting point on the chassis however I would also make it so a Std off the shelf removable ball like what is used on freelanders or later Rangies that way the ball and its design is strong enough. you just have to build the socket to the same spec or over engineer the socket to fit the off the shelf item.

The design you have will twist the centre 6mm or not. it needs more support for the box tbh

Click to expand...

As the title says it is just my rambling that i chucked on here to get some ideas, i don't really need a tow bar but funnily enough did look at a Range Rover swan neck and if i did press on with it would not be looking to dig out me mig and chuck something together in the garage, wouldn't want to be overtaken by a trailer down some country lane