Freelander 1 Towbar project plus bulb replacements

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gstuart

D3 Grandad
Full Member
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Kent
can I pick ur brains plse

got all my towbar fitted and now bought the electrics, plate and relay

for the life of me can't remember if I can just get the back panel out to plug in the electrics

also ref the relay , hopefully it's the right one, it's on the drivers side fuse box isn't it plse ???

thks so much , fingers crossed shouldn't be too bad to fit and that I've bought all the correct items

also bought a new high level brake light bulb and some new headlight bulbs

as always thks so much in advance
 

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hi when i did mine i managed to pull the panel on drivers side out enough to plug in electrics ,just have to remove four screws across back pull off that piece of plastic ,four plastic screw ins on the side panel and ease out ,plug is there.Relay on mine is in drivers side fuse box in car on mine its the relay nearest the door changes from 3 to 4 pin although the one i got in the kit didnt work properly so i changed it for a hella one no more probs .
 
looking at the bulbs they should be fine and give a much better light .

bless u for the reply , the amount of times I've taken out the panels and for the life of me couldnt remember if it was the back or front side panels that went in first

should have said mines a 3 door , got the ridged rear parcel shelf which is easy enough to take out, just wasn't sure if I could as u say take out the plastic fixings, take the rear door rubber out abit , pull the panel forward a small amount and then hunt for the connector block , lol

ref the bulbs, on reading on here it seemed that a lot of people went for the night breakers

on the box it claims

110% more light
35m more distance

up to 20% whiter light

did replace the headlight bulbs a couple of years ago with the halfords brand, what a load of rubbish they are

will be good to finally get them out

have got a pair of spots and pair of fogs on mine, are 55watts so I stay within the road legal rules

cheers also about the relay location , wasn't sure if it was the first or second location , appreciate it

thks so much once again for the reply

all for the mot next month
 
no problems at all , mine is a five door though, but i would have thought everything would be roughly in the same position any probs give me a shout ,i will be away till wednesday though .
regards Trev
 
I fitted my tow bar today. However my plug on the car harness was all corroded so i had to cut it off and solder the connections. It works so I must have done it correctly.
The flasher is correct and will give you the telltale on the dash.

Don't believe all the package info on the bulbs. They will be brighter than what you have but nowhere near 110% as that would be illegal. Thereis a maximum number of lumens for headlamp bulbs, these will be close to that figure. They have smaller filaments too which gives a tighter focus on the light. This makes them appear brighter too.
 
I fitted my tow bar today. However my plug on the car harness was all corroded so i had to cut it off and solder the connections. It works so I must have done it correctly.
The flasher is correct and will give you the telltale on the dash.

Don't believe all the package info on the bulbs. They will be brighter than what you have but nowhere near 110% as that would be illegal. Thereis a maximum number of lumens for headlamp bulbs, these will be close to that figure. They have smaller filaments too which gives a tighter focus on the light. This makes them appear brighter too.

thks buddy , sounds like u had right fun with having to solder the wiring

nice to know I managed to buy the right items

know what u mean about the bulbs, just read it off the packet in how much brighter they will be , lol

think anything will be better than these rubbish halfords main headlight bulbs

daft question , do u have to disconnect the battery plse , so that when everything is plugged in the. battery reconnected it recognises the towbar installation or isn't it required ?????

was too cold to get the panels out today , but got to do it al in the next few weeks due to mot

the towbar itself is fixed, just got to take off the existing towball, fit the trailer socket plate, then the socket , then put the towball back on

thks again , plus expect there were a few choice words when u had to solder the connections, hopefully I don't have to, famous last words , lol
 
no problems at all , mine is a five door though, but i would have thought everything would be roughly in the same position any probs give me a shout ,i will be away till wednesday though .
regards Trev

cheers buddy , fingers crossed in the next couple of days am going to get the electrics in first , will indeed give u a shout if I get stuck

most appreciated and thks
 
I like night breakers as they're good value the money, however If you need to stay with standard-wattage bulbs, the best ones on the market right now are Philips Xtreme Power with 1895/1150 lumens.

The wiring should take slight increase in wattage so you migjt prefer the Osram 70/65w bulb instead. 2000/1350 lumens.

International regulation ECE R37 specifies the luminous flux of the H4 bulb: 1650/1000 lumens ±15% and max allowable wattage 75/68w @ 13.2v. The U.S. regulation 49CFR564 for the 9003/HB2 (U.S. designation for the H4 bulb) is similar: 1580/910 lumens ±10% and max allowable wattage 72/65w @ 12.8v. The lumen differences are not the extent of the performance differences; the filament changes required to make a long-life bulb tend to reduce the beam focus, which shortens seeing distance, and to reduce filament surface luminance, which makes the light less white and more brown. The opposite filament changes are made to create the "Plus" or "Hyper" (+30, +50, +80, +90) type bulbs: Lifespan is reduced, but the beam focus is better so seeing distance is longer. Light color is whiter and less brown.
It's a complex game that takes lots of experimentation to see what's best. By far the best mod it to change to the later H7 headlamp unit. These H7 bulbs are allowed to produce 1600 Lumens which is 500 more than the dip of the H4.

Oh and what should have been a 1hr job fitting my tow bar turned into a 6 hour, bumper off marathon. Even the electrical connection was a 30 minute strip, solder, heat shrink affair, instead of a 2 minute plug job :(
 
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I like night breakers as they're good value the money, however If you need to stay with standard-wattage bulbs, the best ones on the market right now are Philips Xtreme Power with 1895/1150 lumens.

The wiring should take slight increase in wattage so you migjt prefer the Osram 70/65w bulb instead. 2000/1350 lumens.

International regulation ECE R37 specifies the luminous flux of the H4 bulb: 1650/1000 lumens ±15% and max allowable wattage 75/68w @ 13.2v. The U.S. regulation 49CFR564 for the 9003/HB2 (U.S. designation for the H4 bulb) is similar: 1580/910 lumens ±10% and max allowable wattage 72/65w @ 12.8v. The lumen differences are not the extent of the performance differences; the filament changes required to make a long-life bulb tend to reduce the beam focus, which shortens seeing distance, and to reduce filament surface luminance, which makes the light less white and more brown. The opposite filament changes are made to create the "Plus" or "Hyper" (+30, +50, +80, +90) type bulbs: Lifespan is reduced, but the beam focus is better so seeing distance is longer. Light color is whiter and less brown.
It's a complex game that takes lots of experimentation to see what's best. By far the best mod it to change to the later H7 headlamp unit. These H7 bulbs are allowed to produce 1600 Lumens which is 500 more than the dip of the H4.

Oh and what should have been a 1hr job fitting my tow bar turned into a 6 hour, bumper off marathon. Even the electrical connection was a 30 minute strip, solder, heat shrink affair, instead of a 2 minute plug job :(

thks so much mate for the extensive reply

still haven't got round to it, lol , hopefully the weather will improve so I don't have to freeze whilst getting it done

most appreciated once again , will report back with regards to the headlights , think candles would be better than my current ones fitted , yeh I know shouldn't have gone to halfords, lol
 
thks so much mate for the extensive reply

still haven't got round to it, lol , hopefully the weather will improve so I don't have to freeze whilst getting it done

most appreciated once again , will report back with regards to the headlights , think candles would be better than my current ones fitted , yeh I know shouldn't have gone to halfords, lol
Not if you want to keep some money for other projects ;) H4 Night Breakers are less then £15 a pair online!!
 
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