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Showing content with the highest reputation on 16/01/17 in all areas

  1. Hi all, I couldn't find any previous posts on this topic, so I hope I'm not telling members something they already know all too well. We pull an 18'6" ATV behind our 78 series Landcruiser ute. While our van and ute are getting on in age, they are both still low k's and very well serviced. We don't tow our van in very rough conditions. Recently, when hitching up, I found some movement in our Toyota towbar. This Toyota towbar is mounted with 8 bolts, 2 bolts on each chassis rail and four bolts on the rear cross-member. The four bolts on the rear cross member screw in to four nuts welded on the inside of the rear cross member. These welds had sheered off and the bolts couldn't be tightened because they were free-spinning on the nuts inside the cross member. Without making a special tool, it's virtually impossible to get a grip on those nuts. If you download and read the Toyota towing guide, you'll find this instruction: "Frequent towing or towing of heavy loads, towing off-road or in rough conditions or any other operating conditions that require the vehicle to undergo severe servicing will mean that your tow bar also needs servicing. Check all mounting bolts" Our ATV is our first caravan and we've only had it for just under two years. So we're still novices and still learning. We're just glad we discovered this looseness in our towbar before the bolts sheered clean through and a catastrophe was avoided. Rather than repair the Toyota towbar (which by the way, our local Toyota Dealer had absolutely no interest in doing), I replaced the Toyota towbar with a Hayman Reece towbar. The Hayman Reece bar is mounted with 12 instead of only 8 mounting bolts. So I'm hoping it will prove more reliable. But I'll still be checking those 12 bolts are correctly torqued at regular intervals! Hope this helps another novice. Best regards Mike
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