4WD Touring Australia – June 2018

4wdtouring.com.au | 099

REVIEW

4wdtouring.com.au | 099

REVIEW

CARLISLE ROGERS

With the X-Bar, everything has changed, for perhaps the rst
time in a couple of generations.
I’ve been testing this out up in the Top End, and I fell in love
pretty much instantly. I love how it ts in with the styling of the
rest of the truck, but really, where it shines is in doing trackside
recoveries without wasting time and effort.
It is the towbar reimagined and reengineered from scratch.
To start with, the bar itself, where it attaches to the chassis rails,
sits between the rails instead of below them. A drop tongue is
integrated into the design to allow a greater departure angle when
you aren’t towing.
But what really sets this bar apart, especially for anyone who has
ever been involved in a recovery (which is all of us!), is the three
rated recovery points built into the back of the bar.
These give you, for the rst time in my experience, quick, easy to

use recovery points that you can use without doing things the old

way: pulling the pin on the coupling tongue and slotting a snatch

strap in the pin, which technically was never rated for that in the

rst place.

Now it’s easy to set up multiple anchors, for instance with a

bridle, or to be able to use shackles to set up complex recoveries

in seconds instead of minutes.

The design is pretty smart, too, and will complement just about

any touring build in the same way that a smartly designed bullbar

can for the front end.

Great looks, great functionality and the reliability that we’ve

come to expect from Hayman Reese...this is a great example of

something we didn’t know we needed becoming a part of our

everyday touring lives.

For more information visit http://www.x-bar.com.au

Watch the video on 4WD Touring Australia’s Youtube channel.