Detachable Towbar with a Socket Plate That Folds Away in Powder Coated Steel

A detachable towbar: a socket plate that folds up out of sight with the neck removed, which completes the point of a detachable bar.

Towing is the one thing you can buy for a car where the wrong part is not merely disappointing. Every towbar listing here states the type approval number, the D value, the maximum noseweight and whether the bumper has to be cut, because those four facts decide whether a bar is legal on your vehicle and whether it will pull what you want to pull. Every electrical listing says plainly whether it is a dedicated loom or a universal one with a bypass relay, and what each will and will not do. We would rather lose a sale to a cheaper part than sell you one that does not fit.

Specification

• Fits: vehicle specific. Registration first
• Approval: UNECE R55 for your vehicle, with the neck and the receiver approved as one assembly. Never mix a neck from one maker with a receiver from another. Every car first registered in the UK after 1 August 1998 must be fitted with a type approved towbar, approved for that specific make, model and body shape. The approval number is printed on a plate riveted to the bar and it is stated on every towbar listing on this site. A bar without one is not a cheaper towbar, it is an uninsured one.
• Rating: up to 2550kg gross trailer mass, subject to the vehicle handbook
• D value: 10.2 kN. The D value is the measure of how hard a towbar can be pulled. It is worked out from the towing vehicle's maximum mass and the trailer's maximum mass together, in kilonewtons, and the bar's D value has to be equal to or greater than the figure your combination produces. We publish it on every bar and there is a calculator linked from every towbar page.
• Noseweight: 100kg. Noseweight is the downward load the trailer puts on the ball, and the figure you may use is the lowest of four numbers: the towbar's S value, the vehicle handbook's noseweight limit, the towball's rating and the caravan coupling's rating. Most people know the first and none of the other three, and a combination that is legal on paper is often over the limit on the one that matters.
• Ball height: 350 to 420mm laden with the neck fitted
• Electrics: chosen above. A 7 pin 12N plug carries lighting only. A 13 pin plug to ISO 11446 carries the lighting plus a permanent feed, a switched feed and a fridge feed for a caravan, in one connector. If you are towing a caravan or anything with a battery in it, 13 pin is the answer. If you are towing a trailer with nothing but lamps on it, 7 pin is genuinely enough and we will not upsell you.
• Fitting time: two to three and a half hours, and the receiver alignment matters more than on a fixed bar
• Bumper: usually no cut with the neck removed, which is the reason to buy one. We confirm per vehicle before you order
• Materials: a chromate primed and powder coated S355 steel weldment, which is the standard finish and will last the life of most cars
• Weight: approximately 21.8 kilograms, of which the neck is about 4
• Guarantee: a lifetime guarantee on the towbar weldment and two years on the electrics on the weldment, five years on the locking mechanism
• Locking: a keyed lock with a visible indicator. Check it every time, without exception
• The honest drawback: the neck lives somewhere, and the somewhere is usually the boot or the garage. People forget it, and a caravan holiday that starts with a forty mile round trip for a towball is a real thing
• Receiver care: cap it when the neck is out and grease the receiver annually. A seized receiver is the commonest fault on a detachable bar and it is entirely preventable
• Keys: two supplied, and we can cut more from the code
• Number plate: with the neck removed nothing obscures the plate, which is the legal advantage over a fixed ball

What arrives

• the towbar weldment and the receiver
• the detachable neck with the ball
• two keys
• a blanking cap for the receiver
• a storage bag for the neck
• the loom chosen above
• vehicle specific instructions and the approval plate

Fitting

Two to three and a half hours. The receiver has to be square and level or the neck will be stiff to fit for the rest of its life, so this is the bar we would most encourage you to have fitted rather than to fit. Coding is included on a dedicated loom.

Before you order

A detachable bar costs roughly double a fixed one and a third of a retractable one, and it is the right answer for most people who mind how the car looks. The two things to know: the neck has to live somewhere and you will one day forget it, and the receiver must be capped and greased or it will seize. Neither is a reason not to buy one, and both are things the photographs do not mention.