Tow bars

[mellow yellow]

Hi, I'm looking at tow bars,

A Bolton company close to the garage I'm buying the van from, have quoted to fit a Bosal 13 pin detachable swan neck Towbar for £814.56 with dedicated/ specific electrics and coding.

I've had a search but can't find anything about "Bosal" tow bars?

A quick search and mainly Westfalia, Tow Trust and Brink seem to be the go-to and fitted with no problems..

Anyone know anything about Bosal towbar, any good?

I'm in Aberystwyth (not lived here very long).

I've seen PF Jones do mobile fitting, and their website has the usual Brink, TowTrust and have quoted ££877.04 for the Brink and £890 for westfalia

Any thought, suggestions would be really helpful as I've never had a tow bar on any of my cars lol.

But need one for the tip, going camping etc ha ha

Many thanks

Cheers

 

[Kind of Blue]

Detachable is handy if you want to avoid constantly banging you knees / shins into the hook. Though depending on vehicle nowhere to stow them and a mighty club if it bashed someone in the head hurts a little more than the shin bang. There is a also a receiver hitch available as an alternative detachable and a bit more adaptable. This is because it has slide in box section that on removal the tow ball can be replaced with other appliances that are available on box section tubing can even have other things made up to fit if you are good at fabrication and welding cycle carriers, carrying platforms winch attachments endless other possibilities and so on.

uk receiver hitch at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

Towbars | Search by Vehicle | Westfalia-Automotive

As the inventor of the towbar, Westfalia-Automotive offers towbars for all vehicles, custom-designed for a perfect fit and easy installation. Find Westfalia towbars in the UK!

www.witter-towbars.co.uk

Can not say where to go exactly for a fitment for any device, except to say Wales is not the best place for competition and abundance of supply and fit unless living at the extreme ends Near to a city, Cardiff , Swansea, Wrexham, Chester and so on. Their used to be a VW main dealer in Aberystwyth and some of the industrial estates around the town had some aftermarket off road specific outlets.

VW T5 Upgrades​

https://www.vwt5-t6upgrades.co.uk/

not sure if the above are still trading but used to do all sorts of things for t5 t6 vehicles but www seams unavailable maybe a different www now. Still shown on google maps just a little north of Aberystwyth near to Capel Dewi and Clarach they may be able to advise what is available or even do similar work. So many companies gone down since COVID and BREXIT etc. its mainly as you are doing looking on the internet and be up to travelling or if someone comes around on call so to speak fine. wish I could be of more help to you.

 

[mellow yellow]

Thanks "Kind_of_blue", thats a great help, I'm guessing "Bosal" isn't a well known brand and I couldn't see many stockists of this type either.

My concern was that the Bosal was a lesser known one, so I think I'll err on the side of caution and stick to more known brands of tow bar etc.

Thanks, I played around with the name and found the VW T5 upgrades :-

WESTFALIA DETACHABLE TOWBAR WITH DEDICATED WIRING FITTING

WESTFALIA DETACHABLE TOWBAR DEDICATED WIRING KIT REMOVABLE FITTED AND CODED LIKE GENUINE PRICE INCLUDES VAT

vwt5upgrades.com

I'll give him a bell, fantastic mate!

Cheers fella

 

[Kind of Blue]

Thanks "Kind_of_blue", thats a great help, I'm guessing "Bosal" isn't a well known brand and I couldn't see many stockists of this type either.

My concern was that the Bosal was a lesser known one, so I think I'll err on the side of caution and stick to more known brands of tow bar etc.

Thanks, I played around with the name and found the VW T5 upgrades :-

WESTFALIA DETACHABLE TOWBAR WITH DEDICATED WIRING FITTING

WESTFALIA DETACHABLE TOWBAR DEDICATED WIRING KIT REMOVABLE FITTED AND CODED LIKE GENUINE PRICE INCLUDES VAT

vwt5upgrades.com

I'll give him a bell, fantastic mate!

Cheers fella

I am really happy if have assisted in some small way. Thank you for the new www address for VW T5 Upgrades

 

[mellow yellow]

You've been a great help, and what's more its on my doorstep and will be a great resource for later too, so win-win

 

[CheqSkip]

Hi, I'm looking at tow bars,

A Bolton company close to the garage I'm buying the van from, have quoted to fit a Bosal 13 pin detachable swan neck Towbar for £814.56 with dedicated/ specific electrics and coding.

I've had a search but can't find anything about "Bosal" tow bars?

A quick search and mainly Westfalia, Tow Trust and Brink seem to be the go-to and fitted with no problems..

Anyone know anything about Bosal towbar, any good?

I'm in Aberystwyth (not lived here very long).

I've seen PF Jones do mobile fitting, and their website has the usual Brink, TowTrust and have quoted ££877.04 for the Brink and £890 for westfalia

Any thought, suggestions would be really helpful as I've never had a tow bar on any of my cars lol.

But need one for the tip, going camping etc ha ha

Many thanks

Cheers

Hi Mellow

Only limited help, afraid, as I've never dealt with most of those makes.

I'm just an amateur but I've fitted towbars/ electrics to several vehicles over the years, including one to a T25 and one (just a few months ago) to a T6. I seem to recall the former was a Witter (could be wrong, but most have been) and the latter was a Tow Trust (my first try with them). In terms of the towbars themselves, they've all been fixed flange and all have been pretty straightforward to fit and given no issues in use.

In terms of the electrics, the earlier ones were dead easy, later ones rather trickier, and the last one (the T6) made me feel like an engineer from the Starship Enterprise by the time I'd mastered it.

Have to say, the Tow Trust 'bar and the electrics that came with it (ECS, or something like that...) were spot on. No issues with them during fitting or after. It was just the amount of wiring that needed doing, and then the coding (I was new to the scanner I used - VCDS), that took some dealing with. That, I think, is where the labour costs come in.

If you're talking about a T2(?) the electrics will surely be considerably simpler than the T6, but if they're available, it's definitely worth going for dedicated electrics, rather than universal, in my opinion. Electrics can be problematic enough, without have to work around things 'not being quite right'.

A general point: The main reason I do most of my own vehicle maintenance is that if you go to a garage you rarely know which individual is going to work on your vehicle, and that can make all the difference. It strikes me there's not a massive difference between those quotes of yours, so, personally, I'd concentrate more on the service your'e likely to receive. That's where recommendations and online reviews come into play.

Also, the decent mechanics are more likely to work with decent products. Can be worth following their lead.

Anyway, good luck and happy towing! I love a nice trailer....

 

[CheqSkip]

Forgot to say: it's often said that detachable tow balls avoid the shin bashing issue. My experience is that you get used to your own vehicle and I don't think my shins have suffered unduly. But I do sometimes forget to put the cover on and end up with greasy trousers. On the other hand, there's no worry about where to stash the detached ball and a fixed ball does mean other drivers show a bit more respect when parking close behind you...

 

[mellow yellow]

Have to say, the Tow Trust 'bar and the electrics that came with it (ECS, or something like that...) were spot on. No issues with them during fitting or after. It was just the amount of wiring that needed doing, and then the coding (I was new to the scanner I used - VCDS), that took some dealing with. That, I think, is where the labour costs come in......it's definitely worth going for dedicated electrics, rather than universal, in my opinion. Electrics can be problematic enough, without have to work around things 'not being quite right'.

I whole heartedly agree, my Dads old Toyota had a tow bar frankensteined in by the dealer and we ripped it out after a few years, as the wiring was shocking, taped together and spliced in with scotchlocks to the main loom eek.I'm all for customer service, and keeping local. But good customer is a must

 

[rover220]

Pct best option as they have designed their bar so that bumper reinforcement parts are not needed.