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MG TD TF 1500 - Tow bar attachment

In the list of factory options is listed Tow Bar Attachment.

As I discussed in an earlier post. My Td has an extra hole on both sides of the dumb irons. Both have numbers stamped next to the hole.

In querying on this site and on the MG Experience, I have only found 5 TD's with the same hole (different numbers near the hole)

I am thinking this may be a mounting hole for the Tow Bar Attachment accessory.

Has anyone seen an original tow bar attachment?

I can post the question to the British Car Museum and see if they have anything on it if no one here has any information.


Bruce Cunha

I wouldn't use the dumb irons for towing as I don't think they are strong enough (the welds mainly), but that doesn't mean somebody hasn't done it.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Are the dumb irons welded on, mine look they are part of the main chassis rails.

I know folk have had replacements welded on, but the original does appear to be all one piece.

Peter
P G Gilvarry

Maybe irrelevant but the 8 appears to be upside down. Does 86 have more relevance?
C I Twidle

Peter,

Originally on TDs and TFs the Front Chassis Extensions were welded onto the Chassis Frame. TDs of course had slightly longer Chassis Extensions
compared to TFs. The Factory welding was very fine and neat.

Not sure what the large hole in the TD Chassis Extension is used for. Part of a front suspension upgrade ?

Cheers
Rob Grantham
Rob Grantham

FYI, see http://www.ttalk.info/towbar.htm for the setup that I have used for quite a few TD tow miles. Bud
Bud Krueger

Never heard of or seen a factory front tow-bar accessory. Trailer hitches (but not factory) I have seen, and may be what they mean?

Can you give a citation for the hitch in the factory parts manual?

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

Thanks all. T

The number is 86. For some reason when I imported the picture it flipped it.

Clausager lists the tow-bar attachment, but also includes Max towing capacity. So that would seem to indicate it was a bar for towing with the TD.

Well, it was a shot. What is interesting on this hole is that I have found 5 TD's with the same hole. I have to believe it was factory. Can't see an owner adding the numbers. I also am lost on what the dimple below the hole could have been.

Bruce Cunha

Ok, I posted this on another site and one of the members posted this picture.

This is a TF. He has no clue if it is original. He is going to clean one and see if there is any marking on it.

It does look that one of the bolts is in the same area as where my hole is.

Bruce Cunha



The 'extra' plates/holes on the Front Chassis Extensions of the TF you depicted Bruce are certainly not original !

BTW, the term 'Dumb iron' is usually reserved for earlier cars that have their springs attached to this area.

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
Rob Grantham

Just thinking out loud. We often see RVs towing a small vehicle using some sort of A frame. Was there ever a need to do the same with a T series?
C I Twidle

Doesn't make sense, why would the factory offer a front TOW BAR for their cars? That would sure be a good selling point for their cars durability wouldn't it! Factory rear tow bar, I doubt it also, more than likely after-market. Back in the day there were a lot of after-market devices for these cars that were not factory, but knowledge of where they came from got lost over the years. PJ
PJ Jennings

The PO of my CB MGB installed a quite sophisticated front towing system to tow the car behind his large motorhome. Having read many pros and cons about flat towing and potential damage to the transmission from long distance towing, I haven't tried to use it. My O/D transmission works very well and I like to keep it that way.

Jud
J. K. Chapin

The issue is that I have found 5 owners with the same hole, same dimple, but different numbers stamped into the frame.

Can't see the dimple and the numbers being done by an owner. But I would agree PJ. Unless it was for towing a competition car. (which mine does not appear to be)


Perhaps Chris can clarify what the accessory Tow Bar Attachment is. He has it listed on his accesory site, and as I posted. Clausager has it listed also, but he gives towing weights so that sounds like the attachment was for towing something with the TD.


I have searched the internet and only found one picture of a TD towing a trailer. It has a bumper hitch single wheel trailer.

No pictures of a TD being towed. ALso could not find the Tow bar attachment listed in any of the brochures
Bruce Cunha

Bruce, there was a thread on here a couple of years ago that showed several different TDs towing small camper trailers. The thread is probably in the archives.

Jud
J. K. Chapin

This thread was discussed between 25/04/2019 and 30/04/2019

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