Towbar fitter

[Yorky]

Hi there, new member here. We’re about to purchase our first caravan, a second hand 2 berth and wonder if anyone could recommend a reputable fitter in the Glasgow area please.

 

[otherclive]

Hi there, new member here. We’re about to purchase our first caravan, a second hand 2 berth and wonder if anyone could recommend a reputable fitter in the Glasgow area please.

Try looking at the Approved Workshops Scheme which lists approved AWS technicians around the country. One could do a pre purchase inspection if required, or a service after purchase.
Oh and Welcome to the Forum

Approved Touring Caravan & Motorhome Servicing in the UK

The Approved Workshop Scheme is the benchmark for motorhome and touring caravan servicing in the UK with fixed and mobile workshops nationwide.

www.approvedworkshops.co.uk

For approved towbar fitters look at NTTA website, but companies like Witter, Westfalia, Brink etc will all have approved fitters for their product range.

 

[Yorky]

Try looking at the Approved Workshops Scheme which lists approved AWS technicians around the country. One could do a pre purchase inspection if required, or a service after purchase.
Oh and Welcome to the Forum

Approved Touring Caravan & Motorhome Servicing in the UK

The Approved Workshop Scheme is the benchmark for motorhome and touring caravan servicing in the UK with fixed and mobile workshops nationwide.

www.approvedworkshops.co.uk

For approved towbar fitters look at NTTA website, but companies like Witter, Westfalia, Brink etc will all have approved fitters for their product range.

Many thanks

 

[Beachball]

Hi there, new member here. We’re about to purchase our first caravan, a second hand 2 berth and wonder if anyone could recommend a reputable fitter in the Glasgow area please.

I would try Totally Towbars Glasgow
https://www.totallytowbars.co.uk

 

[audiorob]

I think you can get your towbar fitted at your home or place of work as I have done on successive cars over the years . You do have some decisions to make on fixed or detachable, swan neck or flange as well as the wiring kit. Newer vans will be 13 pin plug which is more reliable than the old 12N/S twin sockets. Visit a couple of supplier websites to view options and recommendations and prices for you vehicle.

 

[otherclive]

Following on fro Audio Robs post I would recommend having the dedicated car specific wiring kit rather than the generic one. Also I don’t know what car you have but some will need a coding change to software to be compatible with the caravan. Most towbar fitters will do this as required.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Make sure you specify that you need the wiring for the caravans fridge, and battery charging as for some kits its an extra or different part number.

 

[Raywood]

We have had several tow bars fitted by the Buchan's Tow Bar Centre at Rutherglen and have been very happy with them. I would suggest you ask for a quote. They do fit good quality ones and we have had no problems.
They are fully aware of caravan electrics and the need for the ALKO tow ball.
I would agree with fitting the dedicated kit as some manufacturers will regard the others as a breach of their warranty.
Never used Totally Towbars so cannot comment on them.

 

[arossco]

I have used Indespension in Milngavie for 3 towbars over the years. I've always had good advice and good service.
https://indespension.co.uk/indespension-glasgow

 

[Dustydog]

We have had several tow bars fitted by the Buchan's Tow Bar Centre at Rutherglen and have been very happy with them. I would suggest you ask for a quote. They do fit good quality ones and we have had no problems.
They are fully aware of caravan electrics and the need for the ALKO tow ball.
I would agree with fitting the dedicated kit as some manufacturers will regard the others as a breach of their warranty.
Never used Totally Towbars so cannot comment on them.

Spot on Ray. Most people don’t realise fitting a tow bar is a complicated engineering and electrically technical operation. My Touareg needed the back end dismanthing, and removal of the oem rear girder chassis member. So they need to be body shop capable too.
Imo I’d only use a fitter recommended by those who have used them before.

 

[otherclive]

Spot on Ray. Most people don’t realise fitting a tow bar is a complicated engineering and electrically technical operation. My Touareg needed the back end dismanthing, and removal of the oem rear girder chassis member. So they need to be body shop capable too.
Imo I’d only use a fitter recommended by those who have used them before.

I recall when I had a towbar fitted in Bristol to my new Sorento. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw how much of the rear end needed to be dismantled. But they knew their stuff and put it back perfectly. Overall I’ve had four cars where the rear cross member had to be permanently removed to enable the towbar to be fitted. Two of those cars were then not able to use the cars towing eye bolt as the towbar had no threaded hole. So I had to remember to always carry my towball in the boot, or of course in the car.

 

[RogerL]

I recall when I had a towbar fitted in Bristol to my new Sorento. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw how much of the rear end needed to be dismantled. But they knew their stuff and out it back perfectly. Overall I’ve had four cars where the rear cross member had to be permanently removed to enable the towbar to be fitted. Two of those cars were then not able to use the cars towing eye bolt as the towbar had no threaded hole. So I had to remember to always carry my towball in the boot, or of course in the car.

It's not good design to rely on the towball for recovery, rather than the normal recovery points - a well designed towbar will include replacement towing eye mounting points if the originals are no longer usable.

 

[otherclive]

It's not good design to rely on the towball for recovery, rather than the normal recovery points - a well designed towbar will include replacement towing eye mounting points if the originals are no longer usable.

I’d best direct your comments to Witter and Brink then. Good design or not it was a fact of life and there was not a great deal that I could do about it.

 

[GaryB]

My Volvo factory fit tow bar also deletes the towing eye point.

 

[Clydesider]

I'm a first timer like you, and got my nice new towba r fitted in Glasgow 2 weeks ago. Discount Towing. Did a great job.
( had to get it done in time for my CAMH beginner's towing course ) which was enlightening!

 

[Beachball]

On my Tiguan we got a mobile towbar fitter come to my home he removed the bumper and the rear cross member had to be removed and put a Westfalia detachable towbar and a 13 pin plug with a dedicated wiring loom it came with a lifetime warranty

 

[otherclive]

On my Tiguan we got a mobile towbar fitter come to my home he removed the bumper and the rear cross member had to be removed and put a Westfalia detachable towbar and a 13 pin plug with a dedicated wiring loom it came with a lifetime warranty

Did your Westfalia towbar have the facility to use the cars towing eye? My Skoda Superb estate had a Witter detachable towball but no facility to use the cars towing eye. But it did have a stowage location for towball where the full size spare wheel / jack etc were stowed.

 

[Buckman]

It's not good design to rely on the towball for recovery, rather than the normal recovery points - a well designed towbar will include replacement towing eye mounting points if the originals are no longer usable.

I agree that one should never ever rely on the towball for recovery as it is very dangerous. Better to use the actual tow bar. I have seen a towball snap off and come flying through the rear window narrowly missing the driver's head. Scary.

 

[Johnb]

I agree that one should never ever rely on the towball for recovery as it is very dangerous. Better to use the actual tow bar. I have seen a towball snap off and come flying throuhg the rear window narrowly missing the driver's head. Scary.

Blimey!

 

[Beachball]

Did your Westfalia towbar have the facility to use the cars towing eye? My Skoda Superb estate had a Witter detachable towball but no facility to use the cars towing eye. But it did have a stowage location for towball where the full size spare wheel / jack etc were stowed.

No it did not have the facility to use the towing eye but we have spare wheel ,& tool kit and towball in the stowage location

 

[ProfJohnL]

I agree that one should never ever rely on the towball for recovery as it is very dangerous. Better to use the actual tow bar. I have seen a towball snap off and come flying through the rear window narrowly missing the driver's head. Scary.

Under what circumstances did this happen? and what exactly failed, was it the tow ball casting, the securing bolts or the tow bar?

 

[otherclive]

Under what circumstances did this happen? and what exactly failed, was it the tow ball casting, the securing bolts or the tow bar?

When I did some off road training one aspect was what was called Kinetic Energy Recovery whereby you use a strap that can stretch unlike normal tow straps. This allows the recovering vehicle to move and the strap then progressively takes up the load, compared to using a standard strap there's no need to take up the slack. But KER requires care as if you just hit the throttle on the recovery vehicle it can be lethal., just from a broken strap. My Pajero SWB could only be fitted with rear recovery points by making some major changes to the rear end. Front end had two good points where shackles could be fitted. So I used my fixed towball as the towing point for recovering or recovery, but in neither case was KER straps used. But the above really refers to recovering in off road conditions where loads are high. It was an alternative to winches or ground anchors. There are some good videos on Youtube of mad Aussies doing KER recoveries and some are good, others frightening.

But back in the normal motoring world if a vehicle needs a gentle pull to get it on its way then I would be prepared to use my towball if professional recovery was not available.

 

[Buckman]

Under what circumstances did this happen? and what exactly failed, was it the tow ball casting, the securing bolts or the tow bar?

Doesn't matter what failed, you should never use a towball for recovery. Common sense. If you have doubts on my statement do a search on Youtube as plenty of visual evidence there.

 

[RogerL]

Under what circumstances did this happen? and what exactly failed, was it the tow ball casting, the securing bolts or the tow bar?

Recovery of a stranded vehicle may necessitate substantial sideways force - the designated recovery points on a car are designed to cope with such significant sideways forces - a towball fitment isn't designed for significant sideways force.

Some off-road clubs make clear that a towball isn't accepted as an adequate towing point for recovery purposes.

 

[otherclive]

Recovery of a stranded vehicle may necessitate substantial sideways force - the designated recovery points on a car are designed to cope with such significant sideways forces - a towball fitment isn't designed for significant sideways force.

Some off-road clubs make clear that a towball isn't accepted as an adequate towing point for recovery purposes.

Car recovery points are invariably well offset from the centre line of the vehicle so in many circumstance may involve sideways forces but even they are not designed for the high forces experienced by some recoveries. There's a risk in this discussion of comparing a vehicle that needs high forces to pull it out of sand, mud, ditch etc IE off roading, and one where the application of a much lower force will get the stuck vehicle moving again.

Im sorry that I raised the point as all I was seeking to do was to inform the OP that some towbar fitments remove the ability to us the vehicles recovery eye bolt. whether that's good design or not its a fact of life.

This may shed some light onto the design of recovery/towing devices/towing eye bolts in the EU/UK area:


VOLKSWAGEN DOCUMENT (Toureg)
"Do not pull too hard with the towing vehicle, and avoid jerking the tow-rope. When towing on unpaved road, there is always a risk of overloading and damaging the attachment points."

EU REQUIREMENTS FOR TOWING DEVICES - INCLUDING EYELET BOLT (ECE M1 1005 M1 Regulation)
Requirements for towing devices
1. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS
1.1. Minimum number of devices.
1.1.1. All motor vehicles must have a towing device fitted at the front.
1.1.2. Vehicles in category M 1 , as defined in Directive 2007/46/EC Part A of Annex II, except for those vehicles not suitable for towing any load, must also be fitted with a towing device at the rear.
1.1.3. A rear towing device may be substituted by a mechanical coupling device, as defined in UN-ECE Regulation No 55 ( 1 ), provided that the requirements of paragraph 1.2.1. are met.
1.2. Load and stability
1.2.1. Each towing device fitted to the vehicle must be able to withstand a tractive and compressive static force equivalent to at least half the technically permissible maximum laden mass of the vehicle.
2. TEST PROCEDURE
2.1. Both tractive and compressive test loads are applied on each separate towing device fitted to the vehicle.
2.2. The test loads shall be applied in horizontal longitudinal direction, in relation to the vehicle.EN L 291/42 Official Journal of the European Union 9.11.2010


PS Edit From 2.2 above I read it that the OEM test loads applied to the recovery/towing eye provided are in the longitudinal plane and level withe the horizontal plane of the device. IE no offset sideways or vertical force is applied at the test. So I would assume that contrary to #24 I do not consider them suitable for any significant sideways force. A Mk 1 eyeball would rule that out.