Hi people's

Just wondering if any of you have had a towbar fitted by anybody other than Landrover.

I know that the wiring kit is "bespoke" to FL2, but is there any reprogramming etc required to the vehicle.

Also is there any cutting of bumpers or other trims required to fit the tow bracket.

Looking for a deal on the bar/electric bits if anybody has them to spare!!


Cheers
Mark  Freelander 2
TD4 GS
Shiney fantastic Baltic Blue
Detachable Witter Towbar

Mark

I have a LR swan neck and twin electrics fitted for £420 by my dealer.

Before I had it fitted I did a LOT of leg work contacting "towbar specialists" and was left confused and completely lacking in confidence in the sort of job I was going to get using a "specialist". And some of the quotes I was getting were within spitting distance of the LR price anyway.

If there were to be any electrical problems (obviously the most likely problem) I didn't want to get caught in a pi55ing match between the dealer and the towbar fitter. At the end of the day I probably paid £75 over the odds (compared with a towbar specialist) for the LR fitment. For me that was £75 for peace of mind because it is covered by the warranty.

From what I was told the ECU does have to be interrogated to make sure that it picks up the towbar fitment, it may also influence the stability program, although I never got a convincing answer to that part of the question.

Push your dealer for the best possible price and go for it.

There is a website owned and operated by land Rover that has public access and contains all the fitting instructions for every Land Rover accessory sold by the dealerships so you can see what you will need to do and buy in the way of tools before you buy the accessory and attempt the install yourself! It's called the Land Rover GTR (global technical resourses) Website.www.ownerinfo.landrover.com All the documenst are in PDF format. How can carbon have a footprint, it has no feet?
Now driving - RRE Coupe Dynamic Lux Auto with Plus pack, Fuji White, Ebony, SD4 with tow pack
Gone - 2010MY FFRR TDv8 Stornoway and Ivory, Privacy - the pace of a TDv8 RRS, the incomparable grace of a Range Rover
Gone but will be missed- RRS Tdv8 HSE Stornoway Grey with Ebony Leather
Gone (only a little missed) RRS Tdv6 2.7SE Giverny Green/Aspen
Defender 90 County HT in Epsom Green

Good info on that link.

However the Landrover towbar looks a lot harder to fit than the Witter one.

Instructions on the weblink below;
http://www.witter-towbars.co.uk/FittingInstructions/R40.pdf

Main thing is that Bumper doesn't appear to need removal, or more importantly cutting.

Will probably go for Witter version, and fit it myself, then just the electrics plugin bit to sort.


Mark Freelander 2
TD4 GS
Shiney fantastic Baltic Blue
Detachable Witter Towbar

I totally agree with Avtur. I also did a lot of research and one of the things that worried me that Avtur didn't mention was that the specialists were going to crimp the tow bar electrics onto the car wiring loom. They stated that they would not plug directly into the socket provided by Land Rover in the LR2. This combined with the possibility of having to take the car back to a Land Rover dealer to have it plugged into the computer to recognise the towing electrics didn't seem worth the hassle.
I could see if there was a fault the Specialist would be blaming Land Rover and Land Rover blaming the Specialist.

waaxh03

Thats why I want to buy the "Landrover wiring kit", so I can just plug in, without worrying about possible wiring modifications.

I did once have a towbar installed, on a VW Passat, by a specialist, and lets just say I wouldn't want them wiring anything in my house!!.

Cheers though

Mark Freelander 2
TD4 GS
Shiney fantastic Baltic Blue
Detachable Witter Towbar

Got my Witter towbar on the way now.

Just over £110 inc delivery and towball from Towequip(via Ebay).

Looks simple to fit, with no cutting of bumpers/trim required.

Just got to sort the electrics out now, but don't fancy paying Landrover £180 for plug in kit.

Anybody know if anything to watch with wiring. Can I use a simple direct connect 12N kit, or am I best using a bypass relay etc.

Anybody wired single electrics on Freelander yet??

Mark Freelander 2
TD4 GS
Shiney fantastic Baltic Blue
Detachable Witter Towbar

Took the easy way out- got the towbar fitted by dealer prior to delivery. A bit of haggling before I signed the order form and they went halves on the cost.

FWIW I also had tow bar fitted from new by dealer(detachable with twin socket electrics) the next day the car refused to start,unlock let me take its key out etc...... the software package had not installed properly it took the dealer all day to sort it out but no problems since. I wouldn't try to sort it out myself, I'd let the dealer have the hassle..

I would go to your dealer, another dealer, then another to see the best price you can get, play them off.

The local towbar fitter didn't give confidence when i was ringing around.

I got mine included in my deal when i purchased, its the standard tow bar, but could have chosen the swan neck aswell, I just thought i would maybe add a bike rack in the future.

I'm with avtur and tandemman on this. Let the dealer do it and let him suffer the electrical compatability issues and down loads. I've had enough of my cars electrical anomalies. When the new one comes out I'll be getting them to fit a tow bar for the bike rack as the bleedin roof rails seem to be a dream never to be realised

I posted this already in the "wiring for towbar" topic but thought it could be useful to post it here too as it confirms some of the posts above.


For the first time of my life, I didn't fit the towbar myself. Exactly: because of the electronics.
So I went to a towbar fitter who is specialised in electronics and who even produces an universal module himself that normally seems to work trouble free. What happened next, I don't know (I've heard different stories) but the fact is that suddenly the word FAILURE appeared on the display. ABS and DHC didn't work anylonger and there was no choise but putting my car on a trailer and bringing it to the Land Rover dealer.
They noticed a serious software problem, had to wait 2 days to get the right software and also had to replace an electronic module which is mount on the rear differential.
Eventually, the towbar fitter didn't want to take the risk to do the electrics without the genuine cable as he was aware that any future problems with the electronics would automatically be attributed to the non standard wiring. Fortunately, all repairing costs - and even the genuine wiring - are paid by the towbar fitter (or his assurance).

After a couple of sleepless nights, I have a better towbar than the LR one now and the genuine wiring all at a very reasonable price

When I asked the towbar fitter what solution he would suggest to the next Freelander 2 driver, his answer was clear: "definitely the original wiring".

My dealer is asking for £200 to get a towbar & electrics fitted to FL2 (fitting only ie + parts) Sounds like daylight robbery to me, but is that the norm?

HI Fandango

Yes daylight robbery with main stealers is the norm, £200 seems about right for fit (2 hours work max).

Towbar about £200 + electrics about the same.

All in all most Dealer fits seem to come to £550-600 ish (from what I gather!!)

Mark Freelander 2
TD4 GS
Shiney fantastic Baltic Blue
Detachable Witter Towbar

Try contacting 10forcash on the D3 site, he installs allsorts of stuff, much cheaper than the dealer and knows his way round the electronics too. D4 HSE Lux for me
FL2 HSE Zermatt & Alpacca for the wife now gone
Skoda Yeti L&K for the wife.