Towbars

A Visit to Queensland Towbars - 8 October 1997

A large group of club members gathered at the Queensland Towbars factory back in October. We were met and welcomed by Chris Cutmore the managing director of the company. The factory tour started with Chris giving a short talk on the history of the company and how the factory operates. The company originally started off as a caravan manufacturer, as a side line it would rent vans out to southern tourists who would drive to Brisbane and then hire a van and travel north mainly in the winter months. It was discovered that a lot of these customer needed tow bar's fitted, so towbar manufacture started to cater for this demand. Eventually this became the major business. Chris bought the business from the original owner in the early 1980s and with a lot of hard work he built up the business to what it is today, one of the countries largest genuine and after market towbar manufacturer

Recently Chris sold the company to one of the world's largest towbar manufacturer, Detroit based company who already own the Victorian towbar manufacturer, Hayman Reece. Chris said while the change over is taking place he is staying on to oversee the operation.

The major part of the business is the design and construction of towbars for most new vehicles on the Australian market. They supply genuine towbars to companies such as Toyota and it was this Japanese influence that increased the company's competitiveness through better manufacturing standards that led to better quality control. The company also supplies after market towbars called 'Trailboss" for a wide variety of models including most Subaru models. The Trailboss product range has bars to suit models from the 1960s. On our first stop on the factory tour was the testing laboratory where prototype towbars are fabricated and then connected to a series of hydraulic rams that apply force in six different directions. It is called fatigue (dynamic) testing equipment, it simulates the worst possible real life situations by applying a load on and off a towbar two million times.

While we were there a new unreleased Audi A6 with dust covers over it to hide it was being measured up and tested for a towbar. Nearby stood a new Camry rear cut used for testing and in another corner stood a Hyundai Excel.

In the other room of the laboratory new materials, dimensions, welding and paint quality are put under the microscope to meet Australian and New Zealand safety standards. Every year nearly 1,000 towbars are selected at random by the quality assurance team and are then carefully cut up and tested for weld quality and workmanship.

During the manufacturing process about 20 different inspections are carried out.

Next stop was the drafting department where cad cam computers are linked up to similar computers at Australasia, Korean and Japanese car factories. Then we were off to the manufacturing section where the bars are made in batches using jigs. They are then welded together, largely by hand at this stage but there is a small robot section that does some welding. A lot of scrap metal from this section is donated to the local TAFE and schools. The completed bars are then dipped in a paint bath and allowed to dry. Now they are ready to be packed for shipment to factories and suppliers. A powder coating process is being planned to be in operation in the near future.

As you can see there is a lot more to towbar manufacture than first meets the eye. The tour concluded with an inviting supper of seafood, tea, coffee and biscuits. A big thank you to Chris Cutmore and his helpful team at Queensland Towbars for a very informative night.

Disclaimer: Technical information given or disclosed in this website is given with the best intent and is advisory only. No responsibility is taken by the the Subaru 4WDrive Club of Queensland or its members for any damage or injury caused by any vehicle modifications made, or by the use of any products or the adoption of any procedures mentioned in this website.