Gear
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Marks 4WD first designed and manufactured its High Clearance tow bar with inbuilt rated recovery points for the VDJ 79 LandCruiser back in 2016.
It was designed as an alternative to the factory Toyota tow bar that would improve the departure angle of the farm truck. After testing the bar it went on sale in 2017.
The Toyota tow bar, and most other aftermarket units, do the job of towing well enough, but they hang down lower than necessary under the tray or service body. This is because the receiver hitch section of the tow bar drops down lower than the main cross member and, as such, becomes one of the first things to scrape when driving off road and you don’t have a tow tongue in place.
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The Marks 4WD tow bar fixed this problem by integrating the hitch receiver into the main crossmember, thus raising the lowest point of the bar. Rated recovery points at each end of the Marks 4WD bar added extra functionality for drivers who use their Cruiser for more than just towing and like to get off road.
Moving the hitch receiver into the cross-member shaves 60mm off the bottom of the bar and when combined with the redesigned higher mounting points, the bar now sits 95mm higher in total. Marks 4WD claims that this gives the best departure angle for any 70 Series tow bar on the market.
The Marks 4WD High Clearance tow bar uses a clever one piece design that not only raises its lowest point but also makes it significantly lighter than the OEM unit – in fact it’s up to 50 per cent lighter than some bars, which is a huge weight saving!
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It does this while retaining full strength and durability with the factory 3500kg towing and 350kg ball download capacities maintained, so there is no compromise on the original job of the tow bar.
In 2023, the team at Marks 4WD worked with the guys from another local company, recovery gear specialist Saber Offroad, to re-engineer the High Clearance tow bar to make it more suitable for use with soft shackles rather than metal ones. This upgrade was enough for us to take a closer look at the tow bar and get one fitted to our 79.
Rated recovery points on the front and back of any 4×4 doing off-road work are important as they give you a secure and safe point to attach straps, kinetic ropes and winch lines when doing self-recoveries or pulling your mate’s rigs out of a bog. The advent of soft shackles made from the same synthetic rope as used in your winchlines makes doing any vehicle recovery safer as they are less likely to do damage or to harm anybody should a component fail and break. Metal shackles and tow points that are not designed for vehicle recovery can be lethal projectiles in the case of a gear failure.
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To make the recovery points on the High Clearance tow bar – which are welded on to the bar, not bolted on – better suited to use with soft shackles the eyes in them now have smooth, rounded edges that won’t damage soft shackles. And to make sure you always have a set of soft shackles at hand, the Marks 4WD tow bar now comes with a pair of branded, 15,000kg-rated Saber Offroad shackles.
The Australian-made Marks 4WD High Clearance tow bar is a direct bolt on to the back of single- and dual-cab 79 Series LandCruisers, or a direct replacement for the Toyota bar. It comes with all fitting hardware and spacers, a hitch pin and clip, but you need to supply your own tongue, tow ball and wiring.
For our Cruiser we were able to use the original Toyota wiring, plug and tow ball, and added an optional Mister Hitch adjustable hitch from Marks 4WD. The replacement tow bar looks neat, improves departure angle and won’t damage our soft shackles when used for recovery.
Pricing
- Marks High Clearance tow bar: $1875 + fitting (RRP)
- Mister Hitch adjustable hitch: $195 (RRP)
