Technical Fiat Tipo 2017 Tow Bar

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Technical Fiat Tipo 2017 Tow Bar

Howiedean

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Nov 24, 2005
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Hi,
Has anyone fitted a tow bar to a Tipo here? I've recently picked up a detachable Umbra Rimorchi, it came with a bypass relay.
Any guidance?

Cheers
 
This is general advice based on fitting 5 tows bars to Fiats (Punto HGT, Tempra, Tipo (old), Croma 2005 and 500X.

If you plan on towing a caravan or any other unit which additional power is required (e.g fridge, lighting, charging a battery etc. then you need TWO power feeds from the car.

Both feeds should be fused, one at 15A (this is for the bypass relay and trailer lighting) and one at 25A for the auxilary electrics / power. I suggest you wired for a modern standerd single 13 pin socket and not two separate 7 pin sockets.

Both feeds should be made with 2.5 mm squared cross sectional area good quality cable. These feeds are ideally taken directly from the battery, fused in the engine comparment and then run underneath the car to the rear. Where possible use the plastic trunking underneat the car where the brake pipis and fuel lines run. Route to rear corner of the car and then up into the boot/inner wing area. Earth connections should come from the chaais eart posts in the rear of the car.

If fitting auxiliary 25A feed then you ideally need a COMBI relay to control this feed. This combi relay will switch power on only when the engine is running. This is to stop draining the car battery when the engine is not running. This relay can be fitted in the rear wing area but I prefer fitting it in the engine compartment. (See http://www.rydertowing.co.uk/)

If doing the aux electrics then this is an ideal time to put additional power sockets in the boot of the Tipo. I added a 4 way 12V socket block (on flying lead) as the 500X had no rear end power facilities.


If your towbar is designed for your Tipo then the mechanical fitting will be straight forward on no drilling required.

You challenging items will be how to get the rear bumper off and making any required cut
outs.

Search the 500X forum as I put a post there back in 2015 about doing a 500X tow bar installation. With the 500X there was a leap of faith in detaching the bumper wings from the car wings as hidden clasps are used and one has to be brave and just pull the bumper wings away. The Tipo could be different.

Just go slow and steady. Plan the electrics and even do most of it up to final socket wiring. The bumper removal and tow bar installation could take longer than you expect so allow a couple of days if you are reliant on the car.

Lastly when dropping and replacing the rear bumper ensure that all connections to number plate and parking sensors are detached and replaced. Also TEST each of the reversing sensors before the final bumper commit stage. THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT.
 
Well I did my Bravo which would be similar and the hardest part was cleaning off the under seal where required to allow a close fit. Allow time and patience to do this. Over all the job was easy but the bumpers really need extra hands tpo remove and fit so you don't drop and scratch them.

The plastic mounts on the car were very brittle and easily damaged so take your time and pull the bumper off squarely.

Dedicated electrics are worth the money!

Finally my 1.6D Bravo killed its gearbox due to I believe the strain of towing a caravan. Bearings are undersized. High torque requirement causes overheating of the box and bearing failure.. I would add exta 500cc of geabox oil and some molyslip additive as a precaution. The car will tow like a dream but you need to bear the gearbox in mind and not over do it.

If you want to change the gearbox oil, dont take no for an answer as I did if necessary drill a hole to drain it and tap this and fit a drain plug. I wish I had done this when I thought a change would be a good idea!

My thread on this is on here is you search.

I brought the power supply through the car behind the glove box there was a spare small grommet for a single wire. This could be seen behind the battery ideal for a towing wire. I anticipate the Tip would be similar.

Good luck
 
On my 500X the official tow bar mounting points were not covered in under seal as far as I can recall.

On my other cars then yes the under seal needs to be removed. Using a hot air gun makes this pretty easy but not everybody has one.

A good wax oiling afterwards is a good idea.

Most tow bars are supplied with just a thin coat of black paint. Over time this will eventually yield to the elements and rust will occur. The rust is purely cosmetic but some people may want to additionally paint/Hammerite their bars before fitting.

Rear socket(s) wiring. You should ideally do some form of "loop back" of the cable(s) so that you have some spare length. It is not uncommon to have to rewire the socket(s) due to damage or water ingress corrosion and having some spare cable length available to have good new fresh copper is a massive bonus.

Rear socket(s) M4/M5 long mounting bolts/screws and nuts. These are almost certainly just plated mild steel items. Replace them with Stainless Steel ones otherwise after one winter on UK roads you will just completely rust up and defy removal.

When I did my first reply to the OP I was away from home with limited web access hence this follow-up.
 
Gents, thanks for the replies. I'm not looking to tow caravans, it's mainly to be used for carrying bikes. The electrics were my main concern. :)

Cheers,
 
Well for just a tow bar bike carrier then the auxiliary 12V voltage switched feed can be ignored. Only downside of doing this is that if you do ever tow a caravan you won't be able to run the fridge or charge the caravan's battery. While your running the 12V feed for the bypass relay it is no big deal to run the extra feed.

As for the bike carrier electrics then this will almost certainly have the 13 pin plug and cable to comply if newer legislation.

One point to mention with using a 7-way bypass relay unit as opposed to the available but expensive dedicated vehicle towing module is that the parking sensor will not be turned off when reverse gear is selected. This means that the bike rack will trigger the sensors into "full on" mode which you may find annoying and distracting.
 
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Thanks for that. The tow bar I had on the Renault Laguna must have used a bypass relay as the reversing sensors were not witched off when the electrics were fitted. I can live with that. I prefer the idea of a dedicated electrics set-up but the cost seems high.
 
I have just fitted a towbar to my Tipo, getting the bumper off was quite straightforward,and the towbar fitted easily, I had to make a cutout on the underside of the bumper, the electrics was a different matter, I bought dedicated electrics, when I was looking to buy a towbar and electrics I bought from Poland because in the UK there was limited availability, the kit I bought was for a left hand drive, I had to extend the cables for the can bus connection to the OBD 2 socket, the fog light bypass wiring was different colours to the instructions and the reverse sensor bypass when the trailer is plugged in was a pig to to inset the wire into the multiplug for the reverse module, I have run the wires for the fridge and the charging were a bit difficult to get through the bulkhead but I got there in the end, I will be using the rear power socket to enable the ignition relay,it's all working ok, the DIY job took me about 10 hours in total 👍
 
I have just fitted a towbar to my Tipo, getting the bumper off was quite straightforward,and the towbar fitted easily, I had to make a cutout on the underside of the bumper, the electrics was a different matter, I bought dedicated electrics, when I was looking to buy a towbar and electrics I bought from Poland because in the UK there was limited availability, the kit I bought was for a left hand drive, I had to extend the cables for the can bus connection to the OBD 2 socket, the fog light bypass wiring was different colours to the instructions and the reverse sensor bypass when the trailer is plugged in was a pig to to inset the wire into the multiplug for the reverse module, I have run the wires for the fridge and the charging were a bit difficult to get through the bulkhead but I got there in the end, I will be using the rear power socket to enable the ignition relay,it's all working ok, the DIY job took me about 10 hours in total 👍
A few pictures of various parts will help anybody doing this in future
 
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