Westfalia towbar and spare tyre help..

[mick66]

Sorry if it's been covered previously but I can't find the answer to this on the forum..
After fitting a Westfalia detachable towbar (9hrs of sweat and tears, despite excellent instructions on here) to my 04 XC90, I was unable to get the spare back under the car..
My vehicle is a 7 seat version, it's go a space saver tyre...full size but thinner, held underneath on a cable.
I appreciate different towbars might take up different room so i need to know about the Westfalia detachable in particular..

Elsewhere on the internet, people intimating that the spare goes back on the car...i.e not mentioning that it doesn't..

Now I'm getting fed up of skinning my knuckles, banging my head, getting wet, angry and shouting obsenities whilst faffing about under the car, so any help would be appreciated..
Am I missing something or does the spare have to live in the boot..
Cheers
Mick

[XC90 Dave]

I have the same set up and the spare goes back no problem if you put a slight angle on the wheel front to back as you lift it into place.

[mick66]

Thanks for the prompt reply....I shall have another wrestle with it..

[Paul XC90]

I'm about to order and fit the same tow bar to my MY05. I would love to know what problems you found whilst fitting it and how you solved them.
I would like to avooid the "9 hours of sweat and tears".

Still on towbars I notice that one of the big tow bar sellers on the web is currently selling Witter towbars at a big discount. Are there any major differences between the Witter and Westfalia i.e. can you fit without needing to cut the bumper? (Looking at detachable system)

Thanks.
Paul

[mick66]

Ref the 9 hour marathon..
Someone else on the forum has added a very detailed explanation of the installation, which I will not juplicate, but my problems were mostly, though not entirely, caused by my own incompitence ...
Que much time Googling..
Main delays in order of occurence..whilst following the forum instructions were..

1. Didn't know how to get the spare wheel off the cable...Didn't even know there was one under there...(wife's car)..(lower with silver ring in boot and twist cable off through wheel..Super crap design...

2. Couldn't get the exhaust off the rear rubber bung...used jack to take weight and sort of slides off..I think undoing the bolts may be easier...

3. Getting the towbar in position and bolted in .....Using a car jack, a hammer, the wife and alot of bad language we eventually lined it up...It was a very tight fit and the bar is heavy....I suggest cleaning up the surface of the foam gunk thats present prior to position towbar..Still be tight mind..

4. Tightening the six bolts......they are stiff as hell, and there is bugger all room for the person in the boot and the poor sod tightening from underneath.. I still ache..

5. The main delay was caused by me...I purchased The Volvo wiring loom and trailer connection module, a few weeks ago and forgot about the connection module altogether...Anyway.......

Place wires through the swivelling socket holder on the tow bar and then into the car as per instruction on forum..otherwise you'll be undoing all your good work...Again its tight but the connectors do squeeze through.
As I'm incompitent I had to remove all the trim on the side of the car to see what I was doing with the wires..fuses etc.
Still totally bamboozled, I then remembered the second box of tricks sent by Volvo..and then realised that the instructions..which I thought were for the Executive model only...weren't, so now made sense..
I had a 7 pin socket..so choose which of 3 options you want....and follow instructions..
Anyway..Black adapter goes into fuse box..Can just see it without taking trim off..but abit tight to get to...
The two fuses are easier to get to ..number 29 and 30..other two sockets just plug into the trailer module thingy..which I didn't have for about an hour..

Putting the trim back was probably the most frustrating part of the job...The restraing hooks in the boot were designed by a fool and had to get the wifes little fingers to place the bolts in....That was probably over half an hour just on two bolts...

If I had to do it again....The main areas to avoid would be..
Don't remove all the trim...
Don't forget about the Trailer Module...(I'm an idiot)
Oh almost forgot....and the worst one.....
The 6 bolts that go from the boot into the towbar...The one closest the rear of the car must be put into the black bolt carrier and placed throught the holes as one..otherwise the bolts too long to fit without hitting the rear bulkhead....
It my seem obvious to most people, ie the wife whom I ignored when she suggested it, (more humble pie eaten) , but that was another 45 mins wasted messing about...on a 10 second job...

Some jobs like lining up the towbar and bolting it in, are just a real pain which you can't do much about..just be carefull not to knock yourself...it's heavy..

If i did it again I recon i might do it in half the time...maybe 4 hrs...(Some say it took them 2hrs..)

But the end result is very good...and you can't see anything of the installation when the tow hooks removed..

Anyway thats how not to install a towbar...

[mick66]

Just to add, you do have to trim some of the bumper from around the towbar reciever but its not visible unless you bend down and look right under the car..

[Coconut]

Also have the Westfalia, also wish I'd paid to have it fitted by someone else,
but I do have a sense of satisfaction after completing the job,
and my space saver wheel sits back underneath with no problems :-)

[mick66]

Yes, thankyou.. Space saver does fit, but how the hell is one person supposed to angle the tyre up at the front, whilst winding up the cable in the boot..
Picture the scenario, at the side of the road, in the rain, at night, what joy.. Lie on the wet road, crawl under the car and mess about in the dark with a heavy wheel..
I had the use a few pieces of wood and four bricks...to prop the tyre, then wind it up. I know I've already proved my gross incompitance on this thread, but it is really, really, crap..

I've got the wife the emergency, foam compressor repair kit..Can't see her being prepared to mess around with the spare to be honest..

[TruckbusUK]

Originally Posted by mick66

I've got the wife the emergency, foam compressor repair kit..Can't see her being prepared to mess around with the spare to be honest..

Dont forget depending which foam you use then the tyre may not be repairable afterwords + a new tyre for a puncture can be expensive (as the tyre fitters cant remove some compounds of foam residue ... not sure which makes)...... plus it is hard work, so just call the RAC/AA/Mondial etc to change it for you/her, assuming your a member.

[peterfoxy7]

Originally Posted by mick66

Ref the 9 hour marathon..
Someone else on the forum has added a very detailed explanation of the installation, which I will not juplicate, but my problems were mostly, though not entirely, caused by my own incompitence ...
Que much time Googling..
Main delays in order of occurence..whilst following the forum instructions were..

1. Didn't know how to get the spare wheel off the cable...Didn't even know there was one under there...(wife's car)..(lower with silver ring in boot and twist cable off through wheel..Super crap design...

2. Couldn't get the exhaust off the rear rubber bung...used jack to take weight and sort of slides off..I think undoing the bolts may be easier...

3. Getting the towbar in position and bolted in .....Using a car jack, a hammer, the wife and alot of bad language we eventually lined it up...It was a very tight fit and the bar is heavy....I suggest cleaning up the surface of the foam gunk thats present prior to position towbar..Still be tight mind..

4. Tightening the six bolts......they are stiff as hell, and there is bugger all room for the person in the boot and the poor sod tightening from underneath.. I still ache..

5. The main delay was caused by me...I purchased The Volvo wiring loom and trailer connection module, a few weeks ago and forgot about the connection module altogether...Anyway.......

Place wires through the swivelling socket holder on the tow bar and then into the car as per instruction on forum..otherwise you'll be undoing all your good work...Again its tight but the connectors do squeeze through.
As I'm incompitent I had to remove all the trim on the side of the car to see what I was doing with the wires..fuses etc.
Still totally bamboozled, I then remembered the second box of tricks sent by Volvo..and then realised that the instructions..which I thought were for the Executive model only...weren't, so now made sense..
I had a 7 pin socket..so choose which of 3 options you want....and follow instructions..
Anyway..Black adapter goes into fuse box..Can just see it without taking trim off..but abit tight to get to...
The two fuses are easier to get to ..number 29 and 30..other two sockets just plug into the trailer module thingy..which I didn't have for about an hour..

Putting the trim back was probably the most frustrating part of the job...The restraing hooks in the boot were designed by a fool and had to get the wifes little fingers to place the bolts in....That was probably over half an hour just on two bolts...

If I had to do it again....The main areas to avoid would be..
Don't remove all the trim...
Don't forget about the Trailer Module...(I'm an idiot)
Oh almost forgot....and the worst one.....
The 6 bolts that go from the boot into the towbar...The one closest the rear of the car must be put into the black bolt carrier and placed throught the holes as one..otherwise the bolts too long to fit without hitting the rear bulkhead....
It my seem obvious to most people, ie the wife whom I ignored when she suggested it, (more humble pie eaten) , but that was another 45 mins wasted messing about...on a 10 second job...

Some jobs like lining up the towbar and bolting it in, are just a real pain which you can't do much about..just be carefull not to knock yourself...it's heavy..

If i did it again I recon i might do it in half the time...maybe 4 hrs...(Some say it took them 2hrs..)

But the end result is very good...and you can't see anything of the installation when the tow hooks removed..

Anyway thats how not to install a towbar...

I am going to pay someone! I live too close to the river, and would have jumped in after the third hour!