Tow Bar Fitting Bolts?

[cooperman435]

Hello :-)

My first post and Im asking for help already!

Just about to fit a tow bar to my Is200 and it came (second hand) without the actual mounting bolts to secure it to the chassis. Would any of you regulars out there know the thread and ideally the length of the bolts used as we assume its a threaded hole on the car already to fasten them to not bolts n nuts.

To my knowledge its a OEM part from Lexus with just the mounting bolts missing.

If anyone has any info or parts for the electrical side of things Id appreciate a PM too as I need that too.

Thanks in advance guys

[imperial1952]

Hello :-)

My first post and Im asking for help already!

Just about to fit a tow bar to my Is200 and it came (second hand) without the actual mounting bolts to secure it to the chassis. Would any of you regulars out there know the thread and ideally the length of the bolts used as we assume its a threaded hole on the car already to fasten them to not bolts n nuts.

To my knowledge its a OEM part from Lexus with just the mounting bolts missing.

If anyone has any info or parts for the electrical side of things Id appreciate a PM too as I need that too.

Thanks in advance guys

Hi "cooperman435" and welcome to the forum.

I have just fitted a non removable WITTER towbar to my LEXUS and can forward a copy of the fitting instructions which include all bolt and thread sizes and lengths + sketch drawing to you. Only problem is it's in PDF format and i have failed to attach it to this reply.

If you forward you're e-mail addy to me ( jlgriffithsj@aol.com) i will forward a copy to you.

The four bolts you refer to which are attached to existing nuts fitted to the car should be M12x40x1.25mm PITCH METRIC FINE threads and not standard COURSE PITCH 1.75mm metric threads.

As regards the electrical side of things i am a MORON so i got an expert from WITTER to do it for me. It cost £80 which included all the electrical bits & bobs + fitting + VAT. He came to my home address to fit it - got his details off the WITTER site (they have agents all over the UK).

You also need to be aware that the MAXIMUM weight (this is the combined weight of the towed vehicle and what maximum weight of cargo it can legally carry) that you should tow with an IS200 is 1,200kgs anything heavier than this and you are breaking the law.

I use my IS200 to tow a three berth caravan whose plated weight is 1,000kgs and i can therefore only carry a maximum of 200kgs of extras ie clothes, spare wheel, water carriers, television etc etc.

Look forward to hearing from you.

PS : I doubt that your Towbar is an OEM part as originally TOYOTA did not recommend that you tow with the IS200!!!!!! something to do with gearing ratios and lack of low speed power/grunt i think. I,m sure i will be corrected by wiser peeps on this forum if i am wrong.

[Bazza]

not only is it illegal, its damned unsafe

fishtailing with a trailer is very very frightening

had an experience with it earlier this year, and would not want to repeat it !

Dave Ellen is still shaking from it ! ..........is was his car we were towing

[Gareth Rose]

With trailers fishtailing its more about the weight distribution than the total weight. Basically there should be a nice firm weight on the tow bar. I work with and tow boats for a living, and when we deliver boats (especially with our land rover) we get the boat as far forward as we can. I've towed boats that weigh 3.5t inc trailer that have been set up properly, and tow beautifully. touched 80 at one point down a hill by mistake but didnt wobble at all. on the other hand, ive towed small boats, about 1.3t that have been set up wrongly and it makes for a very nervy jounrny. Snakes tend to happen above abut 55, so stick to 50 and things are fine.

Sorry bout the long post, i started to babble a bit.lol

Gazza

[cooperman435]

Indeed this is true. Fishtailing occurs because the rear wheels loose traction. I f the trailer is loaded to press down on the tow ball it increases traction but reversed and pulling up on the ball it essentially causes you to drift whilst towing an object that doest drift with you.

Many thanks guys I have now the tow hitch installed and the details of the electrical side mostly sorted.

[Yeldarb]

Dosen't the owners book says you need the sport option to fit a tow bar?

[cooperman435]

Dosen't the owners book says you need the sport option to fit a tow bar?

Dont know but it is now fitted, wired up and working. Many thanks to those who PMed me.

[greg4f_2]

On 11/12/2008 at 11:00 AM, imperial1952 said:

Hi "cooperman435" and welcome to the forum.

I have just fitted a non removable WITTER towbar to my LEXUS and can forward a copy of the fitting instructions which include all bolt and thread sizes and lengths + sketch drawing to you. Only problem is it's in PDF format and i have failed to attach it to this reply.

If you forward you're e-mail addy to me ( jlgriffithsj@aol.com) i will forward a copy to you.

The four bolts you refer to which are attached to existing nuts fitted to the car should be M12x40x1.25mm PITCH METRIC FINE threads and not standard COURSE PITCH 1.75mm metric threads.

As regards the electrical side of things i am a MORON so i got an expert from WITTER to do it for me. It cost £80 which included all the electrical bits & bobs + fitting + VAT. He came to my home address to fit it - got his details off the WITTER site (they have agents all over the UK).

You also need to be aware that the MAXIMUM weight (this is the combined weight of the towed vehicle and what maximum weight of cargo it can legally carry) that you should tow with an IS200 is 1,200kgs anything heavier than this and you are breaking the law.

I use my IS200 to tow a three berth caravan whose plated weight is 1,000kgs and i can therefore only carry a maximum of 200kgs of extras ie clothes, spare wheel, water carriers, television etc etc.

Look forward to hearing from you.

PS : I doubt that your Towbar is an OEM part as originally TOYOTA did not recommend that you tow with the IS200!!!!!! something to do with gearing ratios and lack of low speed power/grunt i think. I,m sure i will be corrected by wiser peeps on this forum if i am wrong.

**** the law... lol. but its good to know it even if you are just going to ignore it 🙂

[greg4f_2]

you can fit a towbare to just about any car in my country. i had one fitted to my honda accord years ago. 

now i need one for my toyota altezza (lexus is200). 

i will probably rarely tow a trailer, but i have a setup to mount my dirtbike right ontop of the towbar, thus fishtailing is a non issue.

on my honda i had to tie the bike to the car as well as the towbar otherwise it swayed back and forth under braking/ acceleratiion. im pretty sure if i didnt tie it to the car it would have snapped the towbar off, or bent it, lol.

still perfectly legal in my country luckily. for now.

i still have the towbar from my accord and was thinking about reinforcing it and adapting it to the altezza, either that or get a shop to fit one and then weld on reinforcements myself. i dont trust it without reincorcements for holding a 90-100kg bike directly on top of it. most cheap/ average towbars are not rated for quite that much downward weight, even if they are rated to tow 1.5 tons.

 

anyway, the reason i am here is because i was curious about the stock tow bar mount/ bolt points on the chassis.