zimmerdale
New member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2012
- Location
- Newton, Kansas
I've been using my '93 945 to flat tow 2/7/9 series cars with great success. I made adapters to bolt in place of the front bumpers, so I can walk up to a car and in about 15 minutes be ready to go with no alterations to the car. I'm posting the details here for VolvoEmpire and anyone else who may find it useful.
I bought a cheap tow bar on Ebay for under $50. There are several brands that all look the same. It's this basic setup: 5,000 Lb Adjustable Tow Bar. I replaced some of the bolts with Grade 8, but otherwise it's worked fine for me.
The 240 adapters are made from 12" pieces of 1-1/4" Sch 40 black steel pipe with 5-1/2" pieces of 3/16" 2x2 angle iron welded on the end.
The two main bolts that secure the bumper shocks are on either side of the radiator. The passenger side bolt is much easier to get to than the driver side. You'll also need to detach the ends of the bumper from the fenders and loosen or remove the two bolts where each bumper shock enters the frame rail. After that, the bumper should pull out with a little encouragement.
Insert the tow bar adapters, reinstall the large bolt in each one, and tighten the two bolts where the adapter goes into the frame rail.
Hook up your lights for the car being towed, and you're ready to go:
Let me know if you have any questions. I didn't give specific dimensions and locations of holes to be drilled, but that should be pretty self explanatory.
I also made a set of adaptors to pull 7/9 series cars. I couldn't come up with a simple adapter made from off the shelf components, so I used an old set of bumper shocks instead. I drilled a small hole in the side, released the pressure (only one had any), drained the fluid, and collapsed them with a sledge hammer. Then I drilled and cross bolted through both sleeves to secure them from pulling apart.
I drilled the face so I could bolt the tow bar receiver pieces to it. It's not elegant, but it has worked fine for me. Ideally, I'd cut off the irregular face and weld on a piece of angle iron like the 240 adapters. So far I've only needed to tow one 740, so it wasn't worth my time.
Thanks for looking!
Jason
I bought a cheap tow bar on Ebay for under $50. There are several brands that all look the same. It's this basic setup: 5,000 Lb Adjustable Tow Bar. I replaced some of the bolts with Grade 8, but otherwise it's worked fine for me.
The 240 adapters are made from 12" pieces of 1-1/4" Sch 40 black steel pipe with 5-1/2" pieces of 3/16" 2x2 angle iron welded on the end.
The two main bolts that secure the bumper shocks are on either side of the radiator. The passenger side bolt is much easier to get to than the driver side. You'll also need to detach the ends of the bumper from the fenders and loosen or remove the two bolts where each bumper shock enters the frame rail. After that, the bumper should pull out with a little encouragement.
Insert the tow bar adapters, reinstall the large bolt in each one, and tighten the two bolts where the adapter goes into the frame rail.
Hook up your lights for the car being towed, and you're ready to go:
Let me know if you have any questions. I didn't give specific dimensions and locations of holes to be drilled, but that should be pretty self explanatory.
I also made a set of adaptors to pull 7/9 series cars. I couldn't come up with a simple adapter made from off the shelf components, so I used an old set of bumper shocks instead. I drilled a small hole in the side, released the pressure (only one had any), drained the fluid, and collapsed them with a sledge hammer. Then I drilled and cross bolted through both sleeves to secure them from pulling apart.
I drilled the face so I could bolt the tow bar receiver pieces to it. It's not elegant, but it has worked fine for me. Ideally, I'd cut off the irregular face and weld on a piece of angle iron like the 240 adapters. So far I've only needed to tow one 740, so it wasn't worth my time.
Thanks for looking!
Jason
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