Towbar, Bumper Removal and Electrics

[GoatsEye]

Planning on fitting Westfalia swan neck towbar to XC90 (2005) this weekend. Does anyone know if the bumper has to be completely removed, and if so how difficult is this?

I have also bought vehicle specific wiring. Is this straight forward enough to install, and do you do the wiring before or after the towbar, or does it not really matter?

Any special tools required?

Thanks in advance

GoatsEye

[Oilydad]

Can't offer any help on that particular Model, but a lot of Towbar manufacturers say that you have to either REMOVE or CUT the bumper to fit their towbars. Witter is one.

I have yet to find ANY vehicle (and I've fitted about 15 towbars to my cars over the years), that has needed to have this done.

Usually, you'll find that offering the towbar up to the fitting points before fitting it, will give you a pretty good idea of if it will simply bolt on or not.

So CAUTION before you get that hacksaw out. Just to save you hacking your nice car about!!

[TristanC]

I fitted an official Volvo detatchable towbar and Volvo electrics to my S80 a few weeks ago.

Bumper removal was required as well as a bumper cut. Volvo provided a bumper matched cover to cover the cut-out when the ball is not installed.

Usually if a bumper cut is required for a swan-neck it will be an invisible cut behind the bumper - but you'd have to check that on that with the tow bar manufacturer.

They will also be able to tell you if bumper removal is required. I had to remove the S80 bumper and it was simple. - The towbar required bolts to be inserted through the frame behind the bumper on the S80, thus why removal was required.

Here's some instructions to install a Volvo fixed bar to a XC90:
http://vccs.volvocars.se/accessories...turecode=en-GB

Looks as though you don't need to remove the bumper, just lots of internal trim.

If you have specific wiring, it's another simple task - just route the wires and plug in !! - I used the 13pin socket. - make sure you have the relay kits - 1 is required to operate the fog lamps, the other is to activate the charging function through the hook up.

Hope this helps


Tris

[Jim314]

Originally Posted by TristanC

I fitted an official Volvo detatchable towbar and Volvo electrics to my S80 a few weeks ago.

Bumper removal was required as well as a bumper cut. Volvo provided a bumper matched cover to cover the cut-out when the ball is not installed.

Usually if a bumper cut is required for a swan-neck it will be an invisible cut behind the bumper - but you'd have to check that on that with the tow bar manufacturer.

They will also be able to tell you if bumper removal is required. I had to remove the S80 bumper and it was simple. - The towbar required bolts to be inserted through the frame behind the bumper on the S80, thus why removal was required.

Here's some instructions to install a Volvo fixed bar to a XC90:
http://vccs.volvocars.se/accessories...turecode=en-GB

Looks as though you don't need to remove the bumper, just lots of internal trim.

If you have specific wiring, it's another simple task - just route the wires and plug in !! - I used the 13pin socket. - make sure you have the relay kits - 1 is required to operate the fog lamps, the other is to activate the charging function through the hook up.

Hope this helps


Tris

I'm amazed at how involved the installation is of the Volvo European style towbar compared to this US aftermarket model. The estimated time of installation is 1/2 hour, not including electrics.

This pdf gives the installation instructions http://www.thehitchstore.com/images/...-13559-INS.pdf.

I'm not making invidious comparisons because the US Volvo hitch also takes some considerable time to install.

One difference between the US and European towbars is the the US models bolt vertically up to a structural element, whereas, if I correctly read the diagrams, the European ones bolt horizontally in toward the center line.

I wonder why the difference?

[pdrvolvo]

Originally Posted by GoatsEye

Planning on fitting Westfalia swan neck towbar to XC90 (2005) this weekend. Does anyone know if the bumper has to be completely removed, and if so how difficult is this?

I have also bought vehicle specific wiring. Is this straight forward enough to install, and do you do the wiring before or after the towbar, or does it not really matter?

Any special tools required?

Thanks in advance

GoatsEye

i had a witter detachable fitted to my xc90 (04).no cutting or bumper removal was required.why not get a mobile fitter to do the job as i did.bar and electrics were fitted in a couple of hours.if you do it yourself be careful of the electrics as the xc90 is a very complicated beast.one wrong move and you could upset the electronics and warning systems.

peter.