Rear Bumper Protection Completed NS-NT!!!

[Pearcie]

Hi Guys,
Well good news I have finally had a chance to nut out the rear bumper protection for the NS and NT Pajeros both SWB and LWB which are fitted with the Mitsubishi Tow Bar. The Design which I have finalised allows you to swap between towing and rear recovery hitch without removing the bar which is a major advantage and you only need to undo 2 bolts to be able to remove it when not required.

It will take a fair bit of punishment with brackets made from 8mm thick plate, the rear section has a 3mm wall thickness and the mount in the center where the recovery hitch and tow bar go through has a 5mm wall thickness and to top it off the skid plate underneath is 3mm thick as well.

I have attached a few pics which show it pretty nicely, we have managed to keep it nicely tucked in close to the rear bumper and also flows on nicely from the aux fuel tank on our SWB. Best of all it should stop the rear bumper from acting as a sand scoop on the beach which I found was a major problem on our last LWB as we always tore out the area about 600mm either side of the tow bar.

Anyway at this stage we will be making them to order and depending on interest we may or may not have them as a regular item. But if you want one I will be doing them for only $450 without a recovery hitch or $500 with a recovery hitch. (please note you need to have a recovery hitch or the tow bar installed as it forms an important part of the mounting system and you will need a recovery hitch should you need to use a recovery point at the rear of the vehicle.)

When I get a chance I will get under an NM/NP as I believe their tow bar is a little different.

I look forward to hearing from you guys soon!!!

[email protected]

Cheers,
Kieron

[Guest]

Looks good Keiron.



Anthony.

[Pearcie]

Thanks mate, the Mrs is very happy with it and likes the look of it as well so it will be staying on our vehicle permanently

[David Anderson]

Hi Kieron, looks awesome as expected.

Will one fit my LWB over an ARB towbar ?
(I assume they're the same as the MM ?)

[Pearcie]

Thanks David,
I haven't seen the ARB tow bar but if the distance between the 2 recovery points/tie down points on the tow bar is 975-980mm and if you measure on the underside of the tow bar where you slide you tow bar tongue in, it should be 225mm long from the opening to the back including the back plate (the plate at the rear of the hitch that stops the hole for your tow bar tongue filling up with muck from the back). If these measurements match up then I am sure that it will fit.

If you email through a couple of pics and if possible have some one hold a tape measure in place I should be able to confirm for you, just to be on the safe side, as I don't like my chances of finding a local Paj with as ARB tow bar.

Cheers,
Kieron

[CeeJay]

Looks great Kieron. Can you do it in black?

[Pearcie]

Hi CeeJay,
Yeh mate black isn't an issue, either black or Silver should be fine with out any extra cost so long as I get about 5 of the same colour done at the same time. We get black done regularly obviously with the bash plates so I can always throw one in with the bash plates to be powder coated. The main reason I went with silver for ours is that most of our rear bumper is silver and wanted it to match a little nicer. From memory the GL/GLX and R models don't have the Silver in the rear bumper so black would be a better look in my opinion for those. Also as I sprayed it in house rather then powder coat spaying with cold gal was a better coating then most other paints.

Cheers,
Kieron

[CeeJay]

Sounds good Kieron. It's on the wishlist (after spotties and awning!).

[Brownie]

Hi Kieron, your newest work looks great. Could you please post up some extra photos showing the hitch and trailer plug area. I have an anderson plug + trailer plug and hope that you have left sufficient room for both in your cut out.

Could you also please post up a photo taken from under the car which shows how far towards the muffler the plate section covers.

Brownie

[Pearcie]

No worries CeeJay I look forward to hearing from you when your ready mate.

[Pearcie]

Hi Brownie. Not a problem at all, these pics show either side near where the exhaust comes out on the left hand side for LWB models/SWB with aux tank and on the right for SWB models without the aux tank. Also a couple of pics of either side of the hitch showing the access through the cut out to the trailer plug and also to be able to put the tow bar pin in etc.

If they mounted the trailer plug on the bottom side of the bracket from the factory you will need to flip it to the top side of the bracket which is a better place for it anyway.

Brownie should you need the cut out to be a little larger just let me know and I can cut it to suit.

Cheers,
Kieron

[David Anderson]

Thanks David,
I haven't seen the ARB tow bar but if the distance between the 2 recovery points/tie down points on the tow bar is 975-980mm and if you measure on the underside of the tow bar where you slide you tow bar tongue in, it should be 225mm long from the opening to the back including the back plate (the plate at the rear of the hitch that stops the hole for your tow bar tongue filling up with muck from the back). If these measurements match up then I am sure that it will fit.

If you email through a couple of pics and if possible have some one hold a tape measure in place I should be able to confirm for you, just to be on the safe side, as I don't like my chances of finding a local Paj with as ARB tow bar.

Cool, I'll get a couple snaps tomorrow or monday and send them to you..

[CeeJay]

I have to say that's a pretty clever design using the tow hitch like that Kieron. I'm impressed.

[Pearcie]

Thanks mate, I had been looking at it for a long time trying to work out the best way of doing it and then mid last week it hit me that I was looking at things from the wrong point of view. I had been looking at it with the tow hitch as being used as a solid point of contact, where in fact it just needed to provide the strength to stop it from pivoting and being pushed in to the rear bumper. Bolting through the tow bar recovery points makes it solid and there is no movement at all so it won't rattle around at all.

Doing it this way also meant that it wasn't confined to only being able to be fitted when not towing and has also meant that I can do things $50-100 cheaper for you guys which is also a bonus.

Cheers,
Kieron

[Guest]

Hi Kieron,

Do you know if the rear bar will interfere with the sonar / rear park sensors?

Anthony.

edit:.. never mind, I just noticed that your Paj has rear park sensors, so I'm guessing that they work fine with the rear bar.