Towbar Help!

[Rav4 rocks]

Hi,

I have a 2004 Rav4 XT3 5 door D4D and love it. We are now looking at fitting a towbar for a funky T@B Caravan.

I would like to fit a towbar along with a rear step (already fitted) and still be able to open the tailgate door with a caravan hitched up (to get the dog out) - am I asking for the impossible?

Advice on the different makes and options gratefully considered.

I have looked around a little on the web and am very confused as to which towar to fit.

[nig.xl]

Hi,

I have a 2004 Rav4 XT3 5 door D4D and love it. We are now looking at fitting a towbar for a funky T@B Caravan.

I would like to fit a towbar along with a rear step (already fitted) and still be able to open the tailgate door with a caravan hitched up (to get the dog out) - am I asking for the impossible?

Advice on the different makes and options gratefully considered.

I have looked around a little on the web and am very confused as to which towar to fit.

Don't think it will happen. Mine has a sticker on the rear door telling me not to open it when a trailer is connected, so I did and the door hits the hitch.

The bar would have to be so low to the ground that it would hit if it was going up a slight incline to allow the door to open.

But I could be wrong

[Robert6920]

Hi there and, from one new member to another, welcome

I know absolutely nothing about caravans etc but there is a thread running on towbars which might throw some light on this subject, it's here clicky

Good luck

[IanXT4]

Hi

I think I posted this info a quite while ago (2005), but could not find it on the forum, so I cut and pasted a copy below.

I also have no idea if these bars work with steps.

*****************************************************************

I looked into Tow bars a while ago, because I wanted a detachable Towbar but also wanted to be able to open the door with it connected.

Toyota do two towbars, a fixed bar that allows the door to be open and a Brink detachable bar (sold as Toyota OEM) that has to be removed when the door is opened.

I called Brinks technical support line Tel 02476 355 820 and spoke to one of their technical people and it seems that Brink do two detachable towbars for the RAV4 (4.2 model)

Apparently, there is a legal range for the towbar height, the detachable towbar supplied to Toyota and resold by them is at an optimum height but does not allow the door to be opened.

They also do another tow bar that is 20mm lower and allows the door to be opened, this tow bar is at the lower limit of the legal requirement and may be to low for some towing combinations.

I bought the lower detachable bar and have found it to be great for my requirements, tows ok and door opens. I am not sure I would recommend it for a Caravan, I use it for towing a glider Trailer (9M long) and it is slightly nose down, but is very stable (and I have been to Germany & back a few times)

Brink do not sell this part directly, you have to buy it through one of their recommended suppliers. I was recommended Towing Equipment UK Ltd by their tech department (Sales@Towstore.co.uk) 00 353 1 456 4093/4159.

They are based in Dublin but the goods are shipped directly from Brinks stores in the UK. When I bought it two years ago it was around £180.

The part numbers are:

Brink part Number for detachable bar supplied to Toyota (OEM) 4089 (Door does not open)

Brink lower detachable bar 3669 (The one I bought, door does open)

The installation for the Brink lower bar is identical to the Toyota bar, I had mine fitted by my local dealer as it was a new car(I supplied the Bar). I would recommend that you buy the Genuine electrical kit From Toyota its about £70 and it neatly plugs into the RAV wiring loom in a number of places. (Its not a simple wiring installation, you can find the wiring installation on http://techdoc.toyota-europe.com/default1.asp)

The Brink website has the installation instructions for both bars go to www.brinkweb.com select country then select “search” enter “Toyota” you want RAV 4 (2 & 4WD) details and manuals are downloadable.

Hope this information helps, please check part no’s etc with Brink Technical Guys before placing an order as things may have changed.

Ian

[IanXT4]

Oh and before anyone asks, the difference between the two detachable tow bars for a RAV 4.2 is both a different tow bar and the receiving socket that bolts to a towbar cross member.

I have a friend who had a tow bar fitted with the "higher" socket and my "lower tow bar" still just hit the door. It seems the "higher" the socket is fixed at a different angle. So its not possible to have the best of both worlds :-(

Your tow bar also instantly becomes technically illegal if you mix and match.

Ian

[Rav4 rocks]

Ian, thanks for that info very useful and a consideration.

Does anyone have any experience of the Tow-Trust TT863 which also may do the job?

[Hoovie]

Ian, thanks for that info very useful and a consideration.

Does anyone have any experience of the Tow-Trust TT863 which also may do the job?

Hi Rav4 Rocks,

You stated that you want to be able to fit a towbar and ALSO keep the rear step? I presume this is a Toyota rear step or at least using the Toyota standard fitting points for the rear step.

If my assumption is right, then your choice of Towbars (without going down a custom route) is much more limited.

I bought my Towbar from Towequipe - they sell a number of different makes for the RAV4 and it was only the Brinks (which is actually the one Toyota rebrand) which would use the same fittings as the rear step.

As a bonus, as you have the rear step already in place, the mechanics of fitting the Brinks towbar are greatly reduced as half the stuff is already bolted to the vehicle

As regards the Tow-Trust TT863 - not a clue, but if I had to guess, I would say you would end up losing the rear step.

Oh, and before I go, thanks IanXT4 - it was your original post that helped me a lot when I was working out which bar to get :)

[IanXT4]

Thanks for the comment Hoovie

I forgot to mention in my previous post that the height of the Brinks bar only affects whether you can open the rear door without removing the tow bar.

Even with the low tow bar there is absolutely no way you could open the door with the hitch attached (not without removing a lot of metal and plastic :-)

The low bar is also right on the lower limit for towing, personally I would not want to tow a caravan with that hitch height. Its so low that I remove the jocky wheel to stop it grounding on speed humps and store it in the trailer, but for towing a glider trailer it seems ok.

Ian

[Rav4 rocks]

Yes I have the Toyota Rear step fitted which can work with a towbar according to its installation instructions.

It is all rather dissapointing and don't want to swap the car :(

On the positive side had the below response from Tow-Trust - not sure how realistic it is in light of the comments above:

"The part number you will need is TT863

Rav 4 SWB/LWB (With Bumper Step)

2000 - 2006

£148.00

I have spoken to the fitter who says that opening of your rear door will depend on your jockey wheel mechanism and how much space there is between the vehicle and the caravan"

OTHER TOWING EXPERIENCES APPRECIATED FOR THIS MODEL OF RAV...

[Hoovie]

Conclusions so far ...

No matter what towbar you have, when ANYTHING is hitched up to it, you cannot open the rear door very far at all - decision time: how important is that? If that is a no-no, no point in having a tow-bar fitted!

The towbar that allows the door to open when fitted (but not hitched) is really too low for a caravan, but ok for most basic trailers - decision time: If you tow a caravan, you need a tow bar that will end up fouling the rear door when fitted. (note: it is only a matter of two minutes to get bar out of bag and fit to car and 2 minutes to remove and put into bag)

You can keep the rear steep even when towbar is fitted, even though the choice is more limited (Brink and Tow-Trust) - decision time: buy the right one :)

[Grahaml]

Hi Everyone

Sorry to jump on this thread. I have got a RAV4 XT4 2005 model. I have just had the same problem with my caravan and the towbar being low. The Jockey wheel was catching the floor over speed bumps and uneven ground. I had the witter TY123A bar fixed with an alko ball on. The door opened ok, but only just cleared the ball. I measured the floor to ball centre and it was approx 340-345mm which is really low. I spoke to witter technical about this and the guy said it shouldn't be that low and maybe the fitter had fitted it incorrectly. Luckily I live less than 20 minutes away from the witter factory so he suggested that I bring the the car down for him to have a look at. He said the tow bar was fitted fine and his only explanation was that the XT4 must be a lowered being a top of the range model (at the time of purchase). He then offered up the stowbar which would give an extra 40mm lift, with the extra 30mm on the main bar and 10mm in the swan neck. He then suggested trying different swan necks to raise the height again (something you obviously will not get from a stockist). The one we settled for was the swan neck from the new Rav4 06-. This gives an extra lift of approx 70mm taking it to approx 420mm from the floor which is ideal and still should let me get the alko hitch over the top. He also put me on to cheshire towbars who did me a deal on the upgrade kit for £80 instead of £115 which was the cheapest I found on the web. Its fitted on monday, so I will keep everyone posted to how it works.

Thanks

Graham

[Hoovie]

This is interesting.

What you are saying seems to contradict Ian XT4s comments about not being permissible to mix and match like your towbar man is proposing? Maybe that is the case for the brink but not the witter

[Grahaml]

Yes, thats right, the guy from witter said you will not be able to do that from a stockist, the socket for the swan neck is the same for all stowbar detachble bars, it is only the stowbar what determines the height for each car

[Hoovie]

Sounds good

Question for you, Graham: the ALKO setup requires a special ball to suit the special hitch - is that right? reason for my question is I am thinking of getting an Eriba 'van in the future and they usually come with an ALKO hitch; I'm wondering if the normal ball is suitable or does the Witter have an ALKO option?

[Bezzer]

Sounds good

Question for you, Graham: the ALKO setup requires a special ball to suit the special hitch - is that right? reason for my question is I am thinking of getting an Eriba 'van in the future and they usually come with an ALKO hitch; I'm wondering if the normal ball is suitable or does the Witter have an ALKO option?

If it's a bolt on ball then yes you would need an Alko replacement ball but if it's a swan neck, detachable or fixed, then they are fine with an ALKO hitch. It's the clearance below the ball that they need and a swan neck automatically gives you that.

[Hoovie]

Thanks - I have a Brinks Detachable, so looks like I am sorted (hopefully the height won't give a problem :) )