Mad Dogs and ......... yes I have been out in the Sun

[Keith]

Today I decided to fit the OEM Tow Bar I have had cluttering the Garage for a while to my CDT.

I was going to do a Howto but the Pictogram instructions it came with are so simple to follow there was no point

It came with dual electrics white and black sockets and a really nice touch the socket covers have the Rover emblem on them

The Job took a lot longer than I planned as I had to grind off the bolts holding the exhaust on as they were seized solid only to find I then had two captive nuts to deal with as a result I have not finished the wiring up yet as I was getting a bit too hot by mid afternoon (wasn't it a scorcher) so I went and spent the rest of the day in my easy chair by my pond watching the Ducks and the Dragonflies.

[Alex30013k]

Were the Dragonflies giving each other lifts, I can remember sitting in my mum and dads boat on the River Medway when i was a bit younger and watching the old Dragonflies towing each other, Quite funny!


:unlucky:

[Keith]

At the moment they are too busy chasing each other around like mad things but yes later on in the year you do see some odd behaviour.

[murphy180]

Waited for the sun to go around the house before washing my car in the shade. Even then I was melting. Once washed and dried I decide to give it a going over with the new autoglym polish that I picked up a few weeks ago. It is intended for darker coloured cars and promises no streaks. I've got to say that I am impressed. Imparticularly, the fact that it doesn't powder everywhere when dry like the original.
The car is now all clean and shiney, as for me, worn out!!

[Jules]

While sat in my swing chair today noticed a wasp size flying insect out of this world,,,,,

Metalic Firefrost red head area and metallic goodwood green body and tail.

Truly amazing colours

This is the closest I could find on the web but it wasn't quite this shape. This is called a cuckoo Bee
Great isn't it?

Any David Bellamy's out there for any clues as to what it was.

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/811466b4915b7821.jpg

[Alex30013k]

Nice, I dont think i would like to see one of them, lol

[WeeMan]

:lol: Looks like Tim Westwoods pimped your bee, with a candy flip paint job, set of 2" antennae, lowered, and with a set of snazzy lambo style wings! lol

[Keith]

Golly, that bug is on something!

I finished off the wiring on the towbar. All very neat and the advantage of the official MGR system as it is virtually plug and play is that it properly integrates with the bulb monitoring circuit and does clever stuff like disble PDC when towing.

Alex I think you are thinking of Mayflies they fly around together can't say I have seen any Dragon flies doing the same though.

[black olive]

Keith, glad to see you got the towbar fitted- Arent they a good design .
Also the electrics kit is a doddle, the easiest one I have done ( once I got the correct link kit:o )

the only problem I found when fitting mine is there are no sizes for the bumper cut out, and no guidelines on the bumper- so had to guess, and erring on the side of caution, had more cutting to do once the bumper was fitted

[Keith]

Mine is the fixed Ball type Tow bar so no need to cut out the bottom of the bumper but there were marks on the inside of the bumper showing where to cut.

Personally although the bumper is only a plastic skin so does nothing from a safety point of view I remember seeing no end of broken Mondeo bumpers in the past where they had insufficient material at the centre which led to cracking so I think cutting ours out for the removable type might seriously weaken the bumper especially around the lower two fixing holes so I am quite happy with a fixed ball.

What it does not do which surprises me is bleep with the indicators I thought all modern tow bars incorporated an audible sounder.

One possible down side the ball is quite high certainly higher than my Picasso bar leaving my trailer pointing up a bit instead of nicely level not sure I would want to tow a caravan with it like that!

Right all I need now is a car trailer!

[baxlin]

I'm looking to fit a towbar, purely to fit the bikerack onto, and was thinking about a removeable one - do they all involve cutting the bumper? Even if the cut's underneath and can't be seen, I go with Keith, and would not be happy to cut it.

I have seen traditional fixed ball types on ebay, cutting not needed, but rather fancied a swan neck type. Anyone know of a swan neck type where I don't have to cut the bumper?

For the electrics, I think I'll go with OEM, but as it's unlikely I'll actually be towing, would disabling the parking sensors be needed (unless the bikes activated it, but then it would only be in reverse?)

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

Malcolm

[GreyGhost]

There is already a cutout to accommodate any fixed OEM towbar on the 75 / ZT. To fit the detachable requires increasing the size of the existing cutout by a small amount. This in no way diminishes the integrity of the bumper or inteferes with the fixings. It cannot be seen unless you look from below.

[Keith]

The one I have fitted is a Swan neck and fits in the existing gap under the bumper between the two fixing screws, it has dual electrics.

If you go for the dual electric version with the removable bar you have to remove about a 3" x 4" piece of the underside of the bumper on each side of the existing opening to accommodate the release mechanism etc and that leaves a fairly narrow strip of plastic going to each fixing screw.

As shown in this pic

[black olive]

correct, there isnt a lot of meat left holding the location screw on :SHOCKED:

on the plus side the fixed part of the bracket and the electrics are totally invisible and tucked up out of the way when not in use

[Rovernut]

I reverse my caravan quite a long way to get into my drive, and tthe noise from the reverse sensor gets quite annoying!

Is there a quick way to disarm it with a dashboard switch or similar?

Chris

[baxlin]

I would have thought a wire tapped into the gearbox-mounted switch to a dash-mounted switch would be simplest.

Two problems maybe -

1. It would also switch off the reversing lights (which probably wouldn't be a concern as they only light up the caravan and could be better not on anyway) and

2. The danger of forgetting to switch it back on. Can't think of a circuit to light a warning lamp when power's off, but I'm sure it's possible

[Hampton Caught]

Keith,

"What it does not do which surprises me is bleep with the indicators I thought all modern tow bars incorporated an audible sounder."

The 'rules of the road' state there must be either an audible OR a visible warning to warn the driver that the indicators are working. I understand that the OEM wiring loom enables a warning light to shine on the dashboard (central warning light panel) rather than give you a beep. Yours should do this!

I know which I prefer, and it's not the infernal beeping I get from my set up (Witter bar and a third party electrical box of tricks) :mad: . The parking sensors sound off all the time too, so would heartily recommend anyone going for the genuine MGR parts.

With my tourer, I find it handy to open up the rear window when reversing to the caravan and SWMBO can give me directions over the din of the reversing sensors.

I hope that fly isn't life-size as it appears on my monitor :getmecoat:

Steve

[Keith]

Oh a new light to play with :)
I didn't notice on Sunday so will check next time I connect it up, cheers

[rover]

[QUOTE=baxlin;65211]I'm looking to fit a towbar, purely to fit the bikerack onto, and was thinking about a removeable one - do they all involve cutting the bumper? Even if the cut's underneath and can't be seen, I go with Keith, and would not be happy to cut it.

I have seen traditional fixed ball types on ebay, cutting not needed, but rather fancied a swan neck type. Anyone know of a swan neck type where I don't have to cut the bumper?
Any ideas anyone?

I have the Witter Detachable fitted to my Saloon & there is no modification at all to the Bumper.Declined to have the Rover electrics fitted based on the price

[Alex30013k]

Alex I think you are thinking of Mayflies they fly around together can't say I have seen any Dragon flies doing the same though.

Oh Yes they do...

http://www.juzaphoto.com/shared_files/photos/12.jpg

[Keith]

That's a damn good photo!

Yes I have seen Mayflies doing that but not Dragonflies
We had a cracking Blue Chaser doing a lap or two today

http://www.haworth-village.org.uk/admin/nature-pictures/large/broad-chaser_medium.jpg

[GreyGhost]

Also in green. :)

http://homepage.mac.com/mgzt180/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-03-27%2015.12.26%20-0800/Image-D96C0001BDE611DA.jpg