Hi,

If the Defender did not come with the tow package is there an easy way to add a receiver to the vehicle? Not all of the electronics and connectors, just a tow hitch receiver to mount a bike rack. Most models have after market options as well but so far cannot see anything for the Defender.

Thanks!

 

The JLR tow hitch is a $675 USD option (I think) and ties into the same beam as the rear recovery rings. That is the price without any of the software electronics.

The bumper needs to come off to install either the rear rings or the tow hitch .

You can see how at the PowerfulUKltd website:
There has been no note I can recall on the forum regarding a second source of supply -- other than JLR. But, maybe another will reply with more detail?

 

All I can say is that it’s incomprehensible to me that a) all defenders, Wranglers, Land Cruisers, Forerunners don’t come with the receiver automatically, if only just the hardware part. The cost would be absolutely minimal, rolled across all models, and easily recovered in the MSRP. And b) since it doesn’t, that all JLR dealers don’t spec their lot cars with at least the mechanical tow-hitch, if not the full tow package. So many people have something they want to tow or haul on that receiver, and it’s such a PIA to add one now days. I remember getting a couple of used XJ Cherokees from the 90s without hitches. I ordered a hitch online for under $200, crawled under the car and installed it in under an hour with 3 big bolts. Looks like it will cost at least a grand to have one installed on the Defender, or $700+ if you do it yourself (tax and shipping) and take the better part of a day.

Same happened with my wife’s MB GLC. Couldn’t find one anywhere on the lot with a receiver, but didn’t want to order and wait 12 weeks just for that; I bought a Kurt from a hitch shop; they only charged $600 for it including installation, but it took them 4 hours, and that’s all they do. They hadn’t done a GLC yet (model was new at the time) and it was way worse than they had priced it for.

But how many people are certain they will NEVER need to put a bike rack, or an aluminum cargo platform for the cooler and beach chairs, or tow a small trailer behind their Defender? Very, very few. Sure would be nice if they all came that way.

 

Absolutely agree, physical tow hitches (if not towing software/brake lights) should be a standard feature.

Comfortingly, I believe the purchase/install you described is still the norm with Wranglers. At least it was on my JK, and I don’t believe much has changed with the JL, as far as an easy bolt-on ecosystem goes.

I love my Defender, but I am definitely not in love with Land Rover’s too often overly precious mods ecosystem. I mean, its such an ordeal just to throw on some recovery hooks for f’s sake. On a Defender. And if I run into one more dealer who sniffs at the idea of off-road components and the work associated with installing them, and haughtily informs me that they “don’t sell a lot of that” I might smack them. I understand their bread and butter are Kardashian-disciple douchebags who want murdered-out black Range Rovers with 24” rims. But that’s not who the Defender is for. And they should really start embracing the off-road culture surrounding the Defender if they want to sell it effectively. Especially with the Bronco bearing down, LC apparently reinventing itself as a lower-cost off-road specific vehicle in the next few years, and the general off-road arms race that appears to be coming.

 

I agree with everything you say here. And I had a JK (2014) that I just sold to a friend last week, only I ordered mine and got the hitch from the factory ($495 installed and wired, a little overpriced compared to buying your own, but worth it to me.)

Again, it seems such a ubiquitous part of the “Utility” part of SUV that I can’t believe it’s not standard. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if (at least in the South) people don’t use their hitch more than they do their 4WD, and certainly more than they use 4Lo. Point being, the front diff and 2-speed transfer case and driveshaft are super expensive compared to a hitch, yet they get hung off of every Defender (Every Land Rover period? Or can you get a RWD version of anything?). How hard would it be to hang a receiver off every LR product?

I’ve even thought about the hardcore off-reader. Yes, a receiver will reduce departure angles unless it exits through the rear valance. But... my experience with my Jeep was that I fairly often drug the receiver across rock, but who cares? It’s a wonderful rock slider for the rear, and might even save catching the bottom lip of your rear bodywork and peeling it up. And you can’t damage the dang things. (Assuming you don’t have something IN the receiver when extreme off-roading.)

 

This is an interesting thread.

Maybe a point to consider is the JLR products are Global, and tow receiver designs are not. The North American approach of the 2 in x 2 in Square is not used throughout the World. So, it is left to the local dealers and local aftermarket suppliers to support their market. This requires the suppliers to remove bumpers to gain access to the suitable connection points within the global vehicle design. The volumes of JLR vehicles are small, and history has shown the aftermarket suppliers require several years to ramp up an effective approach for their region.

The North American tow hitch option is supported by JLR as an option, just as the unique variation for the Australian Defender, relative to option designs, includes the bull bar / personnel collision device approach to the hidden winch option. I think the gap of execution in the JLR North American market is that the dealers and possibly purchasers of their first JLR product are not being helped to understand that unlike some other large volume mfgs. (Toyota), the owner is purchasing a global product which is not yet completed for use in all situations in all regions, and that they will need to pay an additional amount to the dealers to make it fit their personal needs.

Relative to the Lo/hi speed transfer case, this is presently a global option (from the factory) on several of the JLR products, including RRS. I believe this approach started 5 or so years ago and is akin to the making the ediff rear differential on the Defender a factory option -- something that could also be logically requested to be standard on all Defenders from the factory. Or not.

 

This is another thing that drives me up the wall, and it’s not just LR that’s guilty of it, but Toyota as well.

My wife is Australian. I have been to Australia many times. European and Japanese automakers seem to believe that every Australian is goddamn Crocodile Dundee, and that there is a market for off-road accessories in that country that somehow does not exist in the US. Ridiculous. Sure, the Northern Territory features some rugged terrain. But so does America. And it is not only often even more rugged, but far more varied as well. In California alone, a person can go from sand dunes to rock climbing to muddy forest trails to deep snow in a single day. Or even find themselves going off the road and down a mountainside through stumps and new growth saplings to escape a forest fire. I see that particular scenario on the news every summer.

And what about the numbers? The population of Australia is around 25.5 million. Most of those people are in the cities. The Northern Territories? Just 246 thousand people. The number of Americans living in rural areas with rugged terrain? Around 55 million. So if you want to expend the effort and expense of manufacturing a bull-bar… then why not, I dunno, actually try and move some units and make some f__king money? Why ignore what is easily your largest market?

 

Largest market is the U.S., but maybe the lowest prices, also? Before ordering my Defender, I priced the same build in five or six countries around the world and the U.S. prices were markedly lower. Interesting.

Plus, California and the sports teams get the limited edition V8 !

Enjoy!

 

Perhaps some truth to this.

But I assume JLR doesn't make me install English instrument panel markings because they sell into markets where English isn't the native tongue. And they don't make me install the engine in port because other markets get a diesel option and they can't keep up with what options go with what country's cars?

IMO, a market-appropriate hitch should be standard on all Defenders, and if it is demonstrated that some people actually don't want one for some non-economic reason, make "receiver-delete" a no-cost option on special ordered Defenders.

Seriously, I do love being able to specifically leave off options on my Porsche that I don't want, options that are absolutely standard in cars in that price range for every other manufacturer. Like Enter-And-Drive, the thing where you leave the key in your pocket and push a button. I don't like that, don't want it, and am happy I can order my car without it. (Well, it doesn't even come as an option on Porsche GT Division cars, which I have, but I'm glad that on regular Carreras I can and have ordered without it.) Ditto sunroof -- happy I can get glass sunroof, metal sunroof, or no sunroof (my choice) by ordering. On the cars with standard Centerlock wheels, I'm glad I can delete that and get boring old 5-lugs.

So I guess I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth here in one sense, yelling at JLR for not making receivers standard while saying I love the gazillion standalone options from Porsche. But what I'm really complaining about is the large number of Defenders I see that were bought off the dealer lot with no hitch on them.

 

Spoke with my local parts department today and they still do not have an expected ETA for the OEM hitch despite ordering it several months ago. Has anyone had any luck with a Curt or Universal tow hitch on a new Defender?