Does anyone have this product fitted?

Q1: Can it be fitted without physically cutting out sections of the rear bumper?
Q2: When the tow bar "hook" is NOT attached does the remaining installation protrude beyond the outer edge of the rear bumper?
Q3: How long is the installation time and are any special tools required?

Finally - what is the cost of this product in the UK?

Why?: Well yesterday the three of us went out for a 30 mile bike ride and we missed the last bus back up the mountain to our village. So nothing for it but to get stuck in for a very steep climb. Our daughter has only recently turned 7yrs of age and was very tired, but when the heavens opened and a torrential downpour developed that was the last act for her and she trew her toys out of the cot so to speak. Dropped her bike and refused to pedal a yard further. There followed a very slow walk home pushing the bikes. I don't want that to happen again so thinking of fitting this LR tow bar and Thule bike rack.

Hi Ive seen the Thule bike rack. Thats the one that clamps onto the ball hitch with great ease. Ive seen the video on utube and looks great, bit pricey though.
I have a LR detachable towbar fitted and only put it on when I want to tow my boat or small trailer. Yes there is a small piece cut out from the lower part of the bumper but you cant see it unless you get down on your hands and knees.
When I bought my FL2 from the dealers I asked them to fit one. Didnt want a perminant fitted towbar as I think they look unsightly on the freelander. The towbar cost me £500 fitted at the dealers so I dont know with out looking on the net how much they are or how long it would take to fit. Once fitted you do need to get it programed into the ECU or when you have something in tow your parking sensors will be continuosly on when selecting reverse.

You will have to cut a 3" square in the valance to access the tow ball receiver, in my galley there are a couple of pics but they are not to clear but the main thing you see is the 13 pin plug which you may choose not to fit if you just want the bike rack, or, you could get the Witter Detachable which will not require a bumper cut.

Superspark

Many thanks for the comprehensive response - appreciated, and for the important note re the rear parking sensor issue. I like the fact that you don't see the body work surgery when fitted.

Here in CH the Quick Release Tow Bar will cost at today's FX rate GBP£482 plus the LR dealer wants 2hrs labour to do the job which equates to another GBP£232. Total GBP£714. Here in CH the best price I found today for the Thule 4 bike tilt fit carrier G5 Euroclassic 909 runs out at a shocking GBP£590.

So what I'm trying to do now is find a highly competitive UK price for the bike rack. And get a UK LR dealer with experience of this job to source and fit the QRTB. Then the maths may well indicate that with the savings made it will fund the travel costs to UK to do it

I put on the Witter detachable towbar. This does not require a bumper cut and is quite easy to fit yourself. Probably the most difficult bit is popping out the left hand reflector on the bumper and drilling 2 holes to save taking the bumper off to get at the bolts. Also fitted an aftermarket CAN bus compatiable wiring kit and got my local independant who does my servicing to reprograme the computer free of charge. Towbar and kit was a good price from PF Jones on the internet a couple of months ago. Not sure what the price is now.
I'm not sure if it can take a bile rack but it looks like it sticks out far enough to clear the bumper and is certainly substantial enough.

ad210358
Thanks for the heads-up on your Witter fitment. I looked your gallery and yes I see what you refer to as unable to see how far it extends beyond the rear bumper - however - it must be long enough unless it is only an inch or so!

pfjths
The link to PF Jones is appreciated. They also sell the Thule Rack but they would need to sharpen their pencil on their price. I would have thought that if I bought both the Witter Quantum Detachable Tow Bar R41AQ and the Thule G6 929 Euroclassic from them they'd do a special offer???

Guys:
Q1: I've downloaded the Witter fitting instructions for the tow bar and it doesn't seem like a difficult job - are there any hidden pitfalls to look out for?
Q2: The chap I spoke to at PF Jones said I would need to buy a "Bypass Relay Kit" to crimp into the FL2's rear lighting wiring. I don't like the sound of that as I'm no auto electrician. I did stress that I am NOT going to be towing any trailers/caravans but he said I'd need that to enable the lights on the bike trailer to operate - is that so?
Q3: Clearly I'll have to get the local LR chap to do his stuff on the ECU re the parking sensors - but - once that is done am I correct in saying that when bike carrier is fitted to the tow bar the rear parking sensors are DISABLED, and when bike carrier not attached to tow bar rear parking sensors are ENABLED?

Your guidance is very much appreciated.

Hi Athelstan

The rear parking sensors, fog light etc are all switcvhed off when the light board is connected up.

Just hooking up on the tow bar won't make any difference at all.

Unusual for you to be asking so many questions though? Sure you're not an imposter!!  There's always a way forward!

2008 Freelander Td4 GS - Stornoway Grey - Now Gone - Sob
2011 Freelander Td4 GS 150 - Rimini Red - in its place - Better x far x 4!!

My understanding from what I've read is that once the ECU is reprogramed for having the towbar electric hookup (socket thing) then it will do all the clever changes once something is plugged into the towbar socket.

As was just said attaching to the physical towbar won't do anything electrical.

So in this respect a towbar with the electrics won't help with the parking sensors or lights. 2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

DrownedRat wrote:

Hi Athelstan

The rear parking sensors, fog light etc are all switcvhed off when the light board is connected up.

Just hooking up on the tow bar won't make any difference at all.

Unusual for you to be asking so many questions though? Sure you're not an imposter!!

I have the LR Detachable Towbar fitted and use the 2 bike Thule G6 towbar carrier. I had LR fit the towbar when I bought the vehicle (couple of months back) as it was then included in the 3 yr warranty, and there could be no dispute about quality of fitting, or electrical gremlins. Like others, I went detachable to minimise the visual appearance when not needed, and I heard a lot of tales of people banging their legs on it. It's very quick to attach/detach, and when detached you only really see the electrical plug.

The G6 carrier is impressive - heavier, larger and more unwieldy than I had anticipated though, so the 3/4 carrier would be even more so. It clamps reassuringly well to the towbar, and the clamping pressure can be adjusted. Bike attachment is not quite so quick as I had hoped, the top tube clamps I find a little fiddly, but once all fixed on the whole things feels reassuringly solid. For me though the best feature is the drop down with the bikes attached so you can access the boot. It does strike me that this must put a lot of pressure on the mechanism, so try not to do it often, and if my other half is there I often support the bikes while she does whats needed.

It does fold when detached, but means unscrewing two wheels (and doing them up again when unfolded) so I leave it unfolded, but am fortunate that I have space to store it that way.

The power part is very straightforward, plug it in and assuming the electrics were fitted correctly, everything automatically works and sensors are disabled. You even get a little symbol light up on the dashboard when (I assume) any 'signal' is sent to the carrier, eg when braking. I don't think I have yet tested that the rear wiper is disabled, but would hope it was fine.

Cost wise, I can't remember how much the towbar & electrics were - I was offered it at the standard accessory price (am not sure if that includes fitting) but it was included in the discount, so a little cheaper. The carrier I paid £350 for the 2 bike G6 model, and £95 for the extra 3rd bike adapter.

I would suspect that if you were willing to consider the G5 model you should be able to ask for significant discount as the G6 model is now available.

SimonB
Thank you very much indeed for the account of your experiences - a very interesting read.

After using Thule's comparison chart I've now narrowed down the bike carrier to Thule G6 929 or the Uebler P32 (not available in the UK) on the grounds of a) need to carry 4 bikes and one of those (Grandma's) is an e-velo so the carriers load weight & bike capacity are very important as is the ability to cope with different bike frame sizes. Also the above two models are very highly rated for safety and stability in use by the german ADAC.

At the moment I have two very competitive offers on the table for the Thule from UK suppliers - one will also supply the Witter Quantum Horizontal Detachable Tow Bar at a heavily discounted rate the other not, so they are offering the LR tow bar. One will ship to CH but is a little heavy on freight costs and the other will not which would mean a trip to the UK. Both potential suppliers are considerably cheaper than sourcing the products here in CH. Crazy Swiss pricing structure.

I'm happy to fit the tow bar myself - therefore my only concern, and it is a big one - is connecting the electrics. I could of course get a local Swiss LR dealer to do that for me (and the ECU reprogramming) at a significant cost, but, judging by their past performances on fixing her Ladyship's FL2 quality and reliability is not guaranteed!

I'm awaiting what other Members post re this "bypass relay" installation before committing to a given supplier. I hope to place the order tomorrow.

Athelstan

Before you make up your mind you might like to read these posts.

http://www.freel2.com/forum/post93100.html#93100

http://www.freel2.com/forum/post89045.html#89045

http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic8744.html?highlight=


The Buzz Rack is good thule alternative. What if there were no hypothetical situations?

Another post you may like to look at is http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic8271.html. This has some more comments from me and a link to the Witter fitting video which seems difficult to Google at the moment.

I've looked for the price I paid for the towbar and the wiring kit but alas I don't seem to have a copy and I'm away from home at the moment.

The wiring kit was simple to fit in the boot attaching directly to the existing connectors provided by LR. I put in a 13pin kit rather than the old UK 7 pin ones. Also brought a cheep 13 - 7 pin adaptor on eBay for the trailer. The ECU programming only comes into play when a lighting board is plugged in not when the towbar is attached.

Hope this helps.

Peter

Gunfa
Thanks for those thread links - now I am worried about this "bypass relay"!

What is the LR wiring kit part number and how much does that cost in UK?

I think it would be best to get this LR wiring kit and have the local LR dealer wire the tow bar in and re programme the ECU. I'll just order and fit the Witter tow bar and the Thule G6 (because of it weight carrying capacity: 60kgs up to 4 bikes).

-o0o-

Read your comments re the Rohloff. Her Laydship has a 500/14 Rohloff fitted to her hand built AARIOS (last hand built Swiss frame chap) - the complete bike's good but not exceptional, and certainly not the agile thoroughbred champion like my 32yr old King-of-Mercian - that's an exceptional piece of kit which been trouble free and very low maintenance over at least 100k kms all over Europe, Scandinavia, and N.Africa. I do not think the Aarios will be as durable. Finally I also like the idea of treating myself to an Orange - they do appear to be well recommended. I deserve a new bike after 32yrs!

I digress - must focus on this bike carrier electronics conundrum.

Athelstan

This is what I fitted.


http://www.towbarandtrailercentre.co.uk/in...uctId=1281

What Land Rover fit.

I fitted this electric kit.

http://www.towbarandtrailercentre.co.uk/in...uctId=4018

The King of Mercian has served you well, you do deserve a new mount after 32 years and what a choice you have nowadays. I have in the garage.

A Sunday Cycles (now Sabbath Cycles) Silk Road Pro (titanium)

A Cannondale Hard Tail Mountain Bike with the fatty headshock forks.

A Giant Hard Tail Mountain Bike fitted with carbon forks.

I am considering a full suspension mountain bike and a carbon fibre road bike, but the wife doesn't know this yet, the new conservatory furniture we have just purchased should help ease the news  What if there were no hypothetical situations?