Fixed Swan Neck Towbar with a Stabiliser Compatible Neck in Powder Coated Steel

A swan neck towbar: a neck shaped so a friction stabiliser can close on the ball without fouling, which not every swan neck allows.

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, part number second, and we will tell you about the bumper before you commit
• Approval: UNECE R55 for your exact vehicle. 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 2200kg gross trailer mass on the bar, subject to the vehicle handbook
• D value: 8.8 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: 75kg. 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. A swan neck has a fixed ball height and cannot take a drop plate, which is the trade off for how neat it is
• 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: one and a half to three hours
• Bumper: usually no cut, and this is the main practical reason people choose a swan neck. Where a cut is needed we say so 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 17.2 kilograms
• Guarantee: a lifetime guarantee on the towbar weldment and two years on the electrics
• Parking sensors: a swan neck sits closer to the bumper than a flange and interferes less with the sensor cone, though on a dedicated loom the sensors mute anyway when a trailer is plugged in
• Accessories: a swan neck takes clamp on cycle carriers but not bolt on ones, and it takes no drop plate at all. If either matters, buy a flange
• Stabiliser: this neck is shaped to clear a friction stabiliser
• Ball: integral, 50mm, and it cannot be removed. A permanently fitted ball must not obscure the number plate

What arrives

• the towbar weldment with the integral ball
• every mounting bolt and washer
• the loom chosen above
• vehicle specific instructions with torque figures
• the type approval plate

Fitting

One and a half to three hours, usually with no bumper modification, which is the practical reason most people end up here. Fitting available at our centres and mobile, with coding included on a dedicated loom.

Before you order

Buy a swan neck if you are towing a caravan or a trailer and nothing else, and if the back of the car matters to you. Buy a flange if you want a drop plate, a bolt on cycle carrier or a stabiliser bracket. That is genuinely the whole decision, and the rest of the difference between them is marketing.