Hi Peeps,

Looking at taking the family caravaning! Need a towbar so. Want it to be tidy. How easy are they to,fit and do,I need to cut chunks out of my bumper?

-Land Rover - Fixed height, swan neck, or quick release?
-7 or 13 pin?
-Suggestions for towbars from other manufacturers?

Many thanks. 2010MY Freelander 2 HSE Auto
Santorini Black with Ebony Napoli Leather

My Witter towbar has been delivered this morning!

It is a Witter R41AQF which is a detachable flange towbar. Cost for towbar was £177 with free p&p from ebay. (just put in WITTER R41AQF into the search and it will come up.) Bought second hand genuine LR electrics from ebay for £100. Should be fitting on Thursday or Friday hopefully with no problems. Car has to be reprogrammed by Land Rover to make the electrics work correctly which I believe costs around £40- £50.
So total cost around £327.

I did lots of research and chose this bar because:


1/This tow bar allows you to detach the ball when not in use leaving a neat installation behind
2/ No bumper cut is required
3/ Flange fitting(rather than swan neck) allows normal bike carriers to be fitted and caravan towing at the same time if required
4/Have gone for twin electrics because I dont have caravan but an adapter is available to swap one from the other if required. I understand the 13 pin is now standard for caravans.

Genuine Land Rover Detachable towbars have had problems, see other threads on this forum

Triple7 wrote:

Hi Peeps,

Looking at taking the family caravaning! Need a towbar so. Want it to be tidy. How easy are they to,fit and do,I need to cut chunks out of my bumper?

-Land Rover - Fixed height, swan neck, or quick release?
-7 or 13 pin?
-Suggestions for towbars from other manufacturers?

Many thanks.

If you want a detachable, DO NOT get the genuine LR, Thule bar they are terrible I went through three in two years, in the end I bought a Westfalia one from PF Jones for £190, had no trouble at all with it. Be very careful if buying used ones from the bay, many are incomplete, people remove the crossmember only, there is another bracket that bolts to the nearside chassis rail, many forget to remove this one. Also steer clear of ones that are just selling the towball, they seem to think that it is the same fitment type as the RRRS and Discovery and tell you the ball section just fits into the crossmember you already have, it doesn't, you need the crossmember.

I would agree with bob on this one. I fitted the detachable flange Witter towbar myself recently, with genuine LR leccytronics (13 pin). Good solid bar, easy to fit or remove the head when towing.

Some pointers:-

The rear left piece of metalwork uses existing 2x bolts on FL2 chassis. To reach them either remove bumper, or follow the Witter instructions to drill some holes behind the left-hand reflector. Remember to have a thin deep socket (13mm i think) handy for the nuts which are then accessed throught the bumper holes.

Grease the 2x new big bolts and run them through the left-hand chassis before towbar fitment to clear the threads of rust.
Run the 2x nutless bolts (you'll see when you start) into the main towbar crossmember to clear the threads of paint. Run them all the way in , not just a few threads. Use thread taps if you have them.

The LR loom has tiewrap bases attached which attach to genuine LR towbar. I cut most of these off and added new longer tiewraps which I fitted onto the cross member itself. Tuck loom behind (at rear) towbar so as not to be near exhaust.

The interior trim on the LHS has to be removed for LR loom and you need Torx drivers for this, can't remember what size. The trim clips can be easily damaged, so worth having some spare.

The car has to be programmed or nothing will work, as I found out to my cost even after dealer was asked to repogramme it before pickup. Local indy did it but charged near 100 notes, was a rush job but still stung.

Remove the paint on the towball before using an Alko hitch.

Re-tighten bolts after first outing.

Have fun!
LoP

I have had the 'Witter' swan neck detachable fitted, LR compatible loom with options switch on by the local fitting people for over two years now, no bumper cut needed and the towball still a snug fit.

This after 2 seasons of pulling the van and must admit it looks quite tidy when removed and not in use, definitely wouldn't go back to a fixed.

At the time it cost just under £400 all new and for the supply, fitting and programming all inclusive.

Thanks chaps.  2010MY Freelander 2 HSE Auto
Santorini Black with Ebony Napoli Leather

Hi all. I'm also looking to fit this bar, does anyone know if the rear dynamic style bumper needs to be cut or not?

Many thanks

EYorkshire wrote:

I have had the 'Witter' swan neck detachable fitted, LR compatible loom with options switch on by the local fitting people for over two years now, no bumper cut needed and the towball still a snug fit.

This after 2 seasons of pulling the van and must admit it looks quite tidy when removed and not in use, definitely wouldn't go back to a fixed.

At the time it cost just under £400 all new and for the supply, fitting and programming all inclusive.

I wouldn't worry, by law they have to be between 350mm and 420mm from the ground to the centre of the ball with the vehicle loaded, a company such as Witter will be aware of this. p****d off with a Digital Keyboard Warrior

But out of interest mine is 440mm to the centre of the ball unloaded