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Anyone fitted a Towbar recently?

Raiser

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Location
Limerick, Ireland
Car
SE Executive Hatch
Hi Folks,

Am hoping to fit a towbar I picked up second hand there recently on Sat. morning.

- Was hoping someone on here has done this in recent memory as I am a little nervous of it taking 5 hours and breaking my heart....

Instructions are as below -

ephnde.jpg


Am unsure of rear bumper removal - And also Guy I bought towbar from mentioned he cracked his in process of removal as on side flopped down etc. - Any tips?

Then I will only be taking Car apart once so can't research the fitting in advance - ie theres those bushes - are they through a box panel? Also I need to drill the chassis.

- Just thought I'd post here and see if anyhow could advise on best and most painless way to do this!
 
Never done it on the Accord but if it's anything like the Civic (and looking at that picture it does look very similar) it goes something like this:

Remove 4/5 plastic plugs from top of bumper (where the boot closes against)
Remove 4/5 plastic plugs from bottom of bumper
Put some thing under the bumper so it won't drop (I used a couple of stacks of old vhs tapes and some pillows)
Inside rear arches there is an indent in the bumper where it curves, there is a 10mm bolt with a screw head (you may have to gently prise/push the lining away to see it) - do both sides
You can then gently pull away each side of the bumper by the arch and let it drop an inch or so, then pull it away from the car from the middle.
Better still, get someone to give you a hand and take one side each.

Looking at the pic that is where the Civic differs, as the tow bar arms just slide in to box section and then get bolted, no drilling required.

There should be a grommet on the left or right to allow the cable into the boot space do you can wire it up to the lights. On the Civic I went through the passenger side as that is where the loom was (and ground points etc)

It's easier to have two people to refit the bumper to avoid scratching paint.

Hope that helps you get started, maybe somebody else can help who has actually done it on the right car!
 
^^^What he said B)

Only thing i'll say is that it's easier with a friend. All the have to do is hold stuff.
 
firstly hi my name is pete and i am a newbie to this forum so not sure of all the etiquette so please forgive any mistakes.
i did not want to start a new topic so hoping this one is ok as this is a towbar topic.
i have a 1999 accord 6th gen 2.0 v-tec auto and i have fitted a towbar with a bypass relay as i believe this car has partial multi-plex wiring i also used the bypass relay to fit reversing sensors at the same time.
i got the bumper off ok with no problem.

my problem is All four bolts holding the bumper bar behind the bumper snapped.
(heavy handed and rusted bolts even heat and wd40 did not help)
the towbar fitted onto these thin bolts along with the fitting kit which also consisted of a spreader plate in the boot.
i would like to know if this would have any effect on the strength of the towbar or is the fitting kit sufficient to take the load.
towbar is a witter towbar.
please can anyone advise before i start towing with the car.
i hope i can get help on this subject.
thank you.
 
Welcome to the forum. I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your problem, but I'm sure someone will be able to help.
 
Hi Pete,
I have just fitted a towbar to the same model Accord as yours. One of those captive bolts sheared off before I reached the required torque. The design of the towbar depends on those four rusty captive bolts to connect the side arms to the main beam.
So I drilled a 7mm hole where the bolt used to be and tapped it with an M8 thread. I then sawed a slot across the threaded end of an M8 bolt. The bolt was held with a piece of coat-hanger wire behind the hole and screwed into the hole using a straight screwdriver in the slot. It now looks just like the original except that it's much stronger and slightly longer (and has a slot across the end). Now I've just got to fit the universal bypass relay.
Hope this helps.
Herbie
 
David i have fitted a witter hn45a towbar . use this link to look at diagram

http://www.witter-towbars.co.uk/uMedia/FittingInstructions/HN45A.pdf
is this the same as yours?
going by the fitting instructions it would appear the full load is take by the fitting kit. i hope i am right or bumper has to come off and do what you did with the captive bolts.
hope you get bypass relay fitted ok. i got most of my wiring colours from here http://www.rydertowing.co.uk/downloads/info/cardata.pdf
but used the purple with silver bands wire that goes across the rear of the car for the left indicator it helped me. i think i just had to track the reverse back. i have wired reversing sensors into the bypass relay.
 
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