Aragorn Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 So having got the Disco road legal ive turned my attention to offroad prep. My first venture off the road at my mates place involved me hitting the towbar off the ground when coming down an incline, so i've been thinking about modifying it a little and would like some opinions. It looks like this currently: http://www.lr90.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_v..._serialNumber=1 First of all how suitable is it, in its current guise as a recovery point? I was thinking about installing a nato hitch on the top 4 bolt holes on the plate, and removing the normal towball. My thaughts about modifying it, were basically that i could shorten the drop plate by a few inches, and move the mounting point for the two lower links up by a similar amount, therefore giving me a few inches extra clearance, leaving enough room for the nato hitch. Thaughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbocharger Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 To my mind, if it's not strong enough to take a clout on the ground now and then, it needs attention. Otherwise, stick to OE for strength and design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete3000 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 You can get shorter vertical sections to avoid the "digging in" feature but I am guessing you want to retain your towball aswell. If you are feeling flush you could kill all the birds with one large rock and get one of these. http://www.southdown4x4.co.uk/DetachableTowing.htm#tpdrr Or for less cash I'd be tempted to buy some jate rings on your chassis rails. I'm not sure I would trust the towbar much as it stands, but thats just me. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeSheds Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 My thaughts about modifying it, were basically that i could shorten the drop plate by a few inches, and move the mounting point for the two lower links up by a similar amount, therefore giving me a few inches extra clearance, leaving enough room for the nato hitch. Check the NATO hitch bolt spacings before proceeding, you may find that they don't match those on the drop-plate... Also - IIRC the drop plate holes are for 15mm dia bolts and the NATO hitch uses 12mm so you will need a substantial spreader-plate on the back too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
q-rover Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Remove it anf fit the NAS 2" receiver version. That way you can remove the plough when not towing and fit a proper recovery point in the receiver when going off tarmac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 I should point out that it didnt get damaged from hitting the ground (this time anyway). More i'd just rather it didnt hit the ground at all. The NAS hitch mentioned looks good, but i very much doubt its going to be cheap (a google suggests £200), and if i was going to spend on that i may as well get the full on tank guard etc from southdown. Also i can only seem to find references to the NAS reciever being for the D2... I dont actaully have enough money to buy either though so unless one can be found cheaply on ebay or similar thats no going to happen. I dont like the idea of using JATE rings as recovery points tbh, two silly M10 bolts to pull two tonnes of stuck landrover doesnt sound appealing to me. At least with the tow bar there is 4 bolts holding it on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Sorry to state the obvious, but if you are clouting the tow bar, how long do you think it will be before you clout the fuel tank? At best that will cost you a tank of fuel and a new tank. How much change from £200 will you get from that exercise? At worst, it is a V8 right? Fuel on a hot exhaust anyone.....? A Southdown guard is money very well spent in my opinion. The one I had on my RR certainly earned its keep! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 I understand what your saying, but the southdown kit is £350 quid for the guard and recovery attachment, and i quite simply do not have £350 to spend on this truck, i've just spent over £700 buying it and getting it to this stage which was already money i probably shouldn't have been spending until the other half is working, I need to sort some front and rear recovery points for as little cash as possible. I've got some ideas for the front already, hence this post about the rear. Perhaps in a few months time i can look at something like the southdown guard, but in the meantime, i'm looking for a viable (ie safe/strong) recovery solution that i can knock together cheaply. Having the tow bar there does provide some fuel tank protection, its not perfect, but i'd rather ground the towbar out than take out the tank. What i think i'm going to do, is remove the towbar, cut off the bottom inch or two, so the plate ends about level with the existing tow ball, redrill the holes for the lower stays and bolt it all back together with some high tensile bolts and see how that goes. I'll have to check the hole spacing to see if it will actually take a nato hitch too, and sort a suitable spreader plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Neale Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Cheap option: Modify your existing towbar (shorten it) to reduce the overhang. Ideally remove the towball and replace it with a 3.5 tonne pin hitch - or, if you're feeling flush, a combined ball and pin. The towbar stays will give your fuel tank a fair amount of protection anyway. You'll take out the bumper end caps etc long before you hit the fuel tank. Expensive option: Fit a Southdown tank guard and detachable drop plate. As an aside, I use 200 & 300 Tdi Discoverys at work all the time and have done for a few years now - both as a driver and also with novices under instruction. None of our vehicles have tank guards, relying on the modified towbar option instead. We've not even come close to hitting a fuel tank. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streaky Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 As an improvement to your existing set up you could always add a couple of JATE rings to attach a safety bridle. I have a shortened drop plate with a Dixon Bate PinBall Wizard. A tank guard is nice to have if funds allow for one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 Thanks guys, i think i'll go with modifying the towbar. I was thinking about some kind of safety links, however i was thinking about just using the tie down loops... I guess it depends if the point of the safety bridle is to hold the vehicles weight or just stop the rope/hitch/etc flailing if the main recovery point was to give out? The tiedown loops would probably be fine to act as a line arrestor should something give out, but i dont think i'd want to hang the vehicle off them... One point would be that the tiedown loops/jate rings would use the same attachment points as the towbars lower stays, so perhaps this isnt as redundant as it first seems... What is the general point of the safety links and what would people use for them? Rope? or some kinda steel wire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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