What does the Saloon Towbar Boot Interior look like (Watling)?

[Chief]

Hi,
Please could somebody attach a photo of how the cross member looks in the boot floor (within the boot itself) as I'm confused by the illustration on the instruction sheet, and the way I would expect it to be doesn't work in my car .

I've hunted for images online, but none of them show the boot interior.

Thanks.

[philthehill]

Just for reference here is a link to the Watling fitting instructions for a Morris Minor.

viewtopic.php?t=67967

Reading the instructions it does not appear to be too difficult a job.

The Watling illustration and orientation of the tow bar is not the best. It would be better if the tow bar in the illustration also included a horizontal projection.
The Watling tow bar does not fit inside the boot. According to the instructions it fits onto the bumper irons with a reaction bracket (utilising Parts B, D, F & J) bolted under the boot floor.

[Chief]

The instructions in your link are specific to the Traveller, not the Saloon which uses a different method.

https://www.morrisminor.org.uk/userfile ... /TBK_2.jpg

So,

The larger L shaped bracket which I'll refer to as the towbar goes on the bumper mounts, then the normal bumper iron and over-rider U-brackets and finally the nuts.

Then the sloped (flat at one end, L at the other) is attached to the centre of the towbar at its own centre with bolts.

This pushes the L-end of that sloped bracket up and against the boot floor, which you drill two holes into.

Finally the illustrations then cause confusion, they show the cross piece held on with:

Bolt> Cylindrical Spacer > Large Washer > Sloped Bracket > then presumably though not pictured, the small washer and nut.

Now I would have thought the large washer would sit within the boot, under the spacer before the bolt went through the underneath where it was then tightened via the nut. But the large washer for one side doesn't have the space:

washer_issue.JPG (1.68 MiB) Viewed 1174 times

So to follow their illustration, the large washers would have to sit under the chassis side of the boot floor, between the boot floor and sloped bracket which in turn would add a gap, while without the washer there the large surface area of the bracket would extend the width of the strengthened area.

Everything is perfectly flush, so I don't believe I've drilled the holes in the wrong place etc. it looks more or less as shown in the illustrations but as I said, the instructions aren't the best for this one section - the rest is easy to follow.

So that's why I was after a photo of one that had been done before

[philthehill]

The link I posted above states it is for both the Morris Minor and the 1000 traveller.

I am not aware of any differences in the rear of the floor pan where the tow bar is attached between the car and the traveller.

[Chief]

Yes, the title is a bit misleading on the instruction sheet you linked to, it means it covers all the Morris Minor up to 1000 Travellers.

The Saloon instruction sheet for example has the exact same title but with the word Traveller replaced with Saloon.

Notice how different the Traveller:
https://www.morrisminor.org.uk/userfile ... 4-tbkt.jpg
towbar looks compared to the Saloon I posted previously.

[simmitc]

Sorry that I can;t help with the Watling bar, but if it's similar to the Witter one, then the spacers go under the floor so that the tie bat between the bottom of the towbar and the boot floor can clear the lip where the bottom of the rear panel and the floor are welded together. You then have a plate or large washers inside the boot to spread the load at the attachment point. If this post isn't answered in the meantime, then I'll post a photo of the Witter installation in the hope that the Watling one will be similar.

[Chief]

Updated Monday:

Today I contacted Watling (they were closed all weekend) and their company director told me that he agreed with me about the washer going inside the boot, and to bend it to fit

Hopefully if anyone else should ever have the same issue this thread will prove of use.