tow bar

[greg press]

Gentlemen and ladies;

I’m considering buying a tow bar to take my london roadster on longer trips.The problem is i know nothing about them.I have a full size 4×4 pickup truck with a hitch.Where do you hook onto the car?Not the bumper i hope.With the fact that the wheels will be turning damage anything?I’m told that if you cover it the cover will beat the paint off.I will put the top up with curtain[.If you people in TD land think its a good ideal.] Where should i buy it [e-bay]?What kind should i buy?Any suggestion will help.

[Royal]

Greg, If you have a VW front end, Buy a tow bar made for VW’s.  It will only cost about $100 tops new and you will be a happy camper.  I bought one before I bought my car and towed it home.  The tow bars (I’ve seen a few) for old VW Bugs are all almost identical.  They hook on to the lower torsion bar tube and are held on by 2 pins.  Installation the first time will take you 5 minutes.  From there on, no tools needed, installation about 60 seconds.  They won’t work on anything but a VW though.  Great peace of mind is purchased with one.  To use, put the car in neutral, then make sure the steering wheel is unlocked, hook up some lights (I like to use portable lights) and take off.  The whole process of hooking up should take no more than 5-10 minutes.  No cover.  They will, as you said, ruin the finish.  Unless you can score a used one really cheap, just shop around, eBay is fine, they are all pretty much the same.  You may need to buy a dropped tow ball thingy for your 4×4 so that the tow hitch hooks up approximately level. 

[Royal]

Greg, There is one on eBay right now with a Buy it Now with free shipping for about $100.48.  It’s just like mine.  It is an Empi part # VW1401132.  Good luck. 

[edward ericson]

Got mine used for like $70. Came with the 1 7/8-inch (I think) ball, just a little smaller than the ball I had mounted on my bumper to tow the boat. So I have to change the ball hitch when I want to tow Bridget.

Works perfectly; easy hook-up, very light to tow.

Speedster guys advise that the spring clips that go through the pins need to be inserted all the way through, not just to the little dent in the middle. Put the pins in from front to back, reach behind to insert the spring clips, and it will never fall out on the road.

Don’t forget your safety chains.

Harbor freight has a $20 tow light package. It’s made with magnets to stick on metal cars, but the magnets are weak. Everything else works good though, it has been reported, so the lights can be mounted on PVC pipe frames made to fit snug over your spare tire. Add a bungie cord and you’re good. That’s my plan, anyway.

[greg press]

Thanks for all your input.One more thought,with my car being a rear engine and this may be a dumb question is the tow bar attached to the front of the car and does anything else have to be done when towing? 

[Royal]

Greg, see my post above.  Attaching the tow bar and towing simply can not get any easier than with a VW beetle chassis. 

[Marc Lipsius]

I bought one of those very soon after I got my car and left it in the back of my Saturn Vue for a while – my car kept crapping out after 5-10 miles of driving until I sorted out my problem by replacing the coil. I had to call my SO to come and get me so I could tow the car home. It takes less than 5 min to hook it up to the front axle/lower torsion tube bar and car hitch ball. Just make sure the emergency brake is off and the car rolls with the trans in neutral, set the steering wheel straight, and go. The front wheels will turn normally as you turn the car and then straighten out again as you drive straight. Just look into the rear view mirror every once in a while. The car is so light and easy to tow, you will forget it’s there. And you cannot back up with this rig because the TD’s front wheels may turn and screw you up real bad. The car is light enough to push and roll where you want it to go when you get to wherever you are going. It’s a cheap investment that gives great utility when you need it.

[Mark]

You will also need those brake lights hooked up to your 4X4.   I use a suction cup mounted light kit like this one.  It holds tight to the rear fenders and works great.
http://www.motorcityreman.com/hdsc30b.html

MGLondonRoadste40917.2794791667

[Paul Mossberg]

MGLR….thanks for the link to the suction cup lights!

The magnet ones are easy to find, but for some reason, they don’t stay on the fiberglass! 

But…there is no “click to buy” link. Any idea why?

PMOSSBERG40916.7729166667

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)

[Mark]

I am puzzled, too.  I didn’t buy from this company, but my product looks similar.  Have you tried calling the phone number?  Maybe you have to register first.

To get the magnet lights to work, you would have to mount a steel plate under the surface you wanted to mount the lights.

The suctions cups hold tight and worked great.  Just be sure you have the right electrical connection.  My cups came with an older style round  and didn’t match my flat four, so I had the end of the cord for the lights changed to match my electrical connection.

[Marc Lipsius]

The rear lights on either of my tow vehicles are quite visible over and around the TD, and I don’t bother with extra lights for a short trip. But those of a car towing it would probably be blocked, and you would definitely need some lights on the TD for a long trip (just for the LEO’s following you).

How much do those suction cup lights mar up the fiberglass? Do they leave a ring when you remove them, and they stay on securely at 55mph?
mrlmd40917.4133449074

[Mark]

I’ve used mine twice to no foul effect.  No ring left by either usage.  I had rather short trips, about 20 miles each direction and back.   I towed the London Roadster with my Honda Oddyssey.  I’m sure the rear lights were on the van were visible, but I wanted the extra lighting at the end of the car I was towing.  I also used tow chains, so that I was legal all around, and safe, too.  I never felt the weight of the LR and had to look back several times to make sure it was still there.MGLondonRoadste40917.7934490741

[Royal]

I plan on towing MiGi up to Carlisle this year and back.  That’s about 900 miles (round trip).  I’ll be towing with my 2wd Mercury Mariner mid sized SUV.  I bought my tow bar before I had even seen, let alone bought MiGi.  Towed her home, never even considered driving it, but could have (300 miles). 

[Richard Wobby]

I took the time to wire my ally lights up to my tow hitch wireing. it took about 90 minutes and I left the harness plug in front then once I’m hitched I plug in to extension on tow bar and to my vehicle no suction cups no magnets and I also tow to carlisle and will do so again this year.

[greg press]

Royal,

Found towbar on ebay today. Plan on odering soon.I also found sucksion cup lighting also on ebay with case. What do you people do about gravel and dirt kicked up by tow vehicle .Do you use grass skirt, full back of truck rubber bumper flap or just mud flaps.I drive a GMC sierra 4×4. Any imput will help . 

[Royal]

Gravel is a problem.  I’m towing with a little Mercury Mariner that I will have some sort of skirt or flaps on.  I’m trying to figure that out also.  But, that being said, while I want to keep my car as nice as possible, I do not want to keep it in a hermetically sealed package that only gets opened long enough for me to polish it.  I’m gonna use and drive mine and if she gets some battle scars, so be it. 

[newkitman]

Remember to go slower on gravel and she wont get too much tossed up off the road. And those aren’t scars….they’re character marks.   

Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The Shack

[Author]

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