My Range Rover - A Road Going Project

I have made Front and Rear Bumpers for the old Gal



here is the front bumper


and the rear in making








test fitting



and final paint

*snap*

The pics arnt that clear, but i wouldnt want to pull much with your towbar...
Looks like the lower part could do with some support, or it will tear off of the tube, which is only 3mm wall?

How thick is the plate you have welded to the rear towbar? I would wanna be using 10 or 15mm thick - looks a lot thinner..?

Edit: This is bothering me. This is downright dangerous. The hook hangs down so when weight is applied the load is concentrated on the 'weld' on the bottom of the hook. It's gonna injure someone. Don't use it.
It's gonna break....... You say in your profile you are just learning to weld. I would practice on some scrap to hone up your skills, even then, get a professional to design/fabricate and install something like this.

Ditto, structual welding should really be left to someone who knows what there doing, plastering Mig over Mig is not a structual weld, I would add that this bar should not be used......

Don't take the comments above (or this one) as negative - they are intended to be constructive.

Practicing on scrap some more would certainly be a sensible move to try out a few things: Your aim doesn't seem too good, and the penetration looks poor. It would be well worth getting an autodarkening helmet, or any helmet that fits onto your head leaving your hands free to hold the torch. I always hold the torch in two hands - makes it much more steady, and the sutodarkening ones let you see what's going on when you start the weld.

Settings look a little low too - compare your settings with suggestions from the calculator.

Ben, I'm sorry to say that I'm with the others on this, that really isn't up to towing anything safely .
It's a great idea to build one in theory but in practice it simply isn't safe, I'd imagine towbars are designed using quite sophisticated calculations taking load and stress into consideration, not the sort of thing you, I or pretty much anyone on here could do off the top of our heads.
Look at SC BK's caravan thread, imagine it happening to you and the reason it came detached was due to your towbar failing and imagine having to explain it to plod .

I had a customer some years ago that made a towbar from an old steel bed frame, first trip out with his car trailer he lost a classic MG, luckily nobody was killed, that DIY job looks downright dangerous, please don't use it.

You may want to investigate this, if it applies to your vehicle
Type Approval and European Law 94/20EC

Most passenger cars registered after 1st August 1998 (S registration) must be fitted with a Type Approved towbar. These cars have an “e” mark on the VIN plate together with the maximum car and trailer mass.

It's difficult to make out from the photo's but the tie bars do not appear to be going to the towbar points on the chassis rails, couple of photo's of a Range Rover tow hitch.



Stuart

Im with the others in that I wouldnt want to use that bar myself.
When I sliced up my old RR, it had a towhitch that had the two piece of angle steel as per robotstars photo. These go forward and actually bolt onto the chassis inner faces in a structural manner. The load path then is the L shaped pieces in tension pulling at the chassis.
If you RR was anything like mine pre slice, where you have the mounting points looks solid enough until you get the rear wings and pillars themselves off, then theyre often in shocking condition underneath.

Pick your welding up, get confident then cut it all back and redesign it to use tie bars back to the chassis I say. If that sounds like a lot of work, everybody throws the towbar away on a classic because they came fitted factory (Im guessing someone removed it to improve the exit angle? since with a stock one you dig a furrow as you come out of rough stuff), Im sure you could get one for buttons. You could still mount up a tubular bumper behind the bar, since its independantly mounted of the bumper itself.


Have to add, I pulled one of my "towing eyes" off dragging something out of a ditch. Theyre not really designed to tow from , theyre so the RR can be strapped down on transports without moving because of the handbrake mechanism...

Hi ben.. I also go with the other guys on this. There is just one more point tho.. The edges of the rear bumber seem to be champherd off to almost points. Although thats fine for off roading the mot wont alow sharp edges or points projecting from the sides (mainly the reason for most cars looking like bubbles now!) you can however round the pipes around the corner towards the rear wheels or make sure that the edges are as smooth as possible. I have ripped both tie down eyes off my disco... there is just no strength there! The best option is if you make a plate that takes the bottom towing rods to the bolts where the tie down eyes meet the chassie. The last thing anyone here wants to hear about is you involved in a major accident.... Not fun and the paperwork takes blo**y ages!

Good luck and keep posting as everyone will keep giving you pointers!

I don't see the need for attaching the tow ball to the bumper in this fashion, commercially available tubular bumpers for the Range Rover Classic don't do this.

Now the tow bar can be a pain in the ass in the mud, all you need to do is dramatically shorten the original crop plate with the help of Mr A. Grinder/Plasma Cutter. I cut the drop plate on mine down to about 4 inches, then re attached the plate to chassis arms.
I don't have a ball on mine, I use a pin hitch, less chance of a recovery rope slipping off.

I echo what's been said above, don't tow with that contraption. There's a whole minefield of type approval, insurance, construction and use etc if it goes wrong. Not to mention your own safety and well being.

One last point, and I'm not wishing to sound like pedant, but you have told your insurance company about the non standard bumpers, haven't you?