Matt Neale Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Just wanted to pick the collective brain... Currently on the 110 I've got a Southdown tank guard & associated detechable drop plate. I've also got a DB 5 tonne pin hitch mounted on the rear x-member as a recovery point and for towing sanket-type trailers. Now, with a standard narrow track sankey, the hitch on the trailer rotates, so the fact that I have a non-rotating pin on the vehicle isn't an issue - but with the later widetrack trailers, the ring hitch on the trailer is fixed, so the vehicle must have a rotating hitch fitted.... Therein lies my problem. If I need to tow a trailer with a fixed hitch (eg a widetrack trailer) I can't. I already have a decent NATO hitch all refurbed ready to go on the 110 - but I can't see how I can get the NATO hitch to fit with the Southdown tank guard in place...!? I don't want to ditch the guard as it's one of the most effective and useful bits on the vehicle... To clarify - The Southdown guard has muliple mounting points; the rear anti-roll bar brackets, the chassis rails either either side, and the rear cross member where the guard has a vertical tab with 2x M14 bolts through the lower x-member holes. It's these bolts that are causing me issues - I have to mount the NATO to the x-member first as you can't access the rear of the cross member with the guard in place. The NATO uses the same bolt spacing as the existing DB pin, but also has a couple of lugs projecting down on which the anti-rotation lockout tab is mounted; these lugs partially cover the holes for the two mounting points on the Southdown Guard - see image (cribbed from Bogmonsters post, but you get the idea) So - options then? Can I drill out the NATO hitch to accept M14 on the lower mounting holes then move it down on the x-member so that it sharees the lower mounting points with the guard? I'd have to make up a spacer for underneath the upper bolts but shouldn't be an issue... Any other ideas? Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bull Bar Cowboy Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Matt, I there are two options as I see it …………. Either tap the NATO hitch rear mounting plate to the correct thread ……… or weld nuts to the mounting plate and then just tack the plate into place. That way you could easily remove or swing it out of the way to mount the Southdown hitch. Also drilling out the body to suit 14mm should not present much of an issue……….however I would prefer the above method. Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark90 Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Do you need to tow with it locked as well as unlocked? If not mount it upside down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=13421 is what I did with mine - should give you some ideas. Thread hijack, if anybody has a spare Southdown drop plate for sale please could you PM me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Neale Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=13421is what I did with mine - should give you some ideas. Thread hijack, if anybody has a spare Southdown drop plate for sale please could you PM me You've done exactly what I want to do Stephen. Question is, what did you use on the rear face of the x-member - captive bolts? If not, how did you access? (Mine's an '89 110 with the steel tank - so not a lot of room between the rear face of the x member and the tank) Matt Edited to add... I've modded my Southdown drop plate and bolted a Dixon Bate height adjustable hitch to it. As well as allowing me to change height and swap hitches quickly, it also moves the hitch out from the car a little meaning I now have no issues with the trailer hitch fouling on the 5 tonne coupling. Rather than go down the route of getting another Southdown drop plate, why not do the same Stephen - all you'd have to get then is another DB sliding mount...? Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark90 Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Question is, what did you use on the rear face of the x-member - captive bolts? If not, how did you access? TD5 rear crossmember has captive nuts anyway. You could weld some nuts on a backing plate and tack that in place before fitting the guard. I have some 1/4" plate if needed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Mine is a Tdi but being a 2006 model, it has the late Td5 chassis with the captive nuts behind the cross member - I guess it would be fun getting in there otherwise! Tack welding some nuts to a drilled back plate that was a snug fit inside the x-member would be the best solution I would think? Most of the time my 110 has a bare bum (ooer) and I only put the drop plate on when I tow a trailer so a separate Southdown plate would be the best solution for me - its lighter and easier to put on. I also want the NATO one made in a different design, to sit the hitch higher up and give better clearance than I have for the "full plough" version which is needed to have the 50mm ball at the correct height for a twin axle Ifor Williams. This was why I tried to get one from Southdown but apparently my comments about fitting problems on the other thread upset the apple cart a bit, which is a shame as they were intended as a criticism of the vehicle being the wrong shape rather than of the guard, but there you go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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