Rear recovery point & towbar - Ford Forums

burnsi · 05-07-2005, 07:38

I installed my heavy duty tow bar today (Hayman Reese) - interesting exercise, and one I would not care to repeat in a hurry - please do not ask me why I wanted to do this.

Anyway, I was a bit concerned when starting out, as I had the rear recovery point installed at the factory, and had been told they're not compatible with towbars, and I had imagined having to take the angle grinder to it to remove it.

Well, I can confirm the recovery point and a towbar cannot co-exist, but.... the recovery point, much to my surprise, is a bolt-on job, and a very hefty one at that. Given it's construction, I wonder why Ford are so adamant that the point can only be used for on-road towing etc?? It is easily as strong as the heavy-duty towbar's construction, and uses the identical mounting point and bolts!

BTW - here's a tip for you all - buy the Ford Heavy Duty tow bar - and get the dealer to fit it - better still, get it factory installed, that way the bumper will not have to come off, with the risk of damage etc, as they're quite difficult to remove!

Nothing wrong with the Hayman Reese at all - I would actually say it appears to be of better construction than the Ford unit, and uses the same mounting points and hardware - but with anything other than the Ford unit, your Ford trailer wiring harness will have nothing to mount to (Hayman Reese has no facility to mount the socket), and will not line-up with the pre-marked cut-outs for the trailer socket on the bumper bar easily.

Fitting the actual towbar was a cinch, albeit you need a rattle gun and torque wrench. The Hayman Reese hitch receiver's bumper bar cutout is easy to align, and basically goes right where the Ford unit goes. However, getting the trailer harness's socket to line-up with the Ford bumper bar cut-out is a bitch, not to mention you still need to manufacture something for the socket to mount to - 4 hours later!

Ford have very considerately left two connectors for you to plug the harness into, near the RH taillight (one socket for R/Sensing, the other for the trailer socket). And they have even run the electric brake (for caravans etc) wire in the trailer wiring harness! But, that's as far as it goes, there is no matching wire in the vehicles harness for this wire to plug into!!! No problem if you don't need electric brakes I guess.