V70 Volvo towbar selection

[Teilo1979]

Originally Posted by apersson850

Both are Volvo original. One is a fixed (car without levelling) and the other detachable. The detachable one is brand new, since I got hit by a car in the rear, and that broke the previous hitch.
Perhaps both hitches are made by Brink. That I haven't checked.

Yes, I believe that the Volvo badged ones are made by brink (the one on my last XC70 was marked Volvo but also had Brink stamped) but strangely on the Brink website, they do not list a bar for vehicles WITH levelling.

[apersson850]

It's not too unusual that OEM manufacturers make versions for their customer, versions they don't market themselves.

[apersson850]

So, I took some measurements, as I had the trailer hitched on my car, and hence the hitch mounted anyway.

The height from the ground to the top of the wheel arc at the rear was the same for both cars, 75 cm.
The hitch on the car with levelling is then indeed lower than the other one, but not much. The top of the ball is 45 cm above ground, vs. 46 cm for the car without levelling. Now note that the car with levelling has the detachable hitch, the other car a fixed one.

I couldn't see any model number or other info from behind. It was dark and snowing heavily, so I wasn't too inclined to start crawling on the ground either.

[Teilo1979]

Thank you very much for that.

So if my thought process is correct.
Let’s just say the final ball heights will be the same for the V70.
As my car has self levelling no matter the weight I load it with the, height will stay at 45cm,
If I fitted the towbar for a vehicle with no self levelling to my car it will only be 1cm higher
(Bearing in mind the Rdesign is lower than a standard V70 anyway so that will negate that rise at least)
And this is well within the guidelines of ball height.

The only reason I’m stressing over this is because I want a detachable Brink towbar.
If I want one specific for self levelling equipped vehicles, it’s a Volvo badged Brink for silly money
Or buy a Brink badged one for cars without levelling for £170 and go to Volvo for the electrics.

I really can’t imagine there are any other physical differences between the bars apart from the ball height and if it’s only 1cm. It will make no difference apart from a substantial money saving.

But, if that’s the only difference why do Volvo sell both types?

[apersson850]

Note that what I can compare with is one fixed and one detachable. I don't know if two detachable towbars, one for self-levelling, the other for standard suspension, have larger differences.

Anyway, the general requirement is that the combined vessels, car and trailer, should be reasonably in level when connected. That is, the trailer should neither lift nor drop the nose when attached to the car. So if your trailer is somewhere near 42-44 cm when reasonably well in level, you're all fine and dandy.

I think the towbar, installed and ready in conjunction with buying the car new once, was around SEK 10000. That's the detachable one.
The fixed one was already fitted on that car, when we bought it used, so the cost for that when it was new isn't known to me.

[Teilo1979]

Thanks for all your help with this, I appreciate the time you’ve taken.
Unless Volvo come back to me with some real difference between the bars,
I’m saving a few hundred £ and buying the Brink one listed for non levelling vehicles.

Terry.

[Teilo1979]

Hopefully someone with a detachable bar fitted to a non self levelling car will give us a measurement just to confirm a like for like check.

Terry.

[niko111]

I have a 2008 v70 t6 without levelling. it has a genuine volvo brink detatchable towbar and it measures 48cm from the top of the ball to the road surface. if i put a trailer on with a 50kg nose weight it goes down to 45cm. hope this helps.