Darren Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 My 110 has had replacement crossmember fitted at some point and I wonder if anybody can tell me what age of vehicle the replacement would have been the standard pattern for? The reason I ask is that, without giving it much thought, I bought a Dixon Bate adjustable tow bar, cleaned it up, re-painted it and then discovered that not all of the holes line up with those in the crossmember Then, armed with the knowledge of what I thought was needed, I bought a second DB towbar (which I believe is the TD5 pattern) only to discover that none of the holes line up despite looking like they should After a bit of umm-ing and ah-ing, I decided to fit the first one as enough holes line up for it to work, but I'm now wondering just what is so special about my crossmember to make this simple job so difficult. The crossmember has the series of larger and smaller holes in the rear face that appear to match the TD5 tow bar as well as the three 10mm threaded holes in the bottom face. However, the latter stand proud of the bottom face by about 6mm, which pushed the whole tow bar downwards and means that the main bolt holes don't line up. In addtion, the two outer 10mm holes are much further apart than the length of the steel angle on the back of the tow bar. Is there another crossmember design between the earlier and later ones or is my crossmember just a very badly designed copy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpb Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 My 110 has had replacement crossmember fitted at some point and I wonder if anybody can tell me what age of vehicle the replacement would have been the standard pattern for?The reason I ask is that, without giving it much thought, I bought a Dixon Bate adjustable tow bar, cleaned it up, re-painted it and then discovered that not all of the holes line up with those in the crossmember Then, armed with the knowledge of what I thought was needed, I bought a second DB towbar (which I believe is the TD5 pattern) only to discover that none of the holes line up despite looking like they should After a bit of umm-ing and ah-ing, I decided to fit the first one as enough holes line up for it to work, but I'm now wondering just what is so special about my crossmember to make this simple job so difficult. The crossmember has the series of larger and smaller holes in the rear face that appear to match the TD5 tow bar as well as the three 10mm threaded holes in the bottom face. However, the latter stand proud of the bottom face by about 6mm, which pushed the whole tow bar downwards and means that the main bolt holes don't line up. In addtion, the two outer 10mm holes are much further apart than the length of the steel angle on the back of the tow bar. Is there another crossmember design between the earlier and later ones or is my crossmember just a very badly designed copy? I dont think the dixonbate hitch in the first picture is a defender one. Possibly a disco or rr one. Sorry cant offer any help on theholes in the cross member. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotian Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Its defo not a TD5 Cross member as the TD5 one doesnt have the little welded patches that go up to meet the bottom of the body. It looks identical to mine on my 1985 90. But thats not much help as its a replacement one too from some time ago. Maybe its a standard replacement part that differes from the standard fitted part? Sorry that wasnt much help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgnas Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 The longer hitch is the one for the 90/110. However, mine does not have the small diameter holes at the top. The angle has been cut down as it should be about as wide as the two arms that brace to the chassis legs. On the original chassis the holes the angle bolts too are plated (at least 6mm) and threaded through. If you are towing non commercial trailers you'll find the current hitch too high. For commercial trailers or recovery you need the extra brace/angle. Make a new angle piece and if necessary open up the holes in the hitch a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Its defo not a TD5 Cross member as the TD5 one doesnt have the little welded patches that go up to meet the bottom of the body. Td5 do have the 5 plates, it's just they are covered by the rear body lower panel, so not as visible as ours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Just took these photo's of my DB adjustable hitch for comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotian Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 My mates TD5 had a bad rear end hit and you can see very clearly that there are no welded tabs. its a separate piece that cots about 80 quid (crazy price) that bolts ontop of the cross member. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 sounds like a backward move & more holes in the rear crossmember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameslwt Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 I would say, looking at the rear crossmember, that you simply have a military crossmember. The four in the middle are for the nato hitch, and the 2 larger ones at the bottom are to mount a straight towbar to. The piece with the angled ends in the 2nd pic should bolt vertically up through the small plated and threaded holes in the bottom of the crossmember. Look at Ralph/Western's 3rd pic and you can see what I mean. So you should end up with 2 bolts through the crossmember - 2 big holes (16mm IIRC - standard towbar bolts) and 2 bolts which are bolted through the angled piece, which is itself bolted upwards to the bottom of the crossmember. It looks like you may have to get a new angled piece as yours looks too short - it obviously needs to be long enough to reach the holes in the bottom of the crossmember. HTH James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgnas Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Sussed it! Your angle piece is from a 90 tow bar. Don't know why they would be different, but they are. Mount your choice of hitch, make a new angle piece, mark and drill to suit, job done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Thanks for all the ideas folks, particularly Western as I think his pictures have enabled me to work it out. The longer of the two tow bars does indeed appear to be from a TD5 model - presumably the crossmember design was changed slighly at that time. I've found a picture of a standard TD5 tow bar (below) and it, too, has the shorter horizontal angle peice. The shorter to bar (now fitted) isn't a Disco/RR one as, AFAIK, they don't have the angled braces running back to the chassis as they are already integral to the standard arrangement. The rear crossmember isn't a military pattern - they have square ends and, I think, don't have civiliam pattern tow ball mounting holes. In fact, looking at Westerns pics again, I think it's probably standard civilian pattern for it's year. On closer inspection, the short tow bar that I've fitted appears to be exactly the same as Westerns', except that the top of the ladder has been shortend and the solid bracing bar re-welded in lower down. The welding for this solid bar is certainly less neat than for the bottom one and, in fact, means that the saddle won't fit on it's higher setting I suspect it's been modified in this way so that it can be mounted slightly higher, thereby reducing it's effect on departure angle slightly. With the saddle on it's lowest setting and the ball on the lowest mounting holes, it's about 450mm above the ground, which is just about right for a caravan, not that it'll ever be used for such as my wifes' DII is the caravan tug. The main reason I want a DB tow bar is to use with my demountable winch, interchangeable with a recovery point and a standard tow ball for a small trailer and this now leaves me in a bit of a quandry. I could alter what I have by making the appropriate sized horizontal angle and move the ladder down so that the top two holes are attached to the crossmember. However, I'd loose the benefit of it being slightly shorter than standard and also have to faff around with a grinder so that a saddle will fit on the highest mounting holes. Alternatively, I could leave it as it is and forego the horizontal angle piece. It's still mounted with the same two tow ball bolts but I could, if they're not deemed sufficient, drill the crossmember and install two more 16mm bolts through the upper two mounting holes. Opinions, anybody? I've included a picture of a trial fit of my demountable winch. On the second highest setting (the highest that the saddle will actually fit) it's positioned perfectly so that it clears the spare wheel and doesn't reduce the departure angle. The free spool lever does get in the way but I can solve that by rotating the end of the winch body so that it's on the front face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headhunter Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 I had a shortened version like that, didn't buy it at Old Sodbury did you? It was shortened so that an NAS style rear tow/step could be fitted without the top protruding. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 No, mine was an ebay special Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Going OT for a moment Darren....I like the look of your folding rear step (I assume that's that the shiny bit is), where'd you get it? Have you got a pic of it folded down? Thanks, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 The step came from First Four Off-Road (near the bottom of this page). It's not Land Rover specific, so needed a bit of creative hole drilling and a couple of rivnuts to actually attach it, but it works pretty well. It's main advantage is in not cracking knees when leaning into the back, which I always seemed to do with anything 'fixed' Unlike the pictures on the First Four site, I installed it so that it didn't protrude below the bottom face of the rear crossmember, as that just seemed to be asking for trouble when off road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Good to read my photo's helped you sort it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 The step came from First Four Off-Road.... Excellent, thanks Darren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.