Club 80-90 Forums

I'm just getting my Syncro sorted for occasional towing of a 4 wheel car trailer. The electrics have been a pain on the Syncro side so I've decided to completely rewire the socket which should do the job and give me my fog light back.

The big problem is that the original Westy tow ball is way too high and my 4 wheel trailer spends most of its time on the rear 2 wheels. I'm looking at fitting a drop plate as I've seen on several Landys. Has anyone had any experience of doing this? Is the bolt pattern common across all makes? Does it affect insurance? I want something that is straightforward to take on and off as I don't want to do any ploughing at Coney...

Thanks very much,

Pete

ive got this one on my doka, nice and easy to take off or move up and down as needed as there are bolt holes for four different heights

Thanks Jason. That looks the business. Do you know who makes them and are they available in the UK?

Pete

If its a proper Westy tow hitch, you may find that the four mounting bolts are different from the bar that Hugo has. Standard drop plates are available from 'Towsure' who have a site online. But I dont think theyll do one for the Westy mount. You could get one machined but with the growing 'interest' with towbars on the MOT im not sure if it would be ok.

DEVON.DAVE wrote:You could get one machined but with the growing 'interest' with towbars on the MOT im not sure if it would be ok.

they only check for security, if its tight it passes and as for electrics only tested on the new style 13 pin plugs not the older 7 pin!

I've got this setup on mine and works perfect and the height is spot on. The orange tow bar attachment was from an agricultural shop online. About £25 if I remember right.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3c0a377ezmqqn8/Towbar.jpg

PetenAli wrote:I'm just getting my Syncro sorted for occasional towing of a 4 wheel car trailer. The electrics have been a pain on the Syncro side so I've decided to completely rewire the socket which should do the job and give me my fog light back.

The big problem is that the original Westy tow ball is way too high and my 4 wheel trailer spends most of its time on the rear 2 wheels. I'm looking at fitting a drop plate as I've seen on several Landys. Has anyone had any experience of doing this? Is the bolt pattern common across all makes? Does it affect insurance? I want something that is straightforward to take on and off as I don't want to do any ploughing at Coney...

Thanks very much,

Pete

Do you have a proper Syncro towbar? If so it will be at the right height for towing. Have you fitted bigger wheels/suspension lift? If so you will have height difficulties. The proper Syncro towbar is unique to a T3 Syncro and the bolt pattern for the hitch is unique to that design so I doubt if you will get a drop plate. Pics of your towbar ......

I fitted one of these to my towbar:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOW-BALL-COUP ... 43b7cdff9a
You can fit them at various heights so can find the height you need whilst avoiding ploughing (or could just remove the 4 bolts and take it off for proper offroading)

You're only supposed to fit them onto 4 hole towbars, so I had my witter towbar (the same as the one in dcfb77's pic I think) adapted. I think I'd want it strengthened a bit more if towing something very heavy off a low hitch setting though as I don't find the towbar too heavy duty (the stem that sticks down is about 50ish mm box section). I only tow a light camping trailer low down, and raised it right up (to where the ball hitch originally sat) recently when pulling almost 2.5 tonnes

syncropaddy wrote: Do you have a proper Syncro towbar? If so it will be at the right height for towing. Have you fitted bigger wheels/suspension lift? If so you will have height difficulties. The proper Syncro towbar is unique to a T3 Syncro and the bolt pattern for the hitch is unique to that design so I doubt if you will get a drop plate. Pics of your towbar ......

Here's what I can do quickly. Will take the bumper off over the weekend and get pics of the full tow bar. The bolt centres are approx 35mm apart from side to side and 50mm apart diagonally.



It is now definately too high for a 4 wheel trailer since the Andreas Lidl springs went on. It also has 15" wheels with the usual BFGs.

Thanks for the replies.

Pete

Hi Peter,cant you fit a spacer plate[with longer bolts] under the trailer hitch?
Best regards,Barry.

PetenAli wrote:
Here's what I can do quickly. Will take the bumper off over the weekend and get pics of the full tow bar. The bolt centres are approx 35mm apart from side to side and 50mm apart diagonally.



It is now definately too high for a 4 wheel trailer since the Andreas Lidl springs went on. It also has 15" wheels with the usual BFGs.

Thanks for the replies.

Pete

Yup thats a Westfalia towbar. It might be easier to space up the coupling on the trailer unless you change the whole towbar. Would it be safe to say that its about 2" or so too high?

syncropaddy wrote:
Yup thats a Westfalia towbar. It might be easier to space up the coupling on the trailer unless you change the whole towbar. Would it be safe to say that its about 2" or so too high?

Its 520mm to the top of the ball. I need to measure a normal height one to be sure. Then make a decision about whether to raise the coupling on the trailer or stick with dropping the ball somehow.