Westfalia tow hitch breakaway cable

[colintfcolintf]

Hi, I’ve not got as far as rolling around on the ground to have a look underneath, but wondered where the place to attach the breakaway cable is when towing? On previous tow cars there has been somewhere obvious to attach it to, but I’ve yet to see somewhere on my Cali. Many thanks in advance… Colin

 

[Justinitus1972]

If you have the factory VW/Westfalia towbar, there’s a place to clip it on the bottom of the towball arm

 

[colintfcolintf]

If you have the factory VW/Westfalia towbar, there’s a place to clip it on the bottom of the towball arm

Many thanks, I’ll get down on all fours and have a good look. I thought there must be one somewhere

 

[CaliforniaPhil]

It should be quite visible without getting underneath.

View attachment 20240129_194520.jpg

 

[Perfectos]

Various methods

 

[colintfcolintf]

I’ve never liked just looping it around the tow ball to be honest.

 

[colintfcolintf]

It should be quite visible without getting underneath.

View attachment 118599

The neck on my towball is different to the one you pictured
mine is the first picture, with nowhere to attach the breakaway cable to the neck of the towball.

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

The detachable neck on mine has a metal loop on it and I think it's where you are supposed to connect the breakaway cable (white arrow)

I have two issues. 1) It's not best practice to connect to the detachable bit of the towbar cos if the towbar itself detaches there is no brake on the trailer applied. 2) it's located so far back it means my standard breakaway cable is just too long.

In the end I looped it around the red safelok metal block - those bolts look pretty substantial to take a breakaway cable.

Far from ideal...

 

[colintfcolintf]

That’s kind of what I was thinking of doing
thankyou for the diagram and your reply

 

[Califan61]

The attachment point on the towball has been type approved and tested so that is acceptable. I understand the concern but if the detachable towbar is correctly fitted (green indicator visible) it cannot detach. Do use the key a lock the handle as additional layer of safety.

Whether you can fit a breakaway cable clip through the loop is another matter. If you prefer you could create your own loop using metal cable and clamps found in DIY stores attached around the towbar structure. Just remember it needs to be more substantial than the breakaway cable.

There is a maximum distance from the centre of the towbar for proper breakaway attachment, I think it's around 200mm.