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XC90 - Westfalia Detachable towbar fitting guide

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Old Mar 21st, 2010, 21:42   #1
ABC
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Last Online: May 4th, 2010 12:36
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Default XC90 - Westfalia Detachable towbar fitting guide

Hi,

Am new to this forum, but read some of the advice given before I fitted a Westfalia detachable towbar to a MY2010 XC90 Active, so I hope this info on my install is some use for others.

I avoided the Volvo dealer fitted Towbar as I didn't like the way the Volvo towbar fitted, and the amount that was left visible when the towball was detached.

I bought the Westfalia towbar as it's invisible when detached. I got it from PF Jones website. Delivered next day for around £175.

I bought the Volvo 7 pin wiring kit from Volvo for around £50.

I had a friend help me fit the towbar at the weekend. Here's how we did it. ..

1) Remove spare wheel

2) Remove rear most exhaust hanger rubber and then undo two 10mm bolts holding next exhaust hangers on under rear axle. Allow exhaust to drop. It doesn't drop that much as it's supported about midway on the car body.

3) Remove exaust heat shield. 4 x 10mm nuts. Plenty of room to remove with a ratchet spanner.

4) No need to remove anything else on the bumper, or losen any part of the bumper trim - despite what the instructions will tell you.

5) In the car boot, lift luggage floor hatch , then remove the two triangular floor pieces on either side (they just pull up) and also the clip out panel just above on the left hand side.
Feel down on each side and pull off the foam strips covering the holes in the chassis rail (two more underneath the car covering the same holes)

6) Push in the Westfalia metal bolt guides / supports (see Westfalia instructions for more info ) on each side, and slide in the 6 bolts with washers.

7) Remove the tow ball from the towbar and offer up the towbar. We found it easier to offer up from the non exhaust side first over the exhaust pipes. Once in place the towball receiver will sit with about 2/3 over the existing half moon cut in the bumper and 1/3 obscured by the bumper. You need to make a small cut to expose the receiver but more on that later.

8) Once in place push the 6 bolts through from the inside of the boot.

9) Put the washers and nuts on. By pulling the bolts back in to the boot we could get a ring ratch spanner on for the majority of the thread on the bolt. Once bolt nearly pulled tight we switched to open ended spanner. One person with spanner on bolt in boot and one underneath car to tighten.

10) Remove battery cover and then start with Volvo wiring. It fits in from outside of car. Feed wiring loom through swivelling 7/13 pin socket holder on towbar. Then up through battery drain gromit in boot floor ( kit has new gromit on it already to replace the existing boot floor gromit)

11) Attach earth wire to existing earth point by battery.

12) Place wire loom behind battery and then through gap in trim to left hand side boot floor void (where bolts for towbar fitted)

13) Ignore Volvo instructions and don't remove any trim in boot on side. Instead feed wire up to fuse box and reach hand in and plug into socket on fuse panel and add a couple of fuses to same panel. Check your socket works by attaching to lighting board. All should be ok if you have followed these steps. No need for SW download from Volvo unless you want car fog lights deactivated (unlikely if you are fitting a 7 pin socket).

14) Trim bumper. All cuts are to the horizontal underside of the silver part of the bumper. If you lie on your back under car it makes it simple to cut around the inside of the towbar receiver and around "ears" on towball. I had to enlarge the existing half moon cut by about 1 cm. To avoid having to cut too big an opening I trimmed the towbar receiver cap ( for use when the towball is not being used) as the ears on this are bigger than needed).

Check your cuts as you go with the towball. No need to cut any more than needed to have towball engage /disengage cleanly.

15) When all is done nothing is visible from the rear of the car when the towball is not attached. Not even if you get on your knees and look. To see anything of the cut you would have to lie on your back under the bumper

All in all I am very pleased. I have saved over £300 and have a cleaner looking towbar install, and also by doing it myself I know exactly what was done (i.e bumper not removed etc) and I have managed to take the time to ensure I cut the bumper the absolute bare minimum I needed to - I am sure if I paid someone to fit this towbar they would have followed the template and made a much bigger cut than was needed which might have meant some of the cut was visible.

Hope this helps - will see if I can take a photo to show what it looks like and if I can post pictures on here.
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