P38A Tow-Bar bolt sizes anyone?

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DanClarke

DanClarke

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The 2nd-Hand tow-bar I bought on the bay-of-E for the Rangie came with bolts, washers and lock-nuts inserted through the holes in the appropriate places.
All of the supplied bolts are M12.
All of the supplied bolts are too short.
The pre-formed and "crush-tubed" holes in the cross-member and the ends of the chassis rails appear to be M10 (i.e. a 10mm drill shank is a nice fit).
Why would the holes in the tow-bar itself be a different size?
I have ordered some fully threaded M10 8.8 hardness bolts at 100mm and will cut them down to fit.
Can anyone provide any guidance regarding the mis-match between the 12mm holes in the Tow-bar and the manufactured 10mm holes in the Rangie please?
 
DanClarke said:
The 2nd-Hand tow-bar I bought on the bay-of-E for the Rangie came with bolts, washers and lock-nuts inserted through the holes in the appropriate places.
All of the supplied bolts are M12.
All of the supplied bolts are too short.
The pre-formed and "crush-tubed" holes in the cross-member and the ends of the chassis rails appear to be M10 (i.e. a 10mm drill shank is a nice fit).
Why would the holes in the tow-bar itself be a different size?
I have ordered some fully threaded M10 8.8 hardness bolts at 100mm and will cut them down to fit.
Can anyone provide any guidance regarding the mis-match between the 12mm holes in the Tow-bar and the manufactured 10mm holes in the Rangie please?
Click to expand...
To allow for tolerances maybe?
 
freelance said:
Holes in chassis aren’t 12mm threaded per chance ?
Click to expand...
Nope, straight thru crush-tubes, a 10mm drill-bit shank detects no thread ridges. :)

Henry_b said:
Factory fitted bar is nice ;)

What ya going to be towing?
Click to expand...
The purpose for it (Tow-Bar) is to externally carry my touring trike (don't get excited, its a 20" wheeled Tadpole layout e-bike).
I have a Thule bike rack base tow-ball clamp and I will make a custom rack to put the trike on. I can just about get the trike inside the Rangie, but I would rather not.
Firstly e-stops can put the trike thru the windscreen , secondly you bang yr head on the pedal looking L/R at junctions and thirdly its oily & dirty. :D
 
I have an original genuine LR tow bar on mine. I bought it NOS and measured the hitch bolt before fitting it in case I ever needed a new one. I'm afraid I don't know the exact dimentions of the bolts for the tow bar bit, but here are the dimentions of the bolt used to hold the hitch on.

It's all imperial sizes....

The shaft is 3/4 inch, 4 inches long, and the last 1 1/2 inches of the shaft are threaded. (So its a set screw really I think @wammers would know).

I took it in to Tighten Up in Twickenham and they couldn't guage the thread, but they said it was some form of imperial fine thread. It's also 8.8 hardness.

Seeing as that bit is imperial, is there a chance the other bolts are too?

Hope that helps, they were 10 a penny in Tractor Supply in the USA when I was there last month. If I'd know, I would have bought a bag of them back home...!
 
MrGorsky said:
I have an original genuine LR tow bar on mine. I bought it NOS and measured the hitch bolt before fitting it in case I ever needed a new one. I'm afraid I don't know the exact dimentions of the bolts for the tow bar bit, but here are the dimentions of the bolt used to hold the hitch on.

It's all imperial sizes....

The shaft is 3/4 inch, 4 inches long, and the last 1 1/2 inches of the shaft are threaded. (So its a set screw really I think @wammers would know).

I took it in to Tighten Up in Twickenham and they couldn't guage the thread, but they said it was some form of imperial fine thread. It's also 8.8 hardness.

Seeing as that bit is imperial, is there a chance the other bolts are too?

Hope that helps, they were 10 a penny in Tractor Supply in the USA when I was there last month. If I'd know, I would have bought a bag of them back home...!
Click to expand...
I don't know the bolt size/thread but Rimmers stock it ANR2692 £30.00 inc vat:eek: but I couldn't find the nut anywhere,
I didn't need it for towing was going to fit it as a reversing aid LOL
 
Thanks to all for the input.
I have made an executive decision and today the postman delivered ten 100mm fully-threaded M10 bolts of 8.8 hardness and 20 thick washers and 10 M10 nuts.
I intend to use these to mount the tow bar. There's 4 that go through a chassis cross-member, and 4 more that go through the chassis rail (2 each side).
I suspect that this will be sufficient to my needs. This is my reversing sensor and to mount a carrier for my trike, not towing horseboxes or tanks. :D
 
And the Bastard thing is on at last.
There was a struggle while the cross-member plate was out of alignment with the cross-member and the painted-shut nature of the tow-bar refused all attempts at gentle persuasion.
In the end I attacked it with a 2 & 1/2 ton trolley-jack to hold everything rigid in relation to the ground and put a footprint wrench on the swan-neck securing lock-nut with a big bit of tube over it.
It finally cracked the paint and the faceplate lined up with the cross-member. All bolted in and solid as a rock. A bargain @ £75 for the tow-bar I think.


e1a2d256-b242-4363-afa5-86055c3ba794.jpg
 
And it is all back together again. :D
Picture below shows the basis of my custom trike-rack (A Thule bike-rack tow-ball clamp).
It is pretty bloody strong. I weight >200# and I can sit on it and take my feet off the ground and it doesn't move at all on the tow-ball.

So for £75 and a few bob on nuts & bolts I got a super deal there I think. In elapsed time it has taken me about 4 hours to do so I've saved any garage "fitting-costs" too.
The steel for my rack arrives tomorrow, so its going to be fun.


20190324_161245.jpg
 
DanClarke said:
And it is all back together again. :D
Picture below shows the basis of my custom trike-rack (A Thule bike-rack tow-ball clamp).
It is pretty bloody strong. I weight >200# and I can sit on it and take my feet off the ground and it doesn't move at all on the tow-ball.

So for £75 and a few bob on nuts & bolts I got a super deal there I think. In elapsed time it has taken me about 4 hours to do so I've saved any garage "fitting-costs" too.
The steel for my rack arrives tomorrow, so its going to be fun.


View attachment 173339
Click to expand...
Have you fitted the electrics?
 
Datatek said:
Have you fitted the electrics?
Click to expand...
Hi Keith,
Durite is on, and cable routed into light cluster void. Will get the soldering iron out next week and follow your document guide.
I got frog-marched into the back garden and hit with a lawn-mower, so had to perform my gardening duties instead.
 
DanClarke said:
Hi Keith,
Durite is on, and cable routed into light cluster void. Will get the soldering iron out next week and follow your document guide.
I got frog-marched into the back garden and hit with a lawn-mower, so had to perform my gardening duties instead.
Click to expand...
Bonne courage, I have 1.5 acres of grass to cut and it's growing like mad. Wife usually does it but she's away at the moment:(
 
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