Fitting a Towbar on your vehicle will open up a whole new world of leisure possibilities, whether its for towing a trailer to clear the rubbish, or a caravan on your holiday a Towbar offers unmatched versatility. Just remember that it will decrease your departure angle.

European Law states that all light passenger vehicles registered on or after the 1st August 1998 require a type approved towbar tested to EC94120, and a towball with suitable D&S value. Fortunately this is not retrospective and does not affect any vehicle registered before this date, and therefore the Suzuki SJ series remain relatively unaffected. However, with this in mind, we still need to take into account the SJ's allowed towing weight, and the height of the tow ball above the ground.

The towball centre height should be in the region of 350 - 420mm from the ground.
The towing weight of the SJ is as follows:-
Braked trailer 1100 kgs
Unbraked trailer 500 kgs

Fitting the towbar is a relativley simple matter. One of the most important things to remember is to always "put safety first". This would include your personal safety, the safety of those around you, and the safety of the vehicle, especially while towing. We would therefore recommend the use of high tensile steel "Nylock" nuts, washers, and bolts.

Tools ...

Drill
Drill bits
Spanners
Flat screwdriver
Philips screwdriver
2 of M16x50 High tensile steel bolts
2 of M16 t;Nylock" nuts
2 of M16 spring or lock washers
2 of M16 washers
7 of M10x30 High tensile steel bolts
7 of M10 "Nylock" nuts
7 of M10 spring or lock washers
7 of M10 washers (25mm OD)
Insulated 7-core cable
12v 7-pin trailer connector
Soldering Iron
Solder
Wire cutters
Insulation tape

Fitting the tow hitch ...

Fitting the tow hicth will vary depending on what make of towbar you have purchased. If you bought it new, fit ithe in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. On the other hand, if you purchased it second-hand, installation amy prove a bit more tricky. Some towbars will have a rear support bracket, while others will consist of only a single piece.

Installation will of course vary slightly from model to model, but the basics are the same. When fitting a towbar, the chassis & body of the vehicle must be inspected for corrosion or damage. All suspect areas must be repaired before fitting the tow hitch. Because of production tolerance changes in body pickup points between the different models, you must check centre lines as you go. It may be neccesary to slightly elongate a fixing hole.

First remove the towing eye and fit the main "Cross Bar" (A) to the holes provided using two of the M10 nuts and bolts. If the towbar has a centre tube, loosely attach this to the Cross Bar, once again using the M10 nuts and bolts with Bolts. If necessary, support the fuel tank and loosely attach the rear cross bar (F) to the existing bolts at (Y). Make sure that all the bolts are attached, and tightened to the recommended torques.

Recommended torque settings:

.

All towbars approved to EC94120 carry a label ensuring product traceability and all the information necessary to conform fully to the European Standard.


Now you are ready to move onto the tow bar electrics, which in some cases can be more difficult than fitting the tow bar.

Wiring the tow hitch ...

In the United Kingdom, all the 12 Volt 7 Pin Trailer Lighting Connections follow the same 12N (normal) Wiring Code. This is to keep all connections standard, and allows different trailers to be towed by different vehicles without the need to modify any wiring.

The diagram on the right shows the 12N plug as seen from the rear of the plug (the side where the wires from the tow vehicle are connected).

The 12N plug is usually black in colour. The stanard wiring code is shown in the table below.

Supplementary wiring for trailer accessories ...

Many vehicles have an additional supplementary Caravan Connection plug installed. This 12 Volt supplementary Caravan Connections plug is for accessory wires to the trailer, and follows the 12S (supplementary) wiring Code. The plug is usually grey in colour.