fbekholden.com

I recently bought a towbar from a gentlemen who was honest... told me it was probably EK but he wasn't sure. All looked good, so stupid me bought it for the FB as I have a fair bit of towing to do. It's the type of drawbar that bolts directly over the rear bumper bar brackets by using four longer UNF bolts. The drawbar "hangs" a little below the rear bumper, and has a "flat plate" that the tongue bolts through.

Despite much swearing, the application of universal solvent (comes in brown bottles) and time to cool off and think, I can't get it to fit . Although the drawbar itself is OK for clearance, the "flat plate" interferes with the fuel tank. I could try cutting the "flat plate" a little (I understand Tony G has had success with this before) but I am not too keen trimming a load-bearing plate. I think Tony also had to drill new holes for the mounting bolts (with crush tubes) which I'm also keen not to do.

At this stage, I'm leaning towards selling the towbar and getting the correct one for a sedan. I don't want the next owner to have the same grief I have had though. I believe that FE/FC/FB/EK all share the same bumper bar mounting dimensions. I've mounted an FC wagon bar onto an EK wagon in the past (thanks Ed!), and know others who have done similar.

The question is, how do I tell what type of body (sedan, wagon, ute, panel) the towbar is for? Any info or dimensions from towing gurus much appreciated.

Put a pic of it up for folk to see and they might be able identify it, Trev .

Apologies... the camera (and cable bits) are still packed up in our freight. The best I can do for now is the dodgy sketch below (fingers crossed... and no laughing at my drawing skills).

I can run a tape measure over it if it helps.

probably doesn't help, but i have the same type packed away in the garage roof.
never had it on the car but i'm sure the previous owner bought it because it's the right one?

The one on my sedan has different side plates than your's and longer probably to stop the hitting the tank problem

Cut the tongue plate off and move it rearward till it clears, then reweld.
You could also weld a heavey gauge angleiron from
under the plate, and up the rear of the cross tube for extra strength.

Thanks Trev - pretty sure this one's not for a sedan. Apparently the sedan and wagon are the same (i.e. it won't fit a sedan or wagon), and the ute and panelvan are the same as each other (but different to sedan/wagon)... so it could be a ute/panelvan one.
Thommo - my welding is crap, and I'm not so sure there is enough room on the plate to move it back enough... gut feel is that the tongue bolts would end up "under the bar". I think I would have to rework the end plates and all to get it to fit... easier to sell it and get the right one.
I've included some dimensions below, does anyone have a ute/panelvan one they can check for me please?


A = 42 1/2"
B = 6 1/2"
C = 4 1/4"
D = 4 7/8"
E = 3"
F = 1 3/8"
G = 1 1/2"
H = 1 7/8"
I = 5"
J = 3"
K = 1/4" (plate thickness)
L = 3/8" (plate thickness)

Looks similar to the one I took off my wagon.
Next time I'll try to remember to have a look to see what the measurements are.
My Sedan and wagon both have them installed.

Looks very much like the one I took off my wagon also
Tongue plate is the same
only going by looks not lengths

Thanks guys for the replies - appreciated. From some internet hunting, it looks like the "what vehicle does this towbar fit" question is pretty common on both here and teh FE/FC board.

If you have a towbar on your vehicle (sedan, ute, wagon or van) can you please run a tapemeasure over it (perhaps use the letters in my drawing above)? I would like to put together a table of measurements for the different types, both to identify the one I have and to "help the next guy" so we don't have to run the same question over and over.

I found another towbar and I can't work out what it is from as well...

will measure it up and post pics.

Cheers

Ed

I finally found a sedan towbar for the FB (thanks Dave), and will post some learnings here so the next guy doesn't go through the same drama of trying to identify a sedan bar (I hate doing things twice ).

The sedan bar I have looks like the following (excuse my crappy drawing ):

Measurements as follows:
A = 41 1/4"
B = 1 3/4"
D = 5 1/2"
E = 4"
F = 1 3/4"
G = 1 3/4"
H = 1 7/8"
I - 8 1/2"
J = 2 1/2" (tongue is 3" wide - overlaps plate)
K = 1/4" thick
L = 1/2" thick
M = 12"
N = 1 3/4"
O = 1/2"
P = 3"
Q = 1"
R = 4 5/8"
S = 1 7/8"
T = 3/8" thick for large plate and 1/4" for smaller plate
Note that this has separate plates that bolt between the towbar and the bumperbar bolts. The tabs mounted either side of the tongue allow for 3/8" UNF bolts to be put through the rear subframe (requires drilling).

I have also seen this towbar:

on a sedan at Bootleggers, sitting in the same position as my FB sedan one (tucks up behind the rear bumper). Note that the "separate plates" are welded onto the bar itself on this Hayman bar. No dimensions for this one, but they must be very similar to my sedan sketch above.

Bootlegger also had a bar on his panelvan that looks like this:

Dimensions by comparing to my sdean bar as follows:
A = 41 1/4" (same as sedan bar)
B = 1 3/4" (same as sedan bar)
D = 5 3/16" (shorter than sedan)
E = 3 1/2" (shorter than sedan - implies sedan and panelvan tongue are different)
F = 5/8" (very little of the panelvan tongue plate protrudes on the car-side of the the drawbar)
G = 2 3/8" (most of panelvan tongue plate protrudes on the towball side of the drawbar)
H = 1 7/8"(same as sedan bar)
I - 8 1/2" (same as sedan bar)
J = 2 11/16"
K = 1/4" thick
Didn't measure L
M, N, O not applicable - no floorpan mounting tabs on the panelvan bar.
P = 3" (same as sedan bar)
Q = 1" (same as sedan bar)
R = 4 5/8" (same as sedan bar)
S = 1 7/8" (same as sedan bar)
T = 3/8" thick for large plate and 1/4" for smaller plate
Note that this has separate plates like the sedan bar. Looking at the bars my guess is that the panelvan bar will mount up OK to the sedan, but is missing the floorpan mounts (not a great idea). I'm not sure if the sedan bar will mount on the panelvan as I'm not sure how close the tongue-plate sits to the panelvan. Dave mentioned the panelvan bar also protrudes behind the panelvan - anyone got an "installed" photo of a panelvan bar?

Would also like some dimensions on a ute bar please to help make this thread more of a useful reference. I'll measure the bar on my wagon once I drag it out of storage.

I also have a copy of this document, which shows the side rails with some notches and no separate plates:

It refers to FE, and (assuming FE/FC/FB/EK are similar) implies that ute and panelvan are the same, sedan is different and wagon is different again.

As promised, I stuck my head under the EK wagon and did some quick measuring on the towbar. It's the Hayman-type towbar, where the side plates (the bits where the dimensions are P, Q, R, S and T) are welded to the drawbar (my sedan one has the side plates as two separate pieces).

The wagon bar has similar dimensions as the sedan bar, but with one critical difference. The tongue plate sits out further behind the vehicle on the wagon:
Dimension G is 1 3/4" on the sedan, 2 3/8" on the panelvan but 5 1/2" on the wagon.
Dimension F is 1 3/4" on the sedan, 5/8" on the panelvan and only 1/2" on the wagon.
Dimension E is 4" on the sedan and 3 1/2" on both the panelvan and wagon.

For both the panelvan and the wagon, Dimension F is very short (about 1/2"). It looks to me like the sedan bar will mount on the wagon, though the tongue plate will come close to touching the rear rollpan (there would be at most 1/4" clearance).

Can someone measure up a ute bar please? Curiosity is getting the better of me (and I still don't know what my eBay-special bar is ).

Looks like a ute towbar to me

This is the towbar on my FB UTE



I got most of the spiderwebs out of the way



The rear nut/bolt is inside the tube


The diamentions arn't exact but within a sixteenth of a inch