Is250 Towbar

[Pete & Julie]

Hi All

My wife and I recently purchased an IS250 and had a towbar fitted as we both ride mountain bikes and already have a towbar mounted rack. What we found when I eventually opened the bag containing the tow hitch was that the tow ball is a cast section of the hitch i.e you can't remove the ball to fit the bike rack.

Has anyone found a simple solution to this (other than selling the bikes). I don't want to put anything on the roof, the towbar was a tough call, but we are a one car family.

Thanks

Pete

[pjm]

This should work for you if you are prepared to buy a new bike rack

Thule HangOn

http://www.thule.com.au/show_content2.php?...e____44335.aspx

I have one and they work very well. Get the locking cover add-on for extra security

Regards

Peter

[BIGW]

P.S How bad does the towball look on the IS...

I suppose a trailer is too much mucking around for the bikes?

I do ride Downhill bikes but just use my work ute for dirt/mtb duties.

[last1]

Pete, you don't mention where you've purchased from. I assume it was via the dealer.

Take it back and ask for a regular unit.

I've never seen a single piece unit before, and I think it would be reasonable to assume that when asking for a towbar that they'd supply a plain-old regular one. If you hadn't requested a 'particular' or 'special cast' model, you'd have to assume you'd just be given the standard one fitted to most cars.

Furthermore, let them know it doesn't perform the task for which the purchase was intended. I don't know if you'd actually mentioned to the seller that you were purchasing for the bike rack or not. If you did - it's clear-cut. If you didn't, you may want to allude that you did if they start to squabble about it.

[Pete & Julie]

Thanks for the comments/advice. The towbar is a genuine Lexus unit and with the ball assembly removed, looks as good as a towbar can I guess. It's actually a fine bit of engineering, but should be as its around $1500. As I said its a big call but no other options, 1 car/no room for trailer. I didn't specify what it was for just-asked for a towbar. I had googled it and had no real luck and didn't know about this site until a week or so ago.

Anyway sounds like the Thule hang on may do the job for us.

Thanks again for the response

Pete

[Rap03]

Thanks for the comments/advice. The towbar is a genuine Lexus unit and with the ball assembly removed, looks as good as a towbar can I guess. It's actually a fine bit of engineering, but should be as its around $1500. As I said its a big call but no other options, 1 car/no room for trailer. I didn't specify what it was for just-asked for a towbar. I had googled it and had no real luck and didn't know about this site until a week or so ago.

Anyway sounds like the Thule hang on may do the job for us.

Thanks again for the response

Pete

Hi Pete.

I had the same problem. I also encountered it on my previous IS200. The towbars are all-in-one cow horn shape.

What I did was take mine to a steel works place and got them to add on a plate (parallel to the ground) with a hole in it big enough for a bolt through the bike carrier.

This worked well on the previous one and on the new one. They had to re-inforce the plate (underneath) with two small pieces as the plate started to bend under the bike weight.

Can share a diagram if you still need something done. Also, this hasn't affected the strength of the towbar itself.

Rap03.