OEM towbar - saloon or estate?
 

I picked up a detachable OEM towbar off Ebay a few weeks ago in the belief it would fit my saloon.

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...aa37d0b251.jpg
https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...d7b234c32c.jpg

A bit of cleaning, paint and a couple of keys later, I am now struggling to fit it.

The issue lies around the the chassis legs / inserts:
1). the chassis rails have x2 holes, whereas the inserts have x3 bolts (only x1 of which lines up)
2). the leg inserts are welded to the main bracket in a slightly low location, meaning the x8 smaller face bolts don't align with the captive nuts on the car

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...aa34de4152.jpg

Have I picked up a bar for an estate in error, or am I missing something?

Rimmers (GRID001528) indicates VUB000380 is for a Tourer

Reference to the MGR Approved Accessories Brochure that I have makes no distinction between Saloon and Tourer models.

The only difference noted being 12N & 12S sockets or 13 pin only electical system.

I do not recall there being any problems such as you describe, mind you it was 18 years ago that I fitted it! The small holes lined up and maybe I drifted the single leg hole to pick a chassis leg hole position.

When I researched towbars for my saloon, I found that OE bars would only fit the saloon or estate for which they were designed, as they only have the mounting holes for that specific bodyshell.

Aftermarket towbars have a row of holes so they would fit both saloons and estates.

if you have only one hole that aligns, can you not drill a couple of extra holes in the chassis leg that match the pitch of the captive nuts on the towbar?

Just a thought


Brian :D

I have a saloon one if you wanted to swap.

I found this out recently too. The towbar I've had on three different cars both tourer and saloon didn't fit a facelift saloon due to holes on the chassis legs being different. However as Brian has said, a couple of extra holes and a bit of paint soon sorted the issue. Can't say I've had problems with the other fasteners but all the towbars I've fitted have been aftermarket and have bolted inserts so you get some adjustability in the position. Your other option is to elongate the holes in the towbar to accommodate the position of the remaining fasteners. Fit a washer and you won't have any problems in the future.

If I could do a swap, that would be great - Thank you. I'll send a pm, just give me a bit of time to find out how.

Cheers, Andy

Bumper cutting on tow bars
 

Hi All


Just a quick question on towbars and bumper cutting.



My Tourer has clearly had a tow bar in the past but not when i got it but the electrics seem still in place so it seems like a simple addition. Looking at a SH one as its only for the odd job.


So a smallish section has been cut out of the underside of the rear bumper to enable fitting but this can only be seen from when lying under the rear of the car so asthetically it looks fine.


So the question is do all (or most) bumpers fit like tht or do some mean cutting visible sections out of the bumper to enable it to fit meaning i have to be careful what i buy.


Not cutting anything visible out of the bumper for anything.


Cheers Bean

I have a facelift saloon and Tourer, the saloon bumper was made to accommodate a tow bar so no cutting required. The Tourer bumper has had to be cut but as my saloon did not need it I wonder of all Tourers need cutting.

You could always pick up a second bumper, cut one.

macafee2