This is my first post on this forum, although I have read many posts over the last 2 weeks since becoming enrolled. I have just purchased (taken over the running costs of…) my first Jaguar, a 1999 XJ8 and purchased a second hand detachable tow bar to use for a bike rack.

Having been quoted in excess of £500 for fitting by my local Jaguar dealer, I decided I had to do the job myself! Research here and with the help of the seller (who was very helpful and patient) has allowed me to finally fit it and so I thought I would put in writing the whole process/experience. I am a competant DIYer and think most people should be able to handle this job.

It did take me many hours over several evenings and one morning, but this is due to difficulties I experienced in removing the bumper and bumper mounts and my lack of experience in refitting leading to repetitive actions. BUT the basic process is simple enough and can be done by one person. Since doing the job, I have found photos that may have helped me save some time and a link to these is at the end of the post.

I fitted a Brink detachable towbar, which is virtually invisible when the swan neck is removed. Ideal for these cars to retain appearance when not in use. (snob!). It has 2 arms, which protrude backwards, onto which are bolted 2 plates from under the car and 2 other “L” shaped plates which strengthen the fitting from inside the boot. It came with the electrics already attached to it but the wiring was just 7 wires with bare ends.

No cutting of the bumper is required, but you do need to drill 4 holes from under the car. 8 new, longer, 8mm bolts are required to replace those fixing the bumper mounts.

I understand from reading other posts that these towbars are no longer on sale through the normal retailers (my experience also), but you may be able to get one direct from Brink and buy the electrics from a towbar fitter or somewhere like Halfords.

Bumper removal.

The first thing to do is remove the bumper. The bumper is removed by undoing two long bolts that go through the bumper from below, through the bumper mounts and screw into a nut set into the top of the bumper. They are mounted just to the side of each exhaust tail pipe and even with a chrome end trim to the exhaust pipe I found there is room for a socket.

When the bolts have been removed (mine came out very easily), I needed to remove the metal collars that protrude from below the bumper. This was necessary because the collar caught on the inside of the bumper mount hole and stopped the bumper from being removed. I wasted a few hours wiggling the bumper wondering why it would not come off.

But before I tried to push the bumper off it’s mounts, I removed the mudflaps and the splash trims behind the rear wheels. The mudflaps were held on with 2 spring clips and they came off by pushing off or by twisting the flaps. The splash trims are held on by 3 “built in” clips and I found it was just a case of wiggling the trims and pulling gently.

The bumper is held on to the side by a shaped plastic “clip” that the bumper just slides into and should just slide out of. You may wish to check it is not bunged up with mud before attempting removal.

Now the bumper can be pushed backwards from the wheel arch and it should just come straight off. Or you can pull gently from the centre. I suggest you put a bean bag or some garden chair cushions down behind and to the side of the car to stop it from getting damaged when it falls.

When the bumper is off, clean and polish it thoroughly as when it is refitted, it moves outwards by about 7mm, so any dirt that was not accessible for cleaning before will show.

Bumper mounting plate removal.

These are held on by 4 bolts. 2 are accessed from inside the boot, 2 from under the car. The 2 under the car are likely to be rusted on. The bolts are like coach bolts – they have rounded heads that have no provision to hold them or turn them. Deep joy! As they are recessed, they are not accessible for cutting a slot to allow a screwdriver to be used to keep them from turning.

I removed the plastic trim to the inside edge of the boot and folded back the carpet to reveal the inside bolts. These were easily undone and the bolts pushed through. Keep the large rectangular washers/plates.

The outside bolts were a different matter. Despite copious amounts of easing oil left to work its magic and cleaning the bolts/nuts with a wire brush, I found the nuts would undo so far then the nut and bolt just turned together, despite the bolt being recessed into the bumper mount. As the mount is made of a form of plastic, the square hole simply rounded off too easily.

Eventually I decided I needed to drill these 4 bolts out. I used a 10mm cobalt drill bit purchased especially for the job. Expensive bit but saved me a lot of effort, as it went through these heads in about 5 minutes! Although the bolt is only 8mm, I needed a 10mm drill to ensure the squared end of the bolt (that locates in the mount) would be drilled. I flattened the head as best I could with a file to allow the drill to grip better, started drilling at a slow speed to try to get dead centre and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, cooled the drilling area with water frequently. This stops the mount from melting. (I did not do this on the first bolt and got plastic running out of the hole!). Drill carefully so as not to destroy the mounting plate as you get through the bolt.

I used various sized standard drill bits on the first bolt head and broke 2 bits, blunted one and it took me ages because I did not use the right tools. I was only using a rechargeable drill, however, and you don’t need to set the drill to a high speed to get good results.

When these bolts are removed, the exhaust pipe mounting plate will fall away from behind.

Towbar fitting.

The towbar fits between the car and the bumper mounts. This increases the length of the car by about 7mm. Just as well it wasn’t any more, because when closed, my garage door now touches the bumper! The towbar “arms” go into the box section behind the bumper mounts and the towbar will rest in this position whilst you offer up the bumper mount to re attach it.

You need to use 40-45mm long bolts to re-attach to the inside of boot, you can use shorter ones if you like for those bolts under the car (reducing the bolt length that will be exposed to future corrosion!). I purchased size 8, 45mm bolts with an allen key end, to help when they are next removed. I also used self locking nuts.

Attach the bumper mounts through the towbar, then to the car, through the boot first. There should be a thinrubber gasket between the towbar and car that comes with the towbar. Presumably to prevent corrosion. Inside the boot, you need to fit the right angled plates. Use the large washers/plates you took off inside the boot and use washers of a suitable size for the bolt head against the bumper mount. I found this necessary as the original bolts were designed to overlap the bumper mount holes significantly, whereas the new bolts I purchased did not. Also, the holes became bigger when the bolts were drilled out either from damage or from the bolts turning in their holes. I tightened these nuts and checked the bumper mount was level before going any further, as there was some play within the mounting holes.

The next bolt I fixed was the lower bolt that needs to hold the long external plate that comes with the tow bar, along with (part of) the exhaust mounting plate. However, firstly you need to fit the tow bar plate and tighten this up without the exhaust plate being fitted as it is necessary for 2 holes to be drilled through the body work using the tow bar plate as a template. To drill, you need to hold the exhaust slightly to one side, hence the need to leave off the exhaust plate. The theory is that when you drill, the hole will line up with the tow bar arm mounting holes exactly!

So, fit the 3rd bolt and tow bar plate. I had to ensure the plate was square to the run of the beam alongside which it is mounted and that it was also flat against the surface through which it will be fixed, as the second hand unit I had was slightly dirty with underseal and so was the car surface, and the mounting hole at the rear had some play in it. With the bolt only tight enough to allow slight movement of the bracket, I held the plate square and straight and commenced drilling the first hole. I did need to slightly widen it to get the bolt to connect, but it did work quite easily. The second hole was spot on. Similarly on the other side. Drilling and fixing these plates took no more than 30 minutes for both. Before tightening these bolts, I stuffed grease between the plate and the car body, especially around the newly drilled holes, to help prevent corrosion and ease removal.

When the arms have been bolted through the bodywork, I removed the nut holding the bolt through the bumper mount and then fitted the exhaust mounting plate through both remaining external bolts before tightening them fully. I used a decently thick washer to ensure the nut did not slide into any of the mounting plate or bodywork holes.

Finally, I covered all bolts, nuts and edges with grease in the hope it will deter corrosion.

Electrics part 1

The first stage for the electrics is to pass the wiring through the rubber grommet which can be found under the right side carpet behind the light cluster. I cable tied the wiring to the towbar and around the exhaust bracket, to keep it as far away as possible from the exhaust box.

Refit bumper.

A bit tricky this for one person. As a precaution, I again stuffed grease into the bolt holes and all over the alloy adjustment bolt at the top of the bumper mount, to aid future removal. I balanced the bumper on a cardboard box on one side and then pushed the bumper on from the middle so it rested on the top of the mount. Next, I laid under the other side and guided it through the shaped plastic clips. Then repeat on other side.
Next, I loosely fitted one bolt and collar and then the other. I found if I tightened the first bolt too much, it would not allow the second one to line up correctly to go through the bumper mount and find the integral nut at the top of the bumper.
Tighten the bolts, refit the splash trims (2 tabs locate into slots in the bumper edges and 1 tab slides over part of the cars structure) and mudguards and that is job done!

Electrics part 2.

Do not wire directly into the lighting circuit, for example where the wiring meets the light cluster. This is likely to disrupt the monitoring system and cause error messages and malfunctions. I know, I tried to test one connection on the indicators and drove around for two days with error messages and dodgy indicators even after disconnecting the towbar test wire. It did eventually reset itself, but I did think I had done permanent damage for a while. Jaguar provide a yellow plug in the boot fuse box designed specifically for wiring in tow bars. The wiring plan is:

Jag Yellow Function UK COLOUR UK SOCKET Connector:

Yellow socket Pin No/ colour/ function/ Towbar wire colour / (7 pin) Towbar socket No
1/ B / Earth/ White/ 3
2/ RW/ Tail-side left / Black/ 7
3 / GO/ Indicator right/ Green/ 4
4 /NR/ +12v battery connection
(for caravan or reversing
light relay) fused 20a
5 /R /Tail-side right /Brown/ 5
6 /OG/ Fog lamps /Blue /2
7 /O /Brake lamps /Red /6
8 /GW /Ground this signal when
trailer connected
9 /GR /Indicator left/ Yellow /1
10/ O /Car fog lamps
11 /RU/ Split charge control
12 /Y /Reverse lamps (relay must be used)
13 /B/ Ground for reversing lamp relay


The numbers on the yellow plug are faint and small and you need to hold it at an angle to see them.

If, like me, you cannot find any “blank” male connectors of the required size, then the remaining option is to scotchlok to the relevant wire. I only had 7 wires and was using a light board to hang on my bikes, so had no need to use any other wires in the connector other than 1,2,3,5,6,7,9. I connected the ground wire directly to a ground point adjacent to the fuse box, to make life easier for me as it gets a bit tight when all these scotchloks are fitted within a few millimetres of each other. I also left a copy of the wiring plan (above) in the fuse box in case of need.
Access to the fusebox for the tow bar wires can be made from rear at bottom.

Thank you to Andy K from this forum for the wiring plan. (towing module)

Some useful photos of the rear bumper and fixings can be found here (with thanks to Jagman98 for excellent photos and information on various subjects):

REAR BUMPER FIX Photo Gallery by Max Heazlewood at pbase.com (specifically for the bumper).

Jagman’s whole collection is here:

JEREMY J. JAGUAR Photo Gallery by Max Heazlewood at pbase.com


That’s all folks….

 

Great sets of reference pictures ... hope they don't get lost.

Any model number on the Brink? And any pictures of the finished product?

 

Great write-up. Here in the UK the tin worm causes all sorts of problems, and the rear bumper lower mounting bolts, well I've used a grinder in the past...

Mike did you re-use the original bumper mounts? Jaguar supply 'non impact absorbing' mounts, for obvious reasons (touch the bumper with a caravan/trailer, they may collapse)- you only have to touch them and they break

a pic of the metal mounts...

 

Great diagram! I see the difference in the mounts...

I used the originals that I took off. I had read about alternatives and why to use but had not found any picture to show the difference. The bar did not come with any mounts.

Ultimately my consideration was that I want to use a bike rack rather than towing. I felt that I need not worry about the issue you highlight and I was not wishing to spend even more on this functionality, which is likely to be used infrequently, but may allow me to get permission to use the car for weekends away with my lady (as long as I pay for the extra fuel I am told.... we use a 60mpg vehicle at present).

I will certainly keep this warning in my memory...

 

Further to a previous question, there are no model numbers on the towbar as far as I can see.

Here are a couple of pictures taken after fitting the bar, showing the swan neck on and off.

 

Just to throw a spanner in the works, my x300 had a factory fitted tow bar, removed it and have the fast flashing indicators, but boot plug is white with different colours, know its the right plug as the tow bar electrics go straight to it and it goes to the module. Any ideas of what wire I need to short to earth??

 

To bring an old post back to life...

If anyone is planning on fitting a towbar, you may be interested to know that the plug required (AMP or TE Multilock 070 series, I think) is the same as the one used on the radio on an XJ40. You could get one from a scrap car, or buy a 1983-1994 Jaguar (XJ40) to ISO stereo conversion lead from ebay for less than a fiver, and the plug from this can be connected to a towing socket and used to connect to the trailer loom connection in the boot. The pins can be removed and replaced in the plug so you can match colours if you prefer. (One needs to be moved anyway, as one pin is in the wrong position)

The factory towing loom uses a second plug in the boot to connect for earth, so probably best not to use the one in the plug, i.e. pin 1. It's purpose, along with pin 8, is to connect to a switch in the towing socket to break the earth to a pin in the lighting control module. I presume this at least switches off the reversing sensors (if fitted) when a trailer is connected, but may affect the bulb monitoring as well.

The factory loom also incorporates a rear fog relay to automatically switch the fog feed to the trailer if fog lights are fitted, but leave the car ones operative if not. If you want to connect up a fog light feed directly to the loom connection, it would benefit from a towing socket with a fog lamp switch built in, but this could still cause errors with the bulb monitoring.

I have a genuine factory loom available (not for sale though ) if anyone needs any further details.