Tow bars

Forum: 

Can somebody please help me,ive just got a 97 sportrak. id like to fit a towbar to it,but dont know if i can just take the ring thats on the back off? is the bracket strong enough to handle a small trailer?

Towbar

John if you intend towing any kind of trailer at all you must fit a suitable towbar to your vehicle...anything else is completely illegal.

tow bars

thanks for your comment mike,what i meant was that if i remove the ring will i be able to fit a ball to the remaining bracket? will it be strong enough or will i have to buy a whole new towbar bracket? regards john

towbar

Hi John

I would strongly recommend you fit a suitable towbar m8.
I reckon the boys in blue would have a field day with you if you
towed using anything else...also think of the safety aspects m8

Tow Ring

John

Just happened to pass garage forecourt selling Sportrak...had a look and saw the ring you were talking about..got underneath and checked out whether this was a full towbar and it certainly appears to be. I am 4trak owner and 4traks dont have this 'ring'. The Sporty I looked at though did not have any towing electrics fitted...So the question is why fit a towbar without electrics !!!
I would take my vehicle to a towbar fitting place and ask them if indeed the 'ring' is a full towbar..if it is then you only need to fit a towball and the electrics...if not then you will know for sure m8.Hope this helps

tow bar

I can't be sure if the sporty is the same, but the overseas fourtrak (rocky circa 1986) used to come fitted with a tow ring ( it has a latch) very similar to a NATO hitch. We used it for recovery towing anything from cars to light trucks, so the point was definitly strong enough.
Where you will fall down is that you will definitly need electrics.
My current fourtrak in the UK (which is an old farmers vehicle) has a towball fitted to the old D-ring point. Its had an additional tow plate with bolt holes welded below the old hitch plate onto the hitch plate and the chassis. Like an 'L'extending under the vehicle. so far as I can tell this was just so that he could mount the ball lower for the ride height for one of his trailers.

You should be able to unbolt the D ring and get a tow ball bolted on in its place, That just leaves the electrics to sort.

Hope that helps