Never heard of a Witter one giving problems, sure its a Witter

I suggest the following. Very good Bar!

It is a Witter R41AQF which is a detachable flange towbar. Bought second hand genuine LR electrics from ebay for £100. Car has to be reprogrammed by Land Rover to make the electrics work correctly which I believe costs around £40- £50.


I did lots of research and chose this bar because:


1/This tow bar allows you to detach the ball when not in use leaving a neat installation behind
2/ No bumper cut is required
3/ Flange fitting(rather than swan neck) allows normal bike carriers to be fitted and caravan towing at the same time if required
4/Have gone for twin electrics because I dont have caravan but an adapter is available to swap one from the other if required. I understand the 13 pin is now standard for caravans.

Genuine Land Rover Detachable towbars have had problems, see other threads on this forum

topaz wrote:

I eventually fitted a Witter Detachable Tow Kit R41AQ which was quite easy, cost £169. Instead of removing the rear bumper just needed to drill two holes under the nearside rear reflector to torque a couple of bolts. Bought a set of genuine single 13 pin electrices from LR £84 and you are right they are just plug and play and just needed a couple of extra fuses fitted. Job done and just taken the caravan to the dealers for its first service and all went well. So for a grand o total of £253 have a decent tow bar and genuine LR electrics.

PF Jones have an offer on this towbar at the moment........ * GONE. GS TD4 Manual MY2013. Orkney Grey with privacy, cold and clearview packs, armrests (a must!) and a spoiler.
* 2011 4.4 TDV8 Full Fat. Amazing piece of kit.
* GONE.2012 RR Sport HSE SDV6 Orkney Grey. Rocket ship. 33mpg.
* Range Rover Classic '93 200Tdi Factory fit
* 1949 80" in family since 1975

I haven't bought a freelander 2 yet (looking at the metropolis) but I like to do research before I buy anything . I went to the towbar company I have used twice before , they recommend witter , with original wire loom . £560 + vat , they also said since the facelift there is no need to re code the car , is this correct ?
What is wrong with Thule towbars ? I've had one with 13pin electrics on my galaxy for 5 yrs and never had any problem.

99% of the owners on here who tow a van with the Thule/LR Towbar had it come loose, it develops play in the Receiver, Thule say they only have the problem where it has been used with the Alko Hitch Head. I went through three of four, one only lasted around a thousand miles, in the end replaced it with the Westfalia Detachable.
Thule also said it may be due to the length of the Towball due to the distance it is from under the Bumper, either way, they no it's a problem, it's been there since 2006 and nothing has improved.
If you do get one from Land Rover when you place the order for the Freelander, you will have three years Warranty with it, if you buy from a Towbar Specialist only the one year.

Purplemadboy wrote:

they also said since the facelift there is no need to re code the car , is this correct ?

Someone earlier in this thread mentioned that too for newish models. Buy one from PF Jones and fit it yourself. Save you heaps of cash!  * GONE. GS TD4 Manual MY2013. Orkney Grey with privacy, cold and clearview packs, armrests (a must!) and a spoiler.
* 2011 4.4 TDV8 Full Fat. Amazing piece of kit.
* GONE.2012 RR Sport HSE SDV6 Orkney Grey. Rocket ship. 33mpg.
* Range Rover Classic '93 200Tdi Factory fit
* 1949 80" in family since 1975

topaz wrote:

I eventually fitted a Witter Detachable Tow Kit R41AQ which was quite easy, cost £169. Instead of removing the rear bumper just needed to drill two holes under the nearside rear reflector to torque a couple of bolts. Bought a set of genuine single 13 pin electrices from LR £84 and you are right they are just plug and play and just needed a couple of extra fuses fitted. Job done and just taken the caravan to the dealers for its first service and all went well. So for a grand o total of £253 have a decent tow bar and genuine LR electrics.

Jules - where did you buy the electrics? LR dealer? How much? Got a part number? Ta. * GONE. GS TD4 Manual MY2013. Orkney Grey with privacy, cold and clearview packs, armrests (a must!) and a spoiler.
* 2011 4.4 TDV8 Full Fat. Amazing piece of kit.
* GONE.2012 RR Sport HSE SDV6 Orkney Grey. Rocket ship. 33mpg.
* Range Rover Classic '93 200Tdi Factory fit
* 1949 80" in family since 1975

DrRpb

I bought a genuine 13pin 12S from here. £70 + £8 P&P + vat

http://www.lrparts.net/13-pin-electrics-fo...wards.html

The Landrover part no is VPLFT0106 which the same on the LRparts.net website but the pics are wrong, and not even consistent- when you click the link the pics changes. I rang them to confirm what I was buying.
The loom has a load of clips attached for fitting to the body when the bumper is off (which the Landrover towbar requires), but as I installed a Witter towbar the bumper remained attached and I cut the clips off and used cable ties to run it alongside the Witter towbar.
The 2 fuses and relay now go in the fuse box behind the passenger glove box.
No coding required. Reversing sensors are disabled when towing. Jules

Nice one Jules. Ta. Is it simply a matter of pushing the new fuses and relay into the slots indicated in the instructions provided?
Cheaper than genuine = http://accessories.landrover.com/gb/en/fre...electrics/
Looks like LR Direct can do a Genuine one for £70
http://www.lrdirect.com/VPLFT0106-Tow-Bar-Electrics/
Rob * GONE. GS TD4 Manual MY2013. Orkney Grey with privacy, cold and clearview packs, armrests (a must!) and a spoiler.
* 2011 4.4 TDV8 Full Fat. Amazing piece of kit.
* GONE.2012 RR Sport HSE SDV6 Orkney Grey. Rocket ship. 33mpg.
* Range Rover Classic '93 200Tdi Factory fit
* 1949 80" in family since 1975

DrRpb
"Is it simply a matter of pushing the new fuses and relay into the slots indicated in the instructions provided? "
Yep.

Thats a fantastic price - well searched. I paid quite a bit more and still it was loads cheaper than the RRP. Jules

Hi Jules
That sounds too easy, how do you route the wiring from the back to the front fuse box ? Can you give me a clue
Thanks
Darren

The towbar wiring loom plugs into the boot fuse box...AFAIK * GONE. GS TD4 Manual MY2013. Orkney Grey with privacy, cold and clearview packs, armrests (a must!) and a spoiler.
* 2011 4.4 TDV8 Full Fat. Amazing piece of kit.
* GONE.2012 RR Sport HSE SDV6 Orkney Grey. Rocket ship. 33mpg.
* Range Rover Classic '93 200Tdi Factory fit
* 1949 80" in family since 1975

Doh !!
Thanks, I will go for a lie down now.

An update about my detachable swan neck on my D3 . After the second towbar became loose after a worryingly short time I had a fixed towbar fitted . Soon after LR sent out a recall for suspect detachable towbars . I don't know if there is a similar problem with the FL2 but we are now sorted .