Retroanaconda Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 I am trying to refit a towbar to my 90. Clearly the aftermarket tank brackets that I bought and welded on to the chassis are slightly the wrong shape, as the towbar braces do not properly line up. With a bit of manipulation with a hammer I can get it to this point: It will then pull closed with the bolt (an M12) but to do so it effectively twists the brace and puts a lot of strain on the bracket and bolt at the tank end. This is also an M12, into a tapped boss which is welded into the bracket. How happy would you be with this? Ideally I need to put a small twist into the brace, but it’s a bloody thick bit of steel and I don’t have the kit for that so would need to farm it out. It seems I will also need to notch the tank guard to fit the cross-brace piece - more fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miketomcat Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 I'd notch the tank guard first, you might find it bolts up fine once you have clearance. You'll probably find you can get the twist you need with a large adjustable spanner on this end and the other end just bolted in position. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 I’ve got a very similar situation. I put a NAS step on my 90 - and when I test fitted it, it all looked ok. When I came to fit it though the bars weren’t painted - so I left them off to start with….. and now when I’ve come to fit them I’ve noticed they would need the same twist and also the holes elongating. Looking from the side the NAS step actually sits out a bit at the bottom. It’s not vertical. I was pondering wether to have a twist put in the brace - but as a first step I thought I’d loosen it all off and see if I can get all the bolts in and then tighten it up and just see how much tension went into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 As with Mike, I’d notch the tank guard first to see how much it needs tweaking. If it still needs tweaking, have you got anything like a plumbers torch? Preferably MAPP gas. Or I’ve tweaked similar things clamped up in the vice and then used a big set of stilsons with a bit of scaff tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddy Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 If each end bolts up tight I would just do that, once it has been used for a while everything will find its own medium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fmmv Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 It looks like this maybe is a pre td5 towbar going on a post td5 rear end. If so, re the m12 threaded boss there are some supports also to the tiedown tags bolts on the official towbar. I'd post a pic, but I don't have a vehicle at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted March 26, 2023 Author Share Posted March 26, 2023 Sorry I should have been clearer, there is no clash with the tank guard yet. It’s only the triangulation piece that may need that later. Its a Td5 towbar onto a Td5/Tdci chassis - only difference is I welded the tank mounts on myself. I have been daft though and forgotten some extra brackets. These overlap the tank mount where the braces attach, and also pick up on the chassis above. After test fitting, I think that actually with these in place there won’t be any issue - they space the brace out slightly and massively reinforce the tank mount, so I’m not so concerned about the twist in the brace. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted March 26, 2023 Author Share Posted March 26, 2023 These are the brackets. They take up some of the difference. It’s not perfect but with a bit of tweaking it will go on and will do the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fmmv Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 If you bolted to the rear rather than the front of the horizontal piece at the rear you might gain a few more mm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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