Hello all, This question may have been asked before,but anyway. I have just purchased a 2006 Toyota Prado Auto 3 Lt, It has an original Toyota towbar which my friend started to tell me stories & pictures of this type of tow bar being "Cast" breaking & cracking when towing a van.
does anyone know if this is true or is it just sore-grapes by people with a gripe agains Toyota ? posting this stuff on the internet ? My van is under the 2.5T allowed by this car, we tend to use 80% black stuff & 20% dirt /gravel, nothing really extream.
Many thanks
Miroku12g
Hi Miroku12g
I own a Toyota Prado diesel 3ltr, and I tow a 21.6 Jayco Westport a bit over 2tonne with a genuine Toyota tow bar CAST and I haven't had any trouble, I have asked other Toyota Prado owners with the same tow bar they haven't had any trouble,but I have seen a picture of one broken in half ,but I don't know the circumstances to why it broke ,could of been one of many things. I am about to do a trip to Perth to Darwin Alice Springs and home ,hoping not to have any trouble,if I do I will post a message on here.
PS I have been told that cast steel is as good as your normal steel tow bars.
Lance C
-- Edited by Olley46 on Friday 26th of April 2013 05:13:08 PM
Hello all, This question may have been asked before,but anyway. I have just purchased a 2006 Toyota Prado Auto 3 Lt, It has an original Toyota towbar which my friend started to tell me stories & pictures of this type of tow bar being "Cast" breaking & cracking when towing a van.
does anyone know if this is true or is it just sore-grapes by people with a gripe agains Toyota ? posting this stuff on the internet ? My van is under the 2.5T allowed by this car, we tend to use 80% black stuff & 20% dirt /gravel, nothing really extream.
Hi Lance, Many thanks for that answer, i couldnt see a company like Toyota having such dramas without the newspapers getting hold of the story, as you say, who knows what the people were doing when theirs broke !! more likly a zillion miles an hour on a gravel rocky road. Any way have a safe trip,hope all goes well for you.
There are quite a few posts about this on GOOGLE - type in"toyota prado towbar failure" and you'll see links to many threads on this subject. As always you need to sort the wheat from the chaff!
My previous tow vehicle was a prado and towed a 2.5t boat trailer combo for 6 years no problems with toyota bar and tongue. I have seen a friends Prado break out at the base of the towbar so it does happen. We assumed it was from using load leveling bars when reversing upslope without releasing them. Did equate to an excessive load at that particular section.
I did not use load levelers with my boat and had no trouble whatsoever.
