Not all towbars are created equally. Sure, all good quality brands will offer tow ratings matched to your vehicle, and handle the task of towing. But what if you want more? What we like about the X-Bar from Hayman Reese, is that it is designed for four-wheel drivers first and foremost.
What’s the story?
When I think of vacuum cleaners, I think of Hoover (sorry Dyson fans). When I think of towbars, I think Hayman Reese. They have been making towbars for over 70 years now, and really are a household name these days.
When I think of four-wheel drive-specific towbars, I think X-Bar. They don’t make them for Hyundai Excels – as mentioned, they only make them for four-wheel drives. What that translates to in the real world, is strength, design features that will be beneficial to off-road use, and in-built recovery points making for a more practical bit of kit.
Departure angle
The X-Bar isn’t just a pretty face (hey, it’s 2023 – towbars can be pretty). They have been designed to provide the best departure angle to avoid dragging on off-road obstacles. The improved clearance is a real benefit when four-wheel driving, with less chance of being hung up in technical terrain.
In many cases, compared to the Original Equipment towbars fitted to most four-wheel-drive utes and wagons from the factory, X-Bar is claimed to offer up to 5 degrees of improved departure angle. That’s a significant improvement. By design, the bar is tucked up as high as possible, with Hayman Reese claiming the X-Bar can provide up to 100mm of extra vertical clearance, again when compared to a comparative OE tow bar.
Never skip leg day
Strength is a huge consideration when it comes to a product like the X-Bar. This isn’t just a generic towbar designed to lug a 6×4 box trailer to the tip once a month. This is designed to be used off-road, in challenging conditions. X-Bar has also been designed and rated for recovery duties.
Hayman Reese has achieved this extra strength, by increasing the thickness of the towbar sidearms. This is said to offer an increase in rigidity. A towbar is only as good as the hardware fixing it to your vehicle’s chassis. Hayman Reese specifies high-tensile Australian Standard grade 10.9 fasteners with every X-Bar for this reason. To me, the fact X-Bar is covered by a limited lifetime warranty speaks volumes about the quality of the product, too.
Recovery points
Let’s be honest, the coolest thing about the X-Bar is the integrated tow points. And yes, that is plural as there are three. One in the centre, and two on either side of the towbar. The centre recovery point is rated to a massive 8,000kg. Each side recovery point is rated at 4,000kg. If you use a bridle strap to join both of these side-mounted recovery points, the rating is now 8,000kg unless the strap is rated lower than that.
What do they fit?
The good news here is while Hayman Reese’s X-Bar won’t fit your Hyundai Excel, they will fit most popular makes and models of four-wheel drives on the market today. To see if there is a beefed-up, off-road-ready towbar to suit your four-wheel drive, simply CLICK THIS LINK.
