9 replies to this topic

[miniman86]

hey everyone,

 

i purchased a mini tow bar at the weekend, and i've placed it under my car, to see how it fits (its a second hand one).

 

it looks to me that it attaches to the rear seat base and onto the rear beam of the back subframe....

 

after reading on here it seems there are mixed views on where and how to mount these tow bars to minis. some saying they should be bolted through the boot floor on spreader plates, and then bolted onto the bumper lip. whereas others are saying to bolt them entirely onto the rear subframe. which leaves me abit confused as to where i'm going with this tow bar?!

 

if anyone can shed any light, or has any dimensions for me to fabricate my own (i have access to welding equipment and lots of metal) please do say :)

 

also any pictures are appreciated :)

 

thanks

 

Alex

[mini1955]

mine is fitted to the subframe and under the rear seat

[Dan]

Because none were ever designed by Rover and they never bothered with type approval for towing it's not an easy subject. The rear subframe mounts were never designed for the extra imposed load of a trailer, but the car as a whole is fine to tow (on models up until it became illegal) and has a plated train mass. The flexibly mounted rear frame will put unpredictable loads into a towing bracket that is partly solid mounted to the body as it moves in it's mounts which could lead to the bracket or the floor cracking. The rear bumper lip is a terrible location IMHO because it is so often badly corroded and so weakened. My own opinion currently is that the best option would be to mount it entirely to the body, to the reinforced boot floor and seat pan, or else solidly to the rear subframe rear cross member (with suitable stiffening) and then flexibly to the boot floor with a heavy rubber bushing.

[Vipernoir]

Ummm....
Up to the later injected cars the Mini handbooks quote towing capacities.  If BMC/Rover had never bothered to investigate this, why is it listed ?
Vans & pickups can tow several hundred kgs less than saloons.

 

I'm firmly in the camp that bolts the rear of the towbar to the bumper lip - providing that the car is suitable and not corroded.
The bumper lip is one of the few places that has three layers of metal, and the sandwich of boot floor, valance and rear panel is surprisingly strong.

 

Attaching to the subframe is just silly.

[Captain Mainwaring]

Ummm....
Up to the later injected cars the Mini handbooks quote towing capacities.  If BMC/Rover had never bothered to investigate this, why is it listed ?
Vans & pickups can tow several hundred kgs less than saloons.

 

I'm firmly in the camp that bolts the rear of the towbar to the bumper lip - providing that the car is suitable and not corroded.
The bumper lip is one of the few places that has three layers of metal, and the sandwich of boot floor, valance and rear panel is surprisingly strong.

 

Attaching to the subframe is just silly.

 

Why?  Some may say attaching anything on the back of a Mini (including the back bumper) is just silly, but I cant see why a bar properly mounted to the rear subframe would be a big problem.

[Yoda]

I have no issues using the rear subframe and seat base mounting method. I have run two mini's with towbars in this manner and intend fitting one to my current mini. The only thing i do to improve the flexing issue is to fit poly bushes to the subframe mounts to alleviate this.

[Bungle]

my mini used to have a tow bar fitted , it was the type the same as the ops that fitted to the subframe and to the rear seat base

[Jordie]

I find the ones that fit to the bumper lip very disturbing when you see how these areas rust.

 

Mine fitted to the rear of the subframe. I placed some flat iron bar across the rear subframe and bolted it several times, before bolting to towbar to that/subframe. The other end goes through the rear seat area, I used spreader plates either side to spread the load.

[Captain Mainwaring]

I have no issues using the rear subframe and seat base mounting method. I have run two mini's with towbars in this manner and intend fitting one to my current mini. The only thing i do to improve the flexing issue is to fit poly bushes to the subframe mounts to alleviate this.

 

I don't like the idea of tying the subframe and the body together like that - (in saying that it may help them to stay attached) - i'd just use the subframe myself

[Yoda]

I fabricated a tow bar that attached to the subbie on the bottoms of the side rails and found the car felt "odd whilst towing, maybe too much flex from the body via the mount bushes, i went back to the original type and the car towed fine. Not saying that it shouldn't be done but that was my own experience. I also thought about fixing to the front and rear rails, but i could see issues with the handbrake cable guide, so never tried it.

 

And i never had any cracking around the seat base fixing, I suppose that was down to load spreading washers used at that point and poly bushhes fitted to the subbie mounts.