Rear Recovery Point advice

[Judo]

Hi All,

On the Disco I have the tow bar recovery unit which is great as I already had a hayman reese type tow setup, so the recovery point is installed and removed when needed, but that's not the case on the County. What are my options here?

Only upcoming change to the rear of the vehicle will be adding a rear wheel carrier if that makes any difference.

[Judo]

Oh, I also want to swap the fuel tank for a long range one if that matters.

Will a Defender Hayman Reese towbar/hitch/receiver/thing fit a County? Maybe that is a good option?

[AndyG]

A horizontal pin in the second hole from the top

[Judo]

Yeah I see what you mean. Seems legit, but the more I look at it the more I want to replace it. Maybe it's just because it's not painted or because it appears to be dented? Any pros or cons to swapping to a different tow setup do you think?

[tact]

TDCi is a bit different. But maybe gives an idea - provided you don't need to be able to tow normal trailers.

The TDCi rear crossmember is apparently not as strong as the older models and so cannot bolt a pintle direct to crossmember without some added bracing etc.

Before pic shows stock towbar setup.

After pic - shows how I retained much of the stock components, just raised the drop plate significantly, cut it to suit, bent the braces, and then fitted the pintle

[steveG]

I have on good authority that a D1 towbar fits with a couple of minor mods

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1454663687.614038.jpg

Grab a tape measure and your Disco and you'll see what I mean.

Steve

[Judo]

Look what I found lying around that I forgot I had...



As far as I can tell, the weakest part is either 4xM10 bolts that hold the pintle onto it's mounting bracket, or the 2 pins that hold the bracket onto the vehicle. Seems pretty secure to me. I will probably use that if needed for the moment and change to a Hayman Reese whenever convenient in the future.



Regarding the D1 Hayman Reese - your idea of a "fit" is a bit loose Steve! Mine has 3 bolt points.

1) lower chassis
2) upper chassis
3) rear crossmember

I see what you mean that the chassis rails are the exact same inside width apart, so that works perfectly for the lower chassis mounts. The upper chassis mounts you appear to have ditched? Then the crossmember plate you've cut and welded.

Is that all correct?

My D1 Hayman Reese:

[steveG]

Its been a while, and perhaps my memory is a bit hazy. Having a closer look the mods may not have been as minor as I recall.
Definitely the end brackets came off, and with the bottom of the 110 crossmember being flat it sits up underneath nicely. New plate to attach it to the rear of the crossmember, and it seems my "arms" are now straight which would require the main RHS to be extended compared to yours. That I definitely don't recall.
I use a solid recovery point in the receiver, and have done a fair bit of towing and quite a number of recoveries. The setup has proven very solid with reasonable departure angle and no issue with my long range tank.

Steve