Speedy Towbars 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser Towbar
In this post we show you our Speedy Towbars towbar for the 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser that we have had fitted now for more than 18 months. We will discuss why we chose to go with Speedy Towbars, the reason we decided to not fit a factory Toyota towbar, what was involved, and the overall benefits of this Speedy Towbars towbar.
Why Speedy Towbars?
Speedy Towbars are a small family-owned business based in Brisbane with two workshops located on the North and South sides of Brisbane at Everton Hills and Slacks Creek. Speedy Towbars have been operating now for close to 20 years and have decades of experience in the towbar industry. They have also been manufacturing their own towbars here in Brisbane Australia for several years. Because of all of this we have never had an OEM towbar fitted to any of our 4WDs and used Speedy Towbars to fit 5 towbars to different vehicles we have owned over the last 15 years. We have never once had an issue with the workmanship of Speedy Towbars, always received a high quality of service from their team, great pricing to supply and install their towbars and accessories and have always been extremely satisfied with the whole experience in dealing with them as a business.
For more information on Speedy Towbars look at their website here.
76 Series Land Cruiser Towbar Specifications
The 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser has a towing capacity of 3,500 kgs and a maximum tow ball weight of 350 kgs (10% of the maximum towing weight). We have never planned to ever tow anything of that size with our camper trailer DOT373 weighing in at 1,600 kgs. However, we still decided to fit a Class 4 heavy duty towbar rated to 3,500 kgs with a maximum tow ball weight of 350 kgs as you never know what might happen in the future and if we ever did decide to sell this 4WD.
Speedy Towbars do manufacture their own towbars here in Australia however they are yet to make a towbar for the 70 Series Toyota Land Cruiser with their focus being on more commonly sold towbars which makes perfect business sense. As a result, Speedy Towbars recommended a Trailboss Class 4 heavy duty towbar which is now owned by Hayman Reese. Trailboss still manufacture some of their towbars here in Australia with this one for the 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser still made here. The Trailboss Speedy Towbars towbar kit for the 76 Series Land Cruiser comes with the following:
- Trailboss Class 4 Heavy Duty Towbar.
- Tow ball tongue sits at the same height as the towbar.
- Stainless steel tow ball and tow ball cover.
- 2 x rated D shackles.
- 50mm x 50mm tow ball mount.
- Pin and clip to secure ball mount.
- Plug and play wiring harness.
- 7-pin plug (flat or round).
- Load rating of 3,500 kgs.
- Ball weight rating of 350 kgs.
- Powder coated satin black.
- Limited lifetime warranty.
- Manufactured in Australia.
Updated Tow Ball Mount Pin
Speedy Towbars now supply their own updated tow ball mount pin where the pin is threaded and comes with a nut to tighten and secure the tow ball mount far more easily. There is still a supplied clip to go through the pin in the event the nut comes loose for some reason. This nut requires a 24mm spanner. Compared to a standard towbar pin which would slide through the towbar and tow ball mount and only be secured by the pin. These work fine but would then require you to tighten one or two bolts below the towbar to ensure the tow ball mount is secure and does not move. Only having to tighten the nut on the pin is a much easier process as you do not need to climb under your 4WD to locate these bolts every time you add or remove your tow ball mount.
Plug & Play Wiring Harness
Another great feature of this Speedy Towbars towbar for the 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser is that it comes with a plug and play wiring harness. What does this mean?
Having a plug and play wiring harness is by far the best option when having a towbar fitted to your 4WD. The reason being is that a plug and play wiring harness comes with an OEM plug that fits directly into the factory Toyota plug meaning there is no need for any soldering of wires or scotch locks to the existing factory wiring. This is a massive benefit because as soon as you start cutting into factory wires and using aftermarket connectors or a solder there is always the risk that over time something could come lose or get disconnected. If this does occur, then you will have issues with your trailer lights not working, running the risk of fines as well as the cost of repairs to be roadworthy again. Having a plug and play wiring harness does also have the added benefit of an easier installation meaning it will be quicker and cost you less due to reduced labour time and workshop consumables.
Speedy Towbars Fitting
We know these days that it is common to try and fit 4WD parts yourself to know how it all works as well as to save a few dollars, we do this ourselves all the time. However, when it comes to certain accessories, we do prefer to use the experts especially for our towbar when we will be towing a 1,600 kg camper trailer in all sorts of conditions.
At the end of the day having our towbar installed by Speedy Towbars was not that expensive so we made sure we had the experts fit this to our 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser. The total fitting time is about 1 ½ to 2 hours so you can wait while it is being done. Speedy Towbars do offer a mobile fitting service for a small fee so this is always a great option if you want this done at home or work and you do not need to worry about waiting. With the 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser towbar, the towbar is fitted to the factory Toyota towbar mounting points along each chassis rail using M12 bolts. We have a Uneek 4×4 rear bar fitted to our 76 Series and this Trailboss towbar fits perfectly without any modification required. If you do not have an aftermarket rear bar and still the factory rear bumper, there will be some minor modifications required to the underside of the rear aluminium step in the centre of the bumper. These modifications are minimal and cannot be seen with a small section that needs to be cut out. Once the towbar has been fitted, the plug and play wiring harness is connected to the factory plug with the wires inserted inside split tubing for added protection and hidden away underneath the 4WD. The 7-pin plug is then installed on a small plate welded to the bottom of the towbar. We had the 7-pin plug fitted to the bottom of the Uneek 4×4 rear bar to ensure that it was out of the way as we have scrapped the bottom of our towbar on several occasions driving through some rough tracks.
Aftermarket Over Factory Towbar
The Trailboss Speedy Towbars towbar for the 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser is a far better option than the factory Toyota towbar for a couple of reasons. As a result, we would highly recommend staying away from the factory Toyota option as you will be no better off financially and having a few disadvantages over this aftermarket towbar.
Terrible Design Factory Toyota Towbar
The factory Toyota towbars have been designed and tested to only be used with Toyota tow ball mounts or tongues. This means that technically you are not allowed to use aftermarket accessories such as a weight distribution hitch with the factory Toyota towbar. If you do and the towbar fails, Toyota will legally not have to do anything about the problem. This is a massive issue if you plan on using anything other than the factory Toyota tow ball mount or tongue. Another issue we see with the factory Toyota towbar is where the tow ball mount sits on the towbar. We have included a picture below of someone we know who has this factory towbar fitted to a 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser. Here you can see that the tow ball mount sits below the actual towbar. This means that with the factory towbar the tow ball mount is approximately 60mm lower the Trailboss Speedy Towbars aftermarket towbar. This is a huge clearance problem with this section sitting so much lower and it does mean that you will probably need to replace your tow ball tongue with an aftermarket option that raises your tow ball another 50-60mm. If you do not replace the tow ball mount (tongue) then your camper trailer or caravan is not going to sit level, we have seen this with this factory Toyota towbar. It is not a good design at all.
Warranty Not An Issue With A Good Quality Towbar
Some people will have the view that fitting a factory Toyota bar is better for warranty purposes. We will completely disagree with this if you are fitting a high-quality aftermarket towbar by a reputable business (like Speedy Towbars) that use a plug and play wiring harness. The dealers will make such statements to try and get another little sale. You will only have warranty issues if you have dodgy wiring that causes electrical issues or damage somewhere within the vehicle. Fitting a towbar with a plug and play wiring harness that is using the factory plug will not cause any issues as you are not having to cut into wires with the risk of failures. Moreover, car manufacturers invest their time and money in developing and testing their vehicles not accessories. In some instances, a few car manufactures are using aftermarket towbars that are simple rebranded. Good quality towbar manufacturers have done extensive research and testing so you should not have any issues. These reputable companies will have lifetime warranties so any issues will be resolved by them.
Speedy Towbars Towbar Cost
The cost of our Trailboss Speedy Towbars towbar for our 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser was $780 fitted. This includes all the items we have discussed above being the towbar, plug and play wiring harness, stainless steel tow ball, ball cover, d shackles, tow ball mount, pin and clip, and 7-pin plug (flat or round). Speedy Towbars did confirm that to use their mobile fitting service where they come to you, this is at an additional cost of $30 to $50 depending on your location. Speedy Towbars have advised us that their mobile fitters do travel from the Sunshine Coast to the Gold Coast as well as from the Brisbane area to Ipswich.
Overall, at a total cost of $780 fitted for a Class 4 heavy duty towbar with a lifetime warranty we were extremely happy. Toyota quoted slightly more than this for comparison purposes.
Extremely Satisfied
After having our Speedy Towbars towbar on our 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser for more than 18 months of towing we are extremely happy and have not had one issue. We have towed our camper trailer in all sorts of road conditions on bitumen and off road and it has been a breeze. We did not expect to have any problems as we have only ever had great experiences when dealing with Speedy Towbars. We would highly recommend Speedy Towbars if you were ever looking at having a towbar fitted to any type of vehicle.
For more information on Speedy Towbars, you can contact them here. To see the actual towbar, we had fitted by Speedy Towbars you can see it here on their webstore. To keep up to date on any of our future posts and what we have been up to then please join the 4WD Adventurer Community here. For more posts on our 4WD build you can read them here.
This is not a sponsored post and we have not received anything for writing this.
Thanks for reading legends.
The thoughts of Peter.
