Vehicle & Technical > Discovery

Opinions of detachable towbar?

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Disco Matt:
Just found this on ebay and was wondering if anyone has any opinions or experience of them?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Landrover-Discovery-fuel-tank-gaurd-towbar_W0QQitemZ250250129421QQihZ015QQcategoryZ31348QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That looks a good price, especially if you buy it unpainted and finish the job yourself (I'd be tempted to for a £40 saving). My only concern is that the socket for the towbar looks a bit vulnerable to me?

Bush Tucker Man:
I had a detachable on my 90V8-CSW & initally it rattled terribly when the BWSOW was hitched up.

(I won't mention the manufacturer, but I sold the 90 in 2002, so it was quite a while ago that it was fitted)

That was solved by drilling a hole in the side-wall of the vehicluar section & having a nut welded on, so I could tighten a bolt onto the 'slider' & remove the play

Problem solved!

They don't half improve the 'departure angle' too!!

I keep considering a Southdown for the 110 (but the Dixon-Bate adjustable isn't too bad at not ploughing)



At present, I use this particular solution for recovery/towing

Click on pic to enlarge

Disco Matt:
Thanks - the problem with the Disco is that the standard towbar is frankly pants and ruins your departure angle. On anything resembling a step there's a sickening thump from the back end as it hits the ground, and they tend to dig in and stop you. It's the only problem I've found so far and will definitely be my next alteration.

Just thinking as the one I posted was about half the price of others I've seen I'd post it here and see what people thought. They do seem to have considered where the 12N/12S sockets will go, which is an improvement on having to mount them on the back door or bumper. Just having the socket for the towbar sticking out like that worries me - I could see it hitting the ground on occasion which would put a fair amount of strain on it. I suppose the jacking points would take a share of the weight, so it should be ok.

I think I'd want the full set of add-ons, assuming you can have all of them (recovery points/jacking points/towbar/electrics mounting plate). They say "no extra cost" which is a very good deal.

Bush Tucker Man:

--- Quote from: Disco Matt on May 23, 2008, 23:31:25 ---Thanks - the problem with the Disco is that the standard towbar is frankly pants and ruins your departure angle. On anything resembling a step there's a sickening thump from the back end as it hits the ground, and they tend to dig in and stop you. It's the only problem I've found so far and will definitely be my next alteration
--- End quote ---
Yep!, tell me about it.
I remember those violent 'thumps' myself from my old 50th





--- Quote from: Disco Matt on May 23, 2008, 23:31:25 ---Just thinking as the one I posted was about half the price of others I've seen I'd post it here and see what people thought. They do seem to have considered where the 12N/12S sockets will go, which is an improvement on having to mount them on the back door or bumper. Just having the socket for the towbar sticking out like that worries me - I could see it hitting the ground on occasion which would put a fair amount of strain on it. I suppose the jacking points would take a share of the weight, so it should be ok.

--- End quote ---
My 12N/12S sockets were on a bracket bolted under the bumper, it was the one that Dixon-Bate provide with their Defender kits.
I know it was fairly strong, as I once reversed into a low wall, & it bent the bumper back- not the bracket (which touched first!!)

Disco Matt:
That's a neat solution - I didn't want to put them on the bumper as some clueless person rear-ending it in a car park would break them, and the back door would be a lot of hassle to re-route the wires (plus I'd have to put a longer cable on the trailer electrics). I'll bear that in mind - the ebay source seems to have some indifferent feedback so I'm not too sure either way. £140 is a fair bit of cash to spend.

I really have no idea what LR were thinking with the standard towbar. They could just as easily have made something like the various aftermarket detachable ones now available.

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