Having a towbar is an awesome luxury. All of a sudden you don’t need Uhaul anymore.
Now you have your own vehicle to your RV, ATVs, skidoos, or just trash! First you
have to get your towbar fitted. Most auto mechanic stores will do this for you, but often
they’ll charge close to $1000. You could go get it done at Uhaul for half that, but if your
good at mechanics and don’t mind spending a little time, why not save yourself the labor
costs? You can buy a good tow bar for between $100 - $175 dollars. So you’ve saved
yourself between three and four hundred dollars. Considering that you could do this
project in a day, that’s a good day’s work!
Not just anyone can do a good towbar fitting, but it can be a good challenge (and
therefore really fun) for someone who is mechanically minded and is looking for a good
project.
First you’ll have to find the mounting points. This you’ll do from inside the car.
Remove the boot trim and the floor covering. Sometimes you’ll have to take off the
bumper and lower the tail gate, but see if you can get away without that first. Once you
see the chassis, you should find the holes that the manufacture drilled for you for this
very purpose, they are on the chassis legs. (However if your vehicle is pre 1998 you
won’t find these holes. At that point I would take it to a shop, but if not, you’ll have
to measure from the wheels and find the median point, to figure out the proper place
for your towbar fitting.) Once you have found the holes, simply bolt the towbar onto
it. Look further up the chassis to see if there are any arms that have been predrilled for
extra support to put the towbar in. (You may also want to look up the back of the chassis
sometimes they have further support there as well.)
Not all towbars can be put in this way. Some of them connect directly to the bumper
and slide into the chassis legs. These towbar fittings take the place of the bumper beam.
They can be easier to install because you don’t have to take apart the inside of your
car, but sometimes you have to cut your bumper for them to fit right. That means you
need a hacksaw and a really accurate measuring tape. But it’s not that big of a deal for
someone with a steady hand and knows what they’re doing. (Again I think I would
be taking my car to the shop at this point because I don’t want my car looking bad.)
Once you have the tow bar fitted you need to do the electrical work. Most vehicles
wiring will be found behind one of the rear light clusters. In the past, they would be
scotch locked into the loom feeds, but with newer cars that have such sophisticated
electrics, they aren’t doing that anymore. So if you have a new car, you’ll need to find
out if you need to buy a special plug-in kit specific to your electrical system. You should
be able to find these at your local auto parts store, and they come with full instructions on
how to install.
After that you’re done! All you have to do now is take your ATV’s out for a fun day at
the beach!