 | Home > Puma (Tdci) > Towbar and electrics for Puma |
 
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can anyone throw any light?
| zsd-puma Member Since: 09 Aug 2016 Location: Kent Posts: 2720   
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PF Jones usually sell decent stuff. But the Land Rover electric kit isn't unreasonably priced.
Actually even the genuine LR towbar for the Defender is fairly reasonable too. It's made by Thule/Brink, the paint finish on them lasts much much longer than the Witter ones, which flake off after a couple of years. |
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1st Mar 2017 8:57pm |
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| Rallymental Member Since: 17 Aug 2015 Location: The Garden of England Posts: 468 
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I was looking at the Dixon bate sliding adjustable towbar. I'm thinking there's more adjustment than with the LR one?
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1st Mar 2017 10:17pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11240 
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I think Paddocks are just a bit confused. The Dixon Bate set up for 110's, part no. LR007222, is the same from 1998 to the end of production. I fitted exactly the same to my old 110:
 Click image to enlarge I also fitted the Land Rover 13 pin towing socket loom. It's a bit of chore to fit as there's lots of crawling around underneath, but they do make very nice loom kits. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 13th Oct 2017 4:41pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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1st Mar 2017 10:55pm |
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| Rallymental Member Since: 17 Aug 2015 Location: The Garden of England Posts: 468
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Thanks for the advice on the towbar, that's exactly the one I checked with Paddocks and they said wouldn't fit 2015 Defender!
Also thanks for the comment on the wiring, I've read your post on the installation of the wiring kit, to be honest it's what made have a look around for an alternative. The PF Jones one I found still comes as a complete kit but all of the wiring after the plug is done inside the battery box https://www.pfjones.co.uk/land-rover-defen...504rc.html the part of the LR kit that seems a faf (going by the instructions) is taking the stereo out to get to the back of the switch and taping a length of wire across the floor!!  but in your post you didn't do this? |
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2nd Mar 2017 3:31am |
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| zsd-puma Member Since: 09 Aug 2016 Location: Kent Posts: 2720
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The wire to the back of the heated screen switch, is just the ignition trigger for the split charge relay. There are plenty of other places you could pick it up from.
I don't know what you intend to tow, but do you actually need the adjustable hitch? How much are you going to be adjusting it. They're as noisy as hell on the back. The vast majority of trailers have standard hitch heights unless you have something old or home made, you're probably just going to pick one position and leave it there. The standard multiheight one like mine should do the job if you're only going to adjust it infrequently. Click image to enlarge Mine is in the middle set of holes and it perfect for my Ifor williams flatbed and two small box trailers. |
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2nd Mar 2017 7:15am |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11240
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Yeah, I saw that on their website. I checked a few other supplier sites and they all have it listed as post '98 though, so Paddocks are wrong.
Mine was a TD5 so the final connections differed to a Puma. The most difficult part was the connection for the reverse light, which was tight alongside the gearbox.
The noise is largely eliminated by using later two pin sliders. It's a good question about what you plan to tow but in my experience many things don't have standard hitch heights. For me most recently for example, there was a difference between a smallish box trailer and a twin axle caravan, which I'm sure isn't an unusual combination to be swapping between. I also had a Sankey trailer for a while but I accept that is something of a niche requirement. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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2nd Mar 2017 9:16am |
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| Martin Site Admin Member Since: 02 Apr 2007 Location: Hook Norton Posts: 6480 
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I went with a Witter tow bar and genuine electrics - I couldn't justify the price of the genuine tow bar.
On a 2015/2016 Defender you don't need to pull the radio and switches out, this is in the instructions to pick up an ignition feed for the relay which is mounted in the battery box. Where the instructions tell you to take to the branch to the dash, take it out of the battery box, across the car and into the box under the driver's seat (where the other fuse boxes are). There are plenty of ignition sources there to choose from - White with Green stripe. 1988 90 Td5 NAS soft top
2015 D90 XS SW |
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2nd Mar 2017 10:38am |
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| Rallymental Member Since: 17 Aug 2015 Location: The Garden of England Posts: 468
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I'm starting to feel better about this now!
Martin, when you mention ignition feed, is that a switched live? I've been sent the instal instructions for the Jones kit and they use a 'voltage control relay' which appears to do away with any connections to switched lives and instead takes a feed direct from the battery positive, the relay is supposed to only come in when the battery voltage is above 13.4v and switches off if voltage drops to below 12.7v this sounds like an easier option than running separate wires around? I'm quite happy to be told otherwise by the way! 
Regarding the towbar itself; I do agree about the fixed adjustable type but I will be towing on occasions, two different caravans, an Ifor Williams trailer and infrequently a horse box. I am concerned about the noise from the adjustable Dixon bate as sometimes the caravan will be towed to Spain etc. Do all new ones come as standard with the two pin set up? All the photos I've found still show only one pin. |
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2nd Mar 2017 12:26pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11240
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They come as standard with a single pin slider but two pin ones can be bought separately. You'll probably need a couple anyway as I expect you'll want an Alko ball for the caravans and a regular greased ball for the others. Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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2nd Mar 2017 12:47pm |
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| Rallymental Member Since: 17 Aug 2015 Location: The Garden of England Posts: 468
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Got it!
£45 seems a bit steep though!! Can the single pin one be 'quietened' in the short term? I'm guessing it's because it can pivot on the single pin, can it packed with a rubber or something similar? Can the single pin one be drilled to make it a two pin one?  when I say rubber, you know what I mean..... right? |
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2nd Mar 2017 1:16pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11240
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Heh, heh. Yeah, you can cut down the clonking with some rubber packing. The forces are pretty high though, so it needs to be quite dense.
I'm not sure about drilling a single pin slider to make it a two pin. The single pin holes are obviously central and I'm not sure that there would be enough meat left to drill new holes above and below  Again, given the forces involved, I'd be extremely cautious about it. Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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2nd Mar 2017 3:09pm |
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| zsd-puma Member Since: 09 Aug 2016 Location: Kent Posts: 2720
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Just use an alko ball and wipe the grease off with brake cleaner when you want to use it with a stabilised hitch. 
It's easier to just ignore that, and modify the harness by connecting to the back of the reverse lamp.
It's worth remembering small box trailers usually sit very nose down until you load them up and compress the trailer suspension. But in my experience once loaded up both my small box trailers, my 16ft ifor willams and i did move a friends caravan once were all more or less the same height. Maybe i was just lucky. I did consider the sliding coupling, but unless you're swapping the heights about on a weekly basis the noise is more hassle than potentially unbolting the towball and moving it once a year.
I found if you shop around you can have a genuine one for around £200 (either the multiheight or the slider), there are new take offs on ebay quite often too. Even the Witter ones are just over £100. The less than 6 year old witter that came on mine when i got it had paint flaking off when i bought it. Whereas the genuine one on my friends 16 year old TD5 has only gone a bit matt, surprisingly still no rust. |
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2nd Mar 2017 3:52pm |
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| Retroanaconda Member Since: 04 Jan 2012 Location: Scotland Posts: 2548 
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Run a small woodscrew in between the slider and the ladder frame, hey presto no more clonking.
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2nd Mar 2017 4:24pm |
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| Rallymental Member Since: 17 Aug 2015 Location: The Garden of England Posts: 468
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At Paddocks the slider kit is £137 the fixed adjustable is £122, so nothing in it.
Zsd, when you get a mo do you think you could put a tape measure on yours from ground to top of the ball? Just interested to know the difference in heights between the adjustable and the fixed I'll let you know about the woodscrew idea!?!  |
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2nd Mar 2017 8:01pm |
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