Making a tow hitch?

[boatbuilder]

Just wondering if anyone has made a tow hitch for an early bay? Or is the Just Kampers one any good? Is it hard to wire up the trailer lights socket?

 

[carole]

If your bus is completely stock, i.e, stock engine, exhaust and more importantly height (ground clearance....) then an 'off the shelf' towbar should pretty much bolt straight on.

However........if you have a lowered bus, and/or a non-stock engine and exhaust (like me) then forget it.

I need a towbar on the Beeglebus to tow our Eriba Puck, and it's turned into a total headache. The bus is lowered by about 3.5 inches, has a 1776 engine and a bugpack exhaust, so I'm going to have to get a one-off towbar made by Watlings, the same people who did David Eccles bus and Jamie Olivers' bus.

The cost of that is £500 + VAT... :shock: And they need to see the bus first just to check that it can be done (let's hope so...!)

Needless to say this side of Christmas it ain't gonna get done!

I'm sure there are plenty of people on here who have towbars, on both stock and non-stock buses, so there should be plenty of advice for you.

Carole :wink:

 

[Araon]

Carole you not thought of an estimate from Slim adi...Design21 looks like there turning there hands to most metal fabrication works.....good prices if their racks have anything to go by...

 

[carole]

Mmmmmm, thanks Aaron, I'll look into that.......:idea:

Cheers :wink:

 

[Snakey]

You can get an og towbar which fits inside the bumper and has special brackets which support it and the bumper.
You have to drill the bumper to mount the towhitch to it.
I have one of these but have never seen it fitted or tried to fit it.
Looking at it it would cure all problems with lowered busses etc.
I don't know who made them tho....

I will try and get some pics up.

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

You can get an og towbar which fits inside the bumper and has special brackets which support it and the bumper.
You have to drill the bumper to mount the towhitch to it.
I have one of these but have never seen it fitted or tried to fit it.
Looking at it it would cure all problems with lowered busses etc.
I don't know who made them tho....

I will try and get some pics up.

I've got one of these tow bars too which was fitted to my bus when I got it.I've taken it off for now because I don't think my rear bumper to chassis brackets are strong enough for towing.You would need good rear bumper to chassis mounts.My bumper wasn't cut at all.To fit it you have to remove the bumper from the brackets.Then mount the tow bar to the bumper to chassis mounts with the rear bumper mounts on the other side and do up the bolts loosely.Then put the bumper back on,line it all up and do it up tightly.Wiring is easy just go onto the light wiring to the right rear lights then run one more wire to the other light for the other indicator.

Once fitted the only bit that protrudes is the neck of the tow ball which just tucks around the bottom of the bumper.

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

Took some pictures yesterday of how mine fits

This is what each end looks like,3 threaded holes which line up with bumper mounts

Each end fits between the bumper mounts then you put the bumper brackets inbetween like so.

Then put the bumper back on and only the neck is protruding

 

[Araon]

Thats the beasty I'm picking up tomorrow £20 on Ebay cant be bad....didnt actually want one but stumbled on to it and 20 notes seemed too good to miss. :lol:

I need to stop these spontaneous purchases on ebay :x

 

[Snakey]

Mine is virtually identical to that, only there are much beefier brackets for the bumper and main tube thingy, and the towball bolts thru the bumper (will have to drill) into the tube. So you could leave a clean back end and just bolt up the towball when needed.

Will have to dig the bloody thing out and take some photos.