Hi all, done a search and there’s not a lot of reference to these on the forum. Does anyone have any experience of them? Found them for varying prices on eBay and only want it for holding a bike rack, nothing heavy duty. Just thought I’d ask before taking the plunge.
TIA
Simon

Last edited by Anvil on 16th Jun 2020 1:19pm. Edited 1 time in total

Have a look at PF Jones. Plenty of tried and tested options.

Not saying that it won’t do the job, but not heard of them. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Thanks NMJ, had a look, and have decided to go for the Steinhof detachable version with 7 pin electrics to match my rack. It is made to EU standards apparently, and will only be used for a bike rack so thothing too heavy. No cutting of the bumper involved etc. Will try to document the installation and give a review, as they are quite a bit cheaper than others on the market.
I'll probably go the belt and braces route and give it a good coat of Smoothrite before fitting!

Si.

Hi All, for anyone that may be interested in these.....

New tow bar arrived from Poland yesterday. The packaging was a bit battered, as you can see from the photos, but all the parts appear to be there at the moment. First impressions of the bar itself are that its sturdy, and well made. Steel is thick and the welds are of reasonable quality. The powder coat was a bit thin in places, but I'd always intended to give it a few extra coats myself anyway, as 3rd party units always have a tendency to rust from what I've seen. So, it got a coat of stone chip yesterday evening followed by a coat of underseal. I'll let it dry until the weekend when I plan to fit it.

The Wiring loom looks of reasonable quality, and comes with some sort of module and some neat looking plugs. It's well wrapped for both interior and exterior protection, the outside being plastic and the interior stuff being some sort of woven fabric. Rubber seals and grommets are also provided along with a patch of double-sided Velcro to affix the plug/socket to the bodywork.

Tow ball is detachable and comes with 2x keys. the lock doesn't look very high security, so I wouldn't be relying on that if anything of real value is attached. The power socket mount has a neat ball bearing indent mechanism so that is can be rotated out of sight when you take the tow ball off. Tow ball comes with a neat little draw string bag and ball cap to put it in the boot when not in use.

Fixings look of good quality, and will no doubt get a coat of underseal once I've installed and tested everything.

I got the bar from Ebay, and Chris at DG systems was great at answering a couple of questions I had before I purchased. I should also say that I've got no affiliation with the company and paid full ebay price for it, so no special deals were done!
It cost me £246 + £15 P&P all in. For that money initial impressions are very good indeed. Hopefully I'll get a chance to install it this weekend, and will document the install and finish an honest review on it. It will never be used for heavy towing for me as I have no need, but will be used to mount my Thule Bakrack that I've got bike mounts on.

Cheers All!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rover-Rang...2749.l2649

The detachable bit seems to be made by ACS, which are a ductch company who specialise in detachable tow bar bits. from the look of some of their couplings they look similar to ones Brink use. Otherwise looks pretty solid.👍🏻 There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Yep, seems to be so far. I'll keep everyone posted with how easy/difficult it is to install if anyone's interested!

I'm watching this as I'm still in the market for one at some point so I can mount my spare wheel to the tow hitch.
A guy on the bay sells tow hitch mounted wheel carriers

Hi All, So I got around to installing the tow bar over the weekend. Spent quite a bit of time doing it as I'm a bit anal about cabling and stuff, but if you plan to do it properly, and you're doing it alone, I'd set about a day aside.
First part was removing all of the interior trays and stuff from inside the boot area to expose all of the wiring. There's vids on You tube, so I'm not showing that bit. My Rangie was not pre-wired for towing, and in any case I don't think this kit would be compatible with existing plugs.

I took the module with all the cabling, and it turns out that this little box of tricks works like a load of little relays, so the lights effectively run off their own circuit rather than "sharing" the power off the existing lights via a direct splice. it has a fully independent earth and feed that powers your trailer lights. (Or in my case, my bike rack!). It also has an audible tone that beeps at you when you turn the ignition on, when something is attached. (If you're dense enough to forget you've got a trailer.... !)
Here it is velcroed with the supplied patch in place.:

Very nice right up that man......well done!!!

Thank you!
You are more than welcome sir

When I have 5 mins, I may further paint the plug bracket to keep away the tin worm, and also the nice shiny hitch bolts so that they are not as obvious......

The ball attaches very solidly with no play at all. Top job.

Si.

You do have a prewired towing socket - it's the white connector in the second of your photos. I was fortunate with the towing kit I got from PF Jones that it came with the socket to fit this, so I didn't have to play with splice connectors. Phew!

Excellent write up - thank you.

You have enabled me to decide to fit the Steinhof bar instead of the Westfalia bar on my 2012 TDV8, 2012 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Current
2015 E220 with AMG Sport Pack - Currently driven by my son
2010 3.6 TDV8 Vogue - Written off by my son

stuart_2006 wrote:

You do have a prewired towing socket - it's the white connector in the second of your photos. I was fortunate with the towing kit I got from PF Jones that it came with the socket to fit this, so I didn't have to play with splice connectors. Phew!

Ahhh, interesting! Thanks. That may have been an alternate point to splice in the connectors all in one place then. The loom that came with the kit aligned nicely with the exit grommet etc, so I'm quite happy with the results. Worth noting for others who need a splice point though. Cheers.

I guess that plug would be handy if I ever wanted to run a 13 pin set up too, and all I'd have to do would be to buy the electrics kit.

4434Morrison wrote:

Excellent write up - thank you.

You have enabled me to decide to fit the Steinhof bar instead of the Westfalia bar on my 2012 TDV8,