120 Towbar recall

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

Well towed the van the first time from ACT to Mildura, not overly impressed as the car did not feel right, van sits with a slight up nose attitude but not much. Can't put my finger on it but "it is the vibe"

How does the car sit on the road, any difference in height between front and rear wheel arches with the van on and off the tow ball?

If the van sits up nose, that could mean the car sits slightly arse up, with a little less traction on the road on the rear tyres. May affect braking and steering ability.

Not wishing you any bad luck, but take side-on photos of the car, with and without the van on the tow bar, if there is a difference between the 2, should it become necessary for an insurance claim. Would show anyone concerned what the approved Toyota LDH has done to your towing set-up.

[Daz Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Daz]

My Prado booked in early January.
I told the Service Manager I use a 2 x bar load leveler on my small Jayco. He said it would be exchanged.
I explained I use the load leveler on more than one vehicle, not just the Prado, so do I have to surrender it? I also load the Jayco to my Sister, and the 2 x bar Hayman leveler gets transferred accordingly.
He is checking with Toyota Australia on their position on this.

Anyone else in same situation of having more than one vehicle? I mainly tow it with Prado, but sometimes we take the Hilux on holidays, and my sister has a Territory.

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

Well the final part of the recall was done today....... the stickers were placed into the book and onto the tow bar and all of this without adding more scratches or stuffing up the job! They also gave me an excellent little Toyota booklet on towing, loading trailers, use of WDH etc. Very useful if you had done no towing before. I again asked about the Toyota WDH mentioned in the recall notice but had no luck. However they did show me the [excellent] Toyota flow chart for the recall. It showed that if the tow bar was removed and inspected and seen to be crack free as mine was then "no further action needed." ie no WDH swap. I have no problem with that but for the life of me I can't see how my existing WDH imposes any more stresses than theirs- they will both cause a twisting action on the tow bar that is to be expected but is what causes the bolts to loosen. The moral here is check your tow bar bolts [ all of them] occasionally especially if you are using a WDH, a point that their booklet makes. All in all a lot of stuffing around but if we are now aware of the need to check the bolts, then good. Happy new year!

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Still no recall letter. My postal address has not changed for 9 years and I'm the original owner.

Another week and no letter.

[azzss Member Find all posts View Profile Close azzss]

Mine went in today, was told I need a new towbar, it's on order, no worries I said, until I get home and noticed they have removed the old tow bar!. Too bad if I had to tow!

[Gramps Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gramps]

Mine went in for the recall last Monday, not happy Jan. Now I can't get the reverse camera to work, and I spent an hour or so fixing dodgy wiring that was slapped together, still have some soldering to complete.
Also noticed a scrape on the rear door that wasn't there before hand. I made mention of it before I left the yard but I got the standard response, "our mechanics wouldn't have done that, and you'd have to prove it wasn't there before".
At least they had a good coffee machine for me while I waited.

[dagree Member Find all posts View Profile Close dagree]

No issue with my camera after the inspection/bolt tightening but did notice a couple of new scratches and chips on the bumper but after an issue with scratches on the ex demo SS Commodore Sportswagon we took in for warranty work I didn't even bring the scratches to their attention on the prado..... The Service guy even got the female detailer involved to tell me the scratches were there when she detailed the car before we picked it up 1 week prior!!!!! Then accused me of doing them and saying that I was setting up for a scam to get paint job fixed??????

Anyway back to towbar recall. Took mine in with the the HR Hitch fitted as requested.... When I picked it up the service guy says "All's good as all bolts etc OK and looks like it hasn't towed much in it's life". I replied "That may be so but I'll be doing some towing with van and WDH in the future". He looked at me then at the HR hitch hanging off the back and says "That's an unusual looking hitch but if it works for what you need it should be OK".

I was going to ask for the service manager but thought better as I believe they are all tarred with the same brush!!!!! Will be using the HR WDH with the Toyota Bar for the next 12 months (Just doing short trips and will check bolts before each trip). If the big North West trip happens as planned in two years will fit a HR towbar and Toyota can get &^%$#* as I won't use their system until they make them adjustable and I will not swap my HR ones that I paid for as we use them on our other car as well.

[dagree Member Find all posts View Profile Close dagree]

120 Towbar Recall

OOPS... Double Post

[johnx3 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close johnx3]

Toyota do make a Genuine WDH kit and if you have a Toyota tow bar with an after market WDH they will replace it with a Genuine one, had mine checked on Monday 30/12/13 all ok and my replacement WDH is on back order. Hope the photos explain.
Cheers Johnx3

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

You must have a helpful dealer. Mine said no way! See post 198 above.......and I still can't see how that hitch imposes less twisting force than any other when the tow ball is in about the same place!

[JDecay Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close JDecay]

Don't normally have Prado Grande serviced by Toyota, so inquired about recall. Yes my vehicle was listed for recall.
Had job done at NBT MT Gambier. They also asked questions about load levelers, which I use for 16.5 ft van.
Recall work completed in a couple of hours just before Xmas (2013) and then given new Toyota Load Distribution Hitch (Kit part PZQ6330105) in a box.
Interestingly on reading installation notes it says "Do not use this LDH when vehicle is fitted with auto height adjusting suspensions" Grande has exactly that, I will revisit NBT and inquire what exactly "Do not use this LDH when vehicle is fitted with auto height adjusting suspensions" means.
JDecay

[Whitey1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Whitey1]

Had a read of my letter the other day, and I've decided not to bother getting Toyota to check my towbar. For a start I dont trust my local dealer to do the job without some issue. I also have never used or am likely to use a WDH so I really don't think I'll have any issue. Think I'll just check the bolts myself. I don't really need a sticker!

[macaroon1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close macaroon1]

^ But you may get a 'free' receiver out of them . It is a slight faff. Mine was found to be cracked so eventually they installed a new one, exactly the same, just blacker (newer) and has the sticker on the top tongue. If the ole girl goes along with the replaced dash....and new receiver, the buyer will have no squirming room?? I always look for things checked off when I'm buying stuff. Understand why peeps wd not bother tho!!

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Had a read of my letter the other day

Still haven't received mine.

[Mark120 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Mark120]

I didn't receive a letter either, however made a call to Toyota to book in the next service and before I could say anything about the recall the service rep mentioned the recall was on the system and mine would be looked at.

Booked in for the 20th - will post an update once done.

Cheers

Mark