New Shogun needs Towbar

[Heethers]

Can some one help Mitsubishi dealer has quoted £429 fitted including vat, had a quote from Northwest Tow bars of £385 all in. The dilemma l have is the warranty issue, if the dealer does it no problems, if l go with the third party if there are problems caused by the retro fit on the electrics could invalidate the warranty.

My gut feeling is to pay the extra £44 and have know warranty issue's, in the meantime if l find a quote that's £100 less than maybe have to rethink the situation, your thoughts folks.

Nigel H

 

[Hamer_5041128]

On my 3 new Shoguns over the years i have always had Dealer fitted towbars for complete peace of mind.

I have always had the fixed bolt on Alko towball as opposed to the swan neck.This has enabled me to have a 1 inch spacer plate fitted between the towbar and the towball which makes hitching up much easier.

Mitsubishi towbars are not cheap but you have complete peace of mind.

I know of one person who had a non Mitsubishi towbar and electrics fitted to a nearly new Shogun. He experienced electrical problems due to incorrect fitting which invalidated his warranty and cost him a large amount of money due to damage to the wiring loom.

Hamer

 

[Heethers]

Hammer, made my mind up yesterday rang the Mitsubishi dealer and had them fit it, why do l need the 1" spacer l have the ALKO 3004 hitch on my van surely if l open the door l can still get to the hitch, also the bar Mitsubishi are fitting as two positions that allows it to slide back and forth by about couple of inches, l believe the tow bar they use are a Witter tow bar.

I believe ALKO have retro fit for the 3004 hitch for 4X4's can l do without this if l fit the spacer, your help would be greatly appreciated.

NigelH

 

[Hamer_5041128]

NGH,

The reason i have a 1 inch spacer is so i can hitch up without having to open the door, usefull in wet weather.I have the standard Alko 3004 hitch.

I believe you can get a different shorter handle for the Alko 3004 to make hitching up easier,but the spacer gives me just enough room to use the standard handle.

Hope you enjoy your new Shogun.

Hamer

 

[Lutz]

Have you checked whether the 1" spacer is actually approved for use with the towbar that you have fitted? Unless the towbar manufacturer has specifically allowed the use of spacers, you may may have invalidated warranty coverage that way.

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

i had a company do it and they did such a bad job that it shorted out and melted the soundeadning into the car. it almost caught fire we was really lucky.

my advise is pay the extra and get them to do a good job. make sure its the dealer that does it.

jo

 

[Heethers]

All had the Harratts fit a Mitsibushi tow bar for piece of mind wasn't much dearer than the other quotes.

Hammer it has two sets of holes allowing the tow bar to extended out, the fitter has set it on the second pair allowing it to protrude further out from wheel cover, will try this weekend to hitch it up to see if l can without opening the door.

NigelH

 

[Hamer_5041128]

Lutz,

My Mitsibushi dealer fitted the 1 inch spacer on my present Shogun and my 2 previous ones.He says there is no problem with the spacer.

Hamer

 

[Heethers]

Hammer does the dealer supply them l can fit them myself, just need to find out what torque value for the tow ball bolts.

NigelH

 

[Lutz]

If you were told by the dealer that the spacer isn't problem, then he should have presented you the appropriate documentation.

 

[Hamer_5041128]

Lutz,

In my 40 plus years of caravanning, 13 towcars, at least 9 with spacer bars i have never received documentation. The first 10 were all Volvos the last 3 Mitsubishis. All towbars fitted by my Volvo or Mitsubishi dealers. The ones without spacers were swan neck tow bars on the Volvos.I have many caravan friends over many years who have and still do use spacer bars, none have received documentation and none of us have had our warraties affected.Most of my friends deal with main dealers. Well respected main dealers should know wether it is right or wrong to fit spacer bars to their own vehicles.

Hamer

 

[xtrailman]

Has ANYONE actually see a main dealer fit a towbar?

To my knowledge ever towbar is out sourced, to the local towbar company. I would never have a main dealer fit a bar, the experts fit them everday, know all the problems.

But i would have the vehicle specific wire loom, its just not worth frying the ECU with a poor installation.

The drawback is the ridiculous expense of the loom, but as a ECU can cost thousands, its money well spent.

By the way if the bar is a witter, the documentation for my xtrail, states the maximum spacer at 1".

 

[Lutz]

Lutz,

In my 40 plus years of caravanning, 13 towcars, at least 9 with spacer bars i have never received documentation. The first 10 were all Volvos the last 3 Mitsubishis. All towbars fitted by my Volvo or Mitsubishi dealers. The ones without spacers were swan neck tow bars on the Volvos.I have many caravan friends over many years who have and still do use spacer bars, none have received documentation and none of us have had our warraties affected.Most of my friends deal with main dealers. Well respected main dealers should know wether it is right or wrong to fit spacer bars to their own vehicles.

Hamer

It is the responsibility of whoever fits the towbar to provide the owner with documentation that the installation is homologated in accordance with to the regulations and these specify exactly the location of the towball relative to the vehicle attachment points. If a spacer is fitted, this dimension will have been modified by the thickness of the spacer. This is OK so long as the towbar manufacturer has taken a spacer into account in his test procedure and consequently also in his documentation. As Ray has pointed out, the documentation that Witter supplied with the towbar for his Xtrail has made an allowance for a 1" spacer, so there is nothing wrong with that, but if such documentation is lacking, the fitment of a spacer is an illegal modification.

 

[Heethers]

All, just been to try the electrics on the new tow bar the dealer fitted, guess what fitted a 7 pin plug and they new it was for a caravan with 13 pin socket.

Been onto them today, very apologetic, it's going to cost me a day to sort out, we go away a week Friday, so everything needs to be sorted, so much for dealer fitting, my mobile fitter l have always used l never had a problem with.

But when you are constrained by warranties you have know choice.

NigelH

 

[Hamer_5041128]

Ray,

When i had Volvos my Volvo dealer always fitted the towbars, and my Mitsubishi dealer likewise.I was present when the last two towbars were fitted.

Hamer

 

[xtrailman]

Hamer

I stand corrected. I do know my local fitter, fits the bars for our volvo dealer, one was there when mine was fitted, it was unplated, on a trade plate.