Thread: Tow Hitch Receiver

The receiver is the 2" square tube into which that item fits. Mine has a conventional gooseneck/tongue - like this:

gooseneck.jpg

Originally Posted by mowog

Hi All

I am wondering what others have as a tow hitch receiver in their L322? Mine is a 2008 TDV8 and I have the one pictured

I tried to fit an adjustable tow hitch receiver to my L322 (08), but found that the end plate was hitting the underside of the bumper and preventing it going in deep enough to allow the lock pin to secure the hitch receiver.
(I needed the vertical adjustment to match with my trailer and not to end up loading rear of vehicle.)
I took the original tow hitch receiver (with its solid steel 2" main rod, and the adjustable receiver, to a competent welder, and he cut off the mounting plate from the adjustable receiver and welded it on to the original receiver. (Suitably braced back to receiver bar, and because bar is solid, it can handle a good weld.)
A lot of mucking about, but trailer parts stockist assured me that there is nothing on the market "ready to go".
It was cheaper to use the existing adjustable mounting plate and throw away the rest, rather than have to get a new plate machined up and then to ensure that it matched the adjustable hitch and ball mounting.)
Important that when plate is welded on end of original receiver that distance between mounting pin and centre of tow ball doesn't exceed maximum length.
I think maximum distance between pin and centre of tow ball might be 350/360mm, but DO CHECK THAT I AM GOING FROM MEMORY. (Might be a few mm more allowed, my final fit was very close to legal limit.)

Originally Posted by vbrab

I tried to fit an adjustable tow hitch receiver to my L322 (08), but found that the end plate was hitting the underside of the bumper and
Important that when plate is welded on end of original receiver that distance between mounting pin and centre of tow ball doesn't exceed maximum length.
I think maximum distance between pin and centre of tow ball might be 350/360mm, but DO CHECK THAT I AM GOING FROM MEMORY. (Might be a few mm more allowed, my final fit was very close to legal limit.)

I would love to see a photo of your setup.

I just checked mine and the tow ball I have setup is 330 mm from the pin centre. But it wont be high enough for my caravan.

Originally Posted by mowog

I would love to see a photo of your setup.

I just checked mine and the tow ball I have setup is 330 mm from the pin centre. But it wont be high enough for my caravan.

Apologies, cannot send pic at present, as hitch was left in Perth, but is being sent to me next week, so perhaps by end of next week i shall be able.
My car came with a solid steel (50mm square) main section through which the pin locked it into the tow bar receiver, and on the top of that solid piece was the tongue which was about 75mm by 20mm thick section welded to it (on top side with a hole for the tow ball. that tongue protruded about another 150mm past the end of the 50mm solid section
The cut off was made through the 75x20 section and the mounting plate off the normal 'adjustable' hitch was then welded on to the end of where it was cut off.

I set it so that when inserted and pinned, the adjustable mounting plate on the end just misses the underside of the bumper.
I may have gone 5-10mm over the permitted maximum length (which i forget at present), between pin and tow ball centre, but figured that as tow tongue is set so far under the car that might not be a real issue.

I use the HR TBM 21181 as many others do, with the ball mount plate upwards for my 2.5T semi-offroad van and the plate downwards for my box trailer.

Originally Posted by Graeme

I use the HR TBM 21181 as many others do, with the ball mount plate upwards for my 2.5T semi-offroad van and the plate downwards for my box trailer.

That wouldn't give me the change in height required. I have a Rapid Hitch on my D4 sadly it won't fit in the L322 tow bar.

Have recently had my original hitch modified to allow it to be adjusted.
Main reason for having to modify was that I could not get an adjustable hitch that was long enough to fit under bumper and also reach into the L322 bar receiver.
I had a 4 ton "Mr Hitches" adjustable hitch, and had it cut about 65mm back from behind the adjustable mounting plate, and also had the flange underneath removed, leaving 65mm of square tube attached to the mounting plate.
Cut about where yellow line is showing in image 1.
1 hitch detail.jpg

Then I had the tongue on the origional L322 hitch cut so that the piece removed from the adjustable hitch (above) could be welded to the L322 hitch. In my case to clear the bumper and allow the adjustable plate to be mounted without hitting bumper, the distance from centre of pin hole to face of mounting plate was approximately 250mm.
5mm more length would have been better, but it works as is.
The section to the right of the yellow line is the original drawbar after cut.
2 hitch detail mod.jpg
Weld detail is marked in yellow (above) and in red on next image (below).
4 detail weld cut.jpg

It was welded by a boilermaker to be certain of weld quality, and because the origional L322 draw bar is 50mm square solid steel, it is a very robust item to which the adjustable plate can be mounted.
Weld detail.
3 detail weld.jpg

Or you could try one of these 13" Inch Heavy Duty Hitch Extender Extension Tow Bar 4WD Car Trailer 2" Receiver | eBay

Cheers