Ford Scorpio Forum - Print Page


    
      
        Ford Scorpio Forum
        (https://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl)
      

        General >> Problems >> Witter towbars & Estates
        
(Message started by: supatall on Dec 17^th, 2007, 6:12pm)

Title: Witter towbars & Estates
Post by supatall on Dec 17^th, 2007, 6:12pm

Hi Guys

A bit of background: 2.3 Scorpio Est, P reg Secondhand Witter towbar

Tried fitting the towbar this weekend. As my towbar had come off a Scorp without a 'transaxle' I expected no problems.

My Scorp has 'something' that prevents use of the Witter bracket for cars without transaxles. I haven't taken a picture yet but it's big, metallic and it's not moving! See the Witter instructions here

http://www.buypartsby.co.uk/towbar-fitting/F59.pdf

for a picture of the bracket (J) The 'without transaxle' bracket will not fit in a month of Sundays. It is supposed to fit to the forward diff bolts but there is no access to those. If I tried to fit it to the rear diff bolts, it will
foul on the petrol tank.

So, I'm wondering whether any of you chaps have fitted a Witter towbar to your car, have had success with the 'without transaxle' bracket and consequently have the 'with transaxle' bracket gathering dust in the corner of your garages somewhere. Money could change hands!

Regards

Simon

Title: Re: Witter towbars & Estates
Post by Scorpio_Mike on Dec 17^th, 2007, 9:00pm

Fitted a witter towbar to my '96 2.3 Ultima estate earlier this year.
Firstly make sure you are using the correct J part - the other one won't fit...as I found out when I tried to re-fit the towbar I had removed from my '93 Granada Scorpio estate.
The J part is the only difference but I bought a complete towbar off ebay with the correct part. I'm guessing the kit comes with 2 choices of J part and people would tend to chuck the unwanted part away.

The J bracket fits to the REAR bolts - access is fiddly but possible using a 1/4" drive socket set and extension bar(s).

I think the instructions are wrong - the J bracket mounts to the REAR bolts in both cases if my memory serves me correctly which it sometimes does.

Good luck !

Title: Re: Witter towbars & Estates
Post by mijfife on Dec 18^th, 2007, 9:51am

Hi Simon,
since I'm still looking for an estate and I've been trying to learn as much as I can from this site, I remember reading about someone having the same towbar problem as you! Thev'e very kindly put an article in the "modification" section of the main site. have a look at http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/towbar.htm

hope this helps,
cheers Jim

Title: Re: Witter towbars & Estates
Post by supatall on Dec 18^th, 2007, 10:15am

Hi Guys....thanks for the input so far. Witter supply two J brackets in a new kit. Just to clarify, the only 'J' bracket I got with my secondhand towbar is for a Scorp without transaxles. This will not fit on my car. There is no access to the FRONT diff bolts as there is a huge lump of metal in the way. The J bracket is not designed to fit around this piece of metal anyway. My J bracket will also not fit to the REAR diff bolts. If I bolted it in here, it will foul on the petrol tank and is also not long enough to drop below the tank.

Hence my request: If anyone has bought a wittter towbar from new, has fitted it to a saloon without a transaxle and has the other 'J' bracket spare, then I'm interested!

Title: Re: Witter towbars & Estates
Post by Scorpio_Mike on Dec 18^th, 2007, 11:21am

You seem to have the same problem I had - namely I removed the towbar from my old '93 Granada Scorpio estate and found it wouldn't my newly acquired '96 Scorpio estate.
I got a s/h Scorpio towbar with the correct J part off ebay for £35 although had to drive about 60 miles to collect it. I did try asking Witter if they would supply the part I needed but was told they only sell as a complete kit. May be worth asking around local companies which fit tow-bars if they have the part you need laying around, or maybe you could get one fabricated if you have the dimensions ? It's only a bit of angle iron and 2 bits of flat bar bent to the right shape.