Towbar - fixed or detachable?

[Sheep]

Getting a new car in the next couple of weeks. We currently tow using OH’s work car, no plans to change at present, but new car will be used for the occasional outing.

What is the general consensus on fixed vs detachable? The idea of detachable does scare me a bit, but presumably they are safe, otherwise they wouldn’t exist?! Thoughts please!

 

[JennBags]

I can't remember why, but I was told to stay away from the detachable ones.

 

[EventingMum]

There was a HH report recently of a detachable one coming undone when the trailer had a horse in it so I'd say definitely fixed.
http://dl.magazinedl.com/magazinedl...e & Hound - 12 March 2020(magazinedl.com).pdf

 

[saalsk]

I tow with an attached (Nissan Navarra) bar for both horse trailer, a IW510, and a sheep trailer IW other type, not sure of name, has capacity for about 12 sheep. OH has a car (Skoda, not sure of name), but has detachable bar and has towed both trailers, but without animals, just to move items. I was fine with it, until I saw all the negatives on here and other forums. We don't tow with his car at all now, even for general stuff. It seems to be a risk, and not one I'd put animals in, and I would happily be proved wrong with statistics, but they seem to point to issue in detachable bars, so I am saying no for now.

 

[claret09]

fixed

 

[mutley75]

If you have the option fixed every day of the week. Witter fit an aftermarket one to most vehicles at your home for about £250.
Detachable's are there for cosmetic reasons only. Fine for towing 750kg garden trailers.
many manufacturers (Land rover, merc), and others have had recalled their detachable tow bars at vary points in time.

 

[neddy man]

A previous thread, "removable towbars are they safe to tow with" find it in search at top right corner of this page. As stated by some it can effect the towing weight capacity. Personally fixed everytime.

 

[asmp]

I used to tow a 14.2 all over the South for TREC competitions using a detachable tow bar and never had any problems BUT now, in hindsight, I wouldn’t do it again - read too many horror stories. Also, never really saw the point of it as we never removed it!

 

[SOS]

Would always prefer fixed but if you’re going to go detachable make sure it’s capacity is the same as the vehicle. There were some that were fitted to vehicles that tow up to 3.5T but the tow bar could only manage say 2T and then there were problems as people weren’t aware of this. I don’t know how high the limit is for detachable tow bars.

 

[phizz4]

https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/removable-towbar.778475/#post-14053437

 

[Tiddlypom]

Always fixed, if you have the choice.

ETA IIRC detachable tow balls should be removed and cleaned after every use, and not left in situ, which IMHO would be a total pain unless you hardly ever tow.

 

[MasterBenedict]

DONT do detachable. I had the horrible experience of watching (I was in a car following) the trailer my horse was in become detached. The gods must have been looking down on us as amazingly nothing awful happened, but a second before or after where it detached And we wouldn’t have been so lucky.

This was a Land Rover and all fitted by a reputable Land Rover specialist garage...

 

[milliepops]

DONT do detachable. I had the horrible experience of watching (I was in a car following) the trailer my horse was in become detached. The gods must have been looking down on us as amazingly nothing awful happened, but a second before or after where it detached And we wouldn’t have been so lucky.

oMG that must have been absolutely horrifying.

 

[MasterBenedict]

Horrendous. Trailer thankfully veered off the the left and (very abruptly) parked itself in an upwards sloping gravelled field gateway. Other side of road was a deep ditch and there was a sharp bend and steep downhill bit of road just ahead.

Could have been so much worse - I read an article the week after about a trailer that had come detached and hit a car coming the other way and killed a toddler in the other car.

Still have shivers thinking about it and will never travel in a trailer again, detachable tow bar or not.

Ben was actually fine and completely not phased (unlike me!!) Trashed the partitions when he was thrown to a sudden stop but stood by the side of a busy road waiting for rescue and loaded fine onto our friends lorry. Never had any issues loading or travelling since bless him.

 

[deb_l222]

Fixed. Anything that can detach has the potential to detach.

When I first started towing, I went through this dilemma but heard so many horror stories of trailers, caravans etc parting company with their vehicle it wasn't a difficult choice. At the end of the day your hitch could fail but your towbar itself shouldn't be a thing to worry about.

 

[milliepops]

Horrendous. Trailer thankfully veered off the the left and (very abruptly) parked itself in an upwards sloping gravelled field gateway. Other side of road was a deep ditch and there was a sharp bend and steep downhill bit of road just ahead.

Could have been so much worse - I read an article the week after about a trailer that had come detached and hit a car coming the other way and killed a toddler in the other car.

Still have shivers thinking about it and will never travel in a trailer again, detachable tow bar or not.

Ben was actually fine and completely not phased (unlike me!!) Trashed the partitions when he was thrown to a sudden stop but stood by the side of a busy road waiting for rescue and loaded fine onto our friends lorry. Never had any issues loading or travelling since bless him.

yikes. you were all so lucky. I used to use a friend's trailer quite a bit but I am so used to lorries now, stories like this put me off ever wanting to put a horse in a trailer again. Urghhhh.

 

[mymareisaniightmare]

we've got a detatchabe on ours and its great! tows our 2005 ifor Williams well, had for nearly a year now not a scratch. very happy. it was fitted by a reputable car garage. sometimes a little stiff to get on, but at the end of the day, same with a saddle, if you take care of it, it will take care of you.

 

[Sir barnaby]

Getting a new car in the next couple of weeks. We currently tow using OH’s work car, no plans to change at present, but new car will be used for the occasional outing.

What is the general consensus on fixed vs detachable? The idea of detachable does scare me a bit, but presumably they are safe, otherwise they wouldn’t exist?! Thoughts please!

we had a detachable one but I wouldn’t tow horse trailer with it I just didn’t trust it in case I attached it wrong, it was okay for towing flat back with hay bales, but when we changed cars we chose a fixed one and feel much better about fixed.

 

[Alibear]

I towed with a detachable one as that was what the car (freelander) had and I never had any problems. I also never detached it. That said new car has no towbar currently so as I have the option I will be going with a fixed one.

 

[SmartieBean09]

We had a detachable fitted in error on our car. We tow a caravan and have never had any problems at all. I guess for peace of mind, if you have any doubt then go for a fixed.

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

I've just had a fixed flange bar put on my Sorento for £500 I won't have a detachable, it just doesn't sit right with me. My last car came with one & I had it removed and replaced.

 

[RHM]

I have a detachable one (factory fitted) but I don’t really use it because I absolutely hate towing. I think with some of them (particularly the one in the news recently) are incredibly difficult to put on and off so I would hazard to say there is a degree of user error in some of the horror stories! Mine is really easy to get on and off (Toyota) and it wouldn’t let you take the locking key out unless it’s connected properly. All that being said if you have the choice I would probably get the fixed one just for peace of mind.