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Towbar removal caution

Jon Wildsmith

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I put a new towbar on my 100 today and while I was struggling to undo one of the bolts holding the old bar on realised the answer to an old question :)

Last year I helped Ray fit a tow bar to a 100 he had just bought that didn't have a bar. When we tried to fit the brackets to the forward mounting holes we discovered the captive nuts inside the chassis rails were at a strange angle that prevented the bolts going in. Looking in the ends of the chassis rails with the bumper removed we could see that the plate the captive nuts are welded to was bent out of shape and we couldn't understand how that could have happened but figured it was some weired manufacturing defect. We ended up cutting the brackets out and making new ones so what should have been a quick job was a PITA.

Fast forward to today - one of the forward mounting bolts on mine was really hard work to undo even with an 18" bar and had to be worked back and forth for a long time. I'd removed the other bolts already and I noticed one of the captive nuts was a bit out of place ... sure enough the plate was starting to distort from the force of getting that last bolt out with nothing else holding the bracket in place. I was just about able to get the bracket back into shape without too much drama but a simple job could have been turned into a PITA again.

So if you're removing the bar on your 100 watch out, if one of the bolts on the forward mount is stiff put the other 2 bolts back in tight to hold the bracket and if you're buying a 100 that doesn't have a bar fitted but will want one, check those captive nuts look like they're accessible.

Not very exciting I know but here's the new bar that doesn't hang down as far as the OEM bar and has type approval for use with the type approved AHC (adjustable height coupling) from the same company:

IMAG0314.jpg


IMAG0307.jpg
 
I recently put a tow bar on my wifes Cherokee, I had never experienced the captive bolts welded onto a plate inside the chassis rails before system. By the time I had taken all the bolts out ready to bolt in the tow bar the plate was so distorted that nothing was ever bolting back in again. I ended up having to weld part of the tow bar to the chassis. Not pretty so Jon if only I you had written this three weeks ago I may have been more prepared. Good advice!
 
Jon

Any details on the towbar manufacturer and price most welcome or maybe a linky?
 
It's a Tow-Trust TT883 bar with type approved medium AHC (there are some cheaper but not type approved ones on ebay) and I bought them from Norbrook Trailers Ltd for £250.90 inc P&P. The medium AHC is quite tall which suits me and my lift but I'll have a play on level ground soon to see if a small AHC would be long enough which I suspect it would TBH.

When I ordered it I was expecting it to still be a bit of a clearance issue and to be ordering another bar once checked out, that I would cut half the blade off as I've done with my 'off road' OEM bar. In fact the blade only goes about 25mm lower than the modified OEM bar I used to run for off road use only so I think I'll just leave this one and not bother with the shortened one. I'll only fit the AHC to tow the caravan or normal height trailers, it shouldn't be needed for my trailer I'm building.

The OEM bar is fine on a none lifted truck, it's only the suspension lift and big tyres that meen having to use an AHC. Wonder what use I can find for the spare OEM bars now :)
 
I've just removed the Toyota Original tow bar from my 100 and used a 3/4 inch diameter x 3ft long stainless steel pipe on a socket lever to remove the bolts. They were extremely rusted in but fortunately they all came out square without distorting the captive nuts. There was a total of 6 x M12 and 10 x M14. I had the car up on ramps to get more clearance for that length of tommy bar. A very tiring job indeed. I got a quote from Toyota for a new one out of interest............£303 excluding ball and wiring loom.

I think I will soak some hard pieces of foam in waxoil and force them well through the captive nuts to help prevent further corrosion to the threads.

Frank
 
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