issues fitting Towbar

[Knipex]

Hi.

 

I purchased a Brink 6065 detachable towbar for my 2018 skoda octavia Vrs. 

 

Started fitting this morning, removed tailights, bumper etc, all no problem.

 

Towbar slides I to rear chassis legs like it was made for them. Looks great and then discover there are no holes in the chassis rails to insert the bolts. Read online about rubber inserts to protect thread's but none of those either.

 

Supplier swears its the correct bar and that I'm missing something.

 

Short of drilling holes I cannot see how to insert the bolts.. access to the rails on the passenger side is blocked by the exhaust and geat shield.

 

Am I missing something obvious ?? Or do I need to drop the back box and drill a hole in the rails ??

 

Obligatory pics attached..

 

[Knipex]

More from the other side..

 

Zero access to install bolts through or into side of chassis rail.

 

Other point of note us that the crash bar mount on the left (passenger) side has only 3 mounting bolts, 2 on top but only one on the bottom. There us no facility to fit a fourth..

 

 

 

 

[DEZMONDE]

They will be there, not easy to see but go by feel. Use your finger and prod along the under seal, you will feel the patch covering the holes. Peel back, it comes away like a sticker.

[lastgasp]

This may sound silly, but have you had a good poke and prod at where the bolt holes should be?  As I read your post I had a vague memory of being similarly bemused once - it may well have been with my Octy - only to discover that the holes had been gunged over and painted so well that they were perfectly camouflaged.

[DEZMONDE]

Also for the side with the exhaust, I found it easier to drop the heat shield and use a 12in extension for socket on torque wrench to tighten the bolts.

 

Good luck

[Knipex]

1 hour ago, DEZMONDE said:

They will be there, not easy to see but go by feel. Use your finger and prod along the under seal, you will feel the patch covering the holes. Peel back, it comes away like a sticker.

 

I took off the bumper again this evening and  felt along the length of the chassis leg. I found 2 areas where the body seal felt higher, used a screwdriver and scraper to remove body seal in those areas and to give a good prod along the full length.   Nothing.

 

On the passenger side I cannot even see the chassis leg, let alone get my hand in to feel it.

 

To do so I would have to remove the heat sheild and to do that I would have to remove the back box from the exhaust.

 

I even got a second pair of eyes to give it a look over.

 

 

[DEZMONDE]

2 minutes ago, Knipex said:

 

I took off the bumper again this evening and  felt along the length of the chassis leg. I found 2 areas where the body seal felt higher, used a screwdriver and scraper to remove body seal in those areas and to give a good prod along the full length.   Nothing.

 

On the passenger side I cannot even see the chassis leg, let alone get my hand in to feel it.

 

To do so I would have to remove the heat sheild and to do that I would have to remove the back box from the exhaust.

 

I even got a second pair of eyes to give it a look over.

 

 

I did my vrs towbar install not too long ago, I felt the same as you but the holes were there.

Measure the bolt holes on the towbar legs then measure the same distance onto the chassis, use finger not a screwdriver and you can feel the softness where the hole is covered.

 

I would be surprised if skoda stopped putting the holes in but you never know.

[Knipex]

21 minutes ago, DEZMONDE said:

I did my vrs towbar install not too long ago, I felt the same as you but the holes were there.

Measure the bolt holes on the towbar legs then measure the same distance onto the chassis, use finger not a screwdriver and you can feel the softness where the hole is covered.

 

I would be surprised if skoda stopped putting the holes in but you never know.

 

 

Did you have to remove the exhaust back box on the passenger side ? Or  did you find a way to get access and remove heat sheild ?

 

 

[DEZMONDE]

13 minutes ago, Knipex said:

 

 

Did you have to remove the exhaust back box on the passenger side ? Or  did you find a way to get access and remove heat sheild ?

 

 

I dropped the exhaust off the rubber mount then unclipped the heat shield, it was tight but enough room to tighten bolts with a 12 inch extension on torque wrench.

 

[DEZMONDE]

[Knipex]

Will take off the bumper again in the morning. (3rd time lucky)..

 

If I have to I will remove all the seam sealer on the leg . Either to find the holes or to confirm 100% they are not there..

 

 

[DEZMONDE]

2 minutes ago, Knipex said:

Will take off the bumper again in the morning. (3rd time lucky)..

 

If I have to I will remove all the seam sealer on the leg . Either to find the holes or to confirm 100% they are not there..

 

 

Fingers crossed for you.

The stickers covering the holes were square if I remember correctly, 1inch x 1inch at most.

 

[J.R.]

Look inside the chassis leg from the end with a torch, you will soon see the holes if they are where they should be.

[DEZMONDE]

On 09/05/2017 at 17:11, RPMfr said:

hello,

i did it by my self (siarr westfalia 317132 https://www.westfalia-automotive.com/fileadmin/pdf/317-skoda/a317132691101.pdf and jaeger 21220517 http://www.atu.de/extern/files/artikel/ES0746_ES0746_21220517J_SKODA_Octavia_Limo_ab_06-14_Stand_100915.pdf )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This post has pictures of the holes and fit.

[lastgasp]

8 hours ago, Knipex said:

Will take off the bumper again in the morning. (3rd time lucky)..

 

If I have to I will remove all the seam sealer on the leg . Either to find the holes or to confirm 100% they are not there..

 

 

 

Just to re-assure the O.P.  The floor-pans are made by robots on an automated line, - no opportunity for human error. The holes will be there.

[Knipex]

OK.

 

Feeling extremely foolish but followed advice and found holes..

 

Mounted the towbar and put it back together.

 

Problem now is clearance to bumper.. less than 2" from centre of ball to the bumper.

 

Had a look and cannot find any adjustment. It also feels like the bumper bar is very tight to the body and inserting the ball is tight to bumper, even after clearing as much as possible.

 

 

[Knipex]

Now I feel really stupid.. 

 

Ignore previous post. If I could delete I would..

 

Sorted. Thanks all 

[Gaz]

No need to feel either foolish or stupid. There is good information in this thread now for the next poor so and so, who has an ‘I just don’t get it’ moment 👍

 

If it’s any consolation, I did pretty much exactly the same with a Passat about 13 years ago, so you’re in good company, you weren’t the first and certainly won’t be the last.
 

Gaz

[GreenMachine1.6]

Yes the ball is tight to bumper same as mine and as it's a swan neck you can't fit a metal shield. A real risk of damaging the bumper when hitching up. Look at some caravan forums for ideas on how to protect the bumper. Or get a reversing camera and/or motor movers on the caravan.

[DEZMONDE]

2 hours ago, Knipex said:

Now I feel really stupid.. 

 

Ignore previous post. If I could delete I would..

 

Sorted. Thanks all 

Glad you are all sorted. 👍👍👍

[J.R.]

Tighten those bolts through the chassis rail to death and then tighten them to double death after towing a heavy trailer.

 

Why? - They are great big clearance holes and the U shaped swan neck or in my case flange fit towbar creates a large turning moment to the cross bar which would be really rigid if the towball mounting flange was welded directly to it (but would require an very accurate and visible bumper cut) this is accentuated if its a close coupled 4 wheel trailer with a heavy load.

 

In a very short time the brackets will be rotating up & down in the chassis rails & you will be able to grip the towball and lift it up & down, the only way to overcome the clearance it to tighten the bolts so much that the washers deform & the cupped part goes into the clearance hole and pulls up tight to the threaded bracket. The washers they supply are not as thick as would normally be expected so I think they intend them to become cupped to stop the movement.

 

Then the side bolts may come loose and also on a flange fit like mine the bolts where the U shaped extension plates bolt to the centre of the bar, I usually end up having to weld the lot solid but I do push the limits a bit when towing as this photo of the recent disaster shows

 

 

Edited 20 September, 2020 by J.R.

[J.R.]

To explain I had travelled 100 miles to a Paris suburb to buy a 45 year old site trailer the same as one I already have, or so I thought, it had stood bogged down on a site since 2003 so I took along 3 good wheels & all the spares I could think of, what I didnt know was that the eye on the drawbar was a larger cross section than my existing one that tows fine with the coupling towball that you can see in the picture and it would no enter into the jaw far enough to get the pin in place.

 

To return with a proper NATO type jaw coupling would have meant an additional 300 miles and at least a weeks wait, the guy had a small angle grinder and one disc only so I set to work to the eye, the towbar bolts & even had to put a flat on the pin (its being scrapped anyway now I have the proper Nato jaw coupling), it was tight but it did follow the car when I did some lock to lock turns so I set off home. I hadn't however tried reversing

 

Stopped at a Lidl for refreshments and tried to reverse and could see that it did not want to go so managed to do a U turn, I stopped just before the autoroute to tighten all the wheel nuts again, check the trailer board etc and saw the damage that I had caused, i took the photo then in case it was no longer attached when I got back

 

My hydraulic press for straightening the bracket is in the UK so I got it back pretty much straight by doing exactly the same thing but reversing in the other direction

 

I will in time weld some stiffeners between the two plates that buckled, I have to remove it anyway to weld up all the bolted joints that were shaken loose, the bolts that hold the extension plate to the crossbeam have almost as much clearance as the chassis rails and had already worked loose once.

[J.R.]

This kiddy should do the business!

 

 

 

The shaft & eye are 40mm diameter forged steel yet according to the tare plate the gross weight of the loaded trailer is equal to the unladen weight of 499kg

 

Its because they are made to a price and over 500kg needs not only brakes but also a carte grise (registration) and seperate insurance, the suspension & tyres etc are all good for 2 tonnes as they know exactly how they will really be used.

Edited 20 September, 2020 by J.R.