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General Great value tow bar and electrics for 4x4

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General Great value tow bar and electrics for 4x4

The Panda Nut

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For anyone interested gttrailers.co uk have just sold me a vertical detachable Westfalia towbar for £120 incl carriage!! This bar is offered elsewhere on ebay for between £254 and £424. It has arrived and is just as required.

Just-tow.co.uk have just sold me a dedicated electrics kit for £126 incl carriage. The cheapest elsewhere seems to be £171 from PFjones.

Norwich towing offered to supply and fit a bar to this car for £865!!!

Fitting should take 1 to 2 hours max and electrics the same again and it all looks simple.

I hope this is of use to someone.
 
The tricky part is the power supply to the wiring kit (or bypass relay if used)

Unlike a lot of modern cars, there's no power supply in the boot/rear to power the relay, so you have to route a power wire right through the car.

It's a hateful job, pulling at pieces of trim without knowing how they are attached.

The instructions usually show it goes direct to the battery (after ripping out most of the trim and finger nails) and there's some drilling of scuttle panels to feed the wire through.

Mine goes to the live feed of the glovebox fusebox, just below the actual fusebox it's self.
It saved passing it through the bulkhead and the drilling.

It's not really an answer, but can get away without the power if you only use a basic lighting board with LED lights.

LED's don't use anywhere near enough power to actuate the relay and don't cause the annoying relay beeping either when indicating.

That's a good price though, I wonder if they do one for our Vitara?
 
Last edited:
Sounds like some good prices.

On the live supply, I likewise, didn't fancy removing the front scuttle wiper cover etc so tucked it under the passenger door weather seal and then up into the engine bay via the front wing; not noticeable in my view.

On the set up I had there was an extravagant rubber seal/grommet to seal around the socket cable into the boot that required a monster hole to be cut through the floor. Not being keen on cutting holes anywhere I threaded it from the outside in through one of the boot "breather" slots and silicone it in (this still leaves two other slots). Also used some chassis mastic to seal around the oblong holes in the chassis rails and the tow bar since I'm not sure the rust proofing extends into the beams; it looks like its applied after the bumper crush beam (that is removed for the tow bar). Good luck.
 
Herts Hillhopper said:
Thank you - that is helpful. GT Towing are the folks in Hatfield? Not too far from me. Did they make a mistake - that seems a huge discount...
Click to expand...

Well't know if it was a mistake but is was extraordinarily good value. Towbar and dedicated electrics for under £250.

It has proved easy to fit and even the bumper cut was successful Just a few connections in teh rear of the car and the power wire to do.

The tow bar does fit onto the bumper beam studs. I suspected this was the case as they are fixed but it was confirmed by westfalia today. My thanks to them.
 
Goudrons said:
The tricky part is the power supply to the wiring kit (or bypass relay if used)

Unlike a lot of modern cars, there's no power supply in the boot/rear to power the relay, so you have to route a power wire right through the car.

It's a hateful job, pulling at pieces of trim without knowing how they are attached.

The instructions usually show it goes direct to the battery (after ripping out most of the trim and finger nails) and there's some drilling of scuttle panels to feed the wire through.

Mine goes to the live feed of the glovebox fusebox, just below the actual fusebox it's self.
It saved passing it through the bulkhead and the drilling.

It's not really an answer, but can get away without the power if you only use a basic lighting board with LED lights.

LED's don't use anywhere near enough power to actuate the relay and don't cause the annoying relay beeping either when indicating.

That's a good price though, I wonder if they do one for our Vitara?
Click to expand...

I shall consider that option as it also sounds neater. Just Towing the electrics supplier say there is a grommet in the wheel arch for a sunroof drain that if not used provides a solution taking the wire into the wheel arch fro whence it can be routed from behind the headlight to the battery. I aint proud so whichever seems easier will do me. I always fuse the wire at the rear as well, overkill but better than any fire. I had one once and don't ever want to repeat. Thanks for the suggestion re the fuse box.
 
Fillipe said:
I think someone made a boo boo. The best price I got from them is £270 + VAT just for the towbar! Well done on the discount!
Click to expand...

Its so crazy I cant resist the smug look. Its a quality piece of kt and now spayed with several coats of red oxide and blue hammerite so I hope it lasts. These things usually rust like irons going out of fashion! Prices on this bar are currently £254 to £424 on the net so I am very pleased with this.
 
Panda IIs said:
Sounds like some good prices.

On the live supply, I likewise, didn't fancy removing the front scuttle wiper cover etc so tucked it under the passenger door weather seal and then up into the engine bay via the front wing; not noticeable in my view.

On the set up I had there was an extravagant rubber seal/grommet to seal around the socket cable into the boot that required a monster hole to be cut through the floor. Not being keen on cutting holes anywhere I threaded it from the outside in through one of the boot "breather" slots and silicone it in (this still leaves two other slots). Also used some chassis mastic to seal around the oblong holes in the chassis rails and the tow bar since I'm not sure the rust proofing extends into the beams; it looks like its applied after the bumper crush beam (that is removed for the tow bar). Good luck.
Click to expand...

Good suggestions, I to sealed it all back with black automotive mastic. Also covered all the nuts and exposed threads then gave the whole area a good coat of cavity wax. This car has a big grommet next to the breathers which seems to be there for the purpose. Had it not been there I would have gone this way too. There is no visible rust proofing in the chassis, I hope and expect its galvanised though.
 
Herts Hillhopper said:
We are still waiting for that web address please...
Click to expand...

The item number was 221925515811. I have just looked and it does mysteriously seem to have disappeared. Sorry for the delay. Currently the best offer seems to be £165 for a Brink removable bar or 187 for a PCT. PCT seem really good quality and are British!

On the fitting front the bumper beam bots are fixed to the car but ARE suitable for the tow bar. Wiring the power in required removal of the glovebox which was 7 screws, and the removal of the n/s inner wheel arch liner to expose the grommet through to the interior the wires then feed under the sill covers and can be pushed under without removing any other trim. The whole thing seems to work fine and the only slightly hard bit was soldering terminals for the rear fog light to enable it to cut off when towing, but even this went well on this occasion.
 
The Panda Nut said:
The item number was 221925515811. I have just looked and it does mysteriously seem to have disappeared. ...
Click to expand...
Thanks for getting back... But, I still can't see any towabars listed on their website (only a form to complete to get a quote). I am looking here gttrailers.co uk (which redirects to gttowing.co.uk and all I can see there for towbars is this page - https://gttowing.co.uk/online-shop/towbars/ )

Can you post the actual link you are using that is showing the Brink and PCT bars?

thanks

[later: Oh, I see, not on their website, but listed by then on Ebay! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westfalia-Detachable-Towbar-306389-Fiat-Panda-4x4-Oct-12-/221925515811 )
 
Last edited:
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Herts Hillhopper said:
Thanks for getting back... But, I still can't see any towabars listed on their website (only a form to complete to get a quote). I am looking here gttrailers.co uk (which redirects to gttowing.co.uk and all I can see there for towbars is this page - https://gttowing.co.uk/online-shop/towbars/ )

Can you post the actual link you are using that is showing the Brink and PCT bars?

thanks

[later: Oh, I see, not on their website, but listed by then on Ebay! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westfalia-Detachable-Towbar-306389-Fiat-Panda-4x4-Oct-12-/221925515811 )
Click to expand...

See also
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Towbar-De...854900?hash=item1ea053a3f4:g:Kv0AAOSwyQtVgujY

These listings seem to change daily. I search Fiat Panda 4x4>2013 detachable tow bar. also went to PCT, Westfalia, Thule, Brink and Witter sites and got the part numbers and then googled buy ----- and kept doing this for some time until a really good price turned up. I used this approach with the Bravo bar as well and eventually unearthed the PCT detachable bar for £124 18 moths back. Thats still a really good price. I think sometimes they throw these odd prices out to see what happens. This latest bar does seem likely to have been a mistake by the seller though.

Best of luck.
 
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