Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

So I noticed that the towbar didn't look right. On closer inspection I noticed that the bottom part of the drop plate is bent. Seems the previous owner towed something with a too-heavy nose weight, or reversed into something and bent the drop plate. I am definitely going to toss the tow hook as I don't trust it now. My question is; do you think the drop plate is still safe to use? As I tow an off-road camper, I can put the new tow hook on the next set of holes up on the drop plate and avoid the part that is bent. These holes also have the benefit of having the reinforcing behind them.

I would definately have it checked out. I seem to remember that there have been failures on the std towbar setup on the frame inside the bumper, if it has had an impact & it does look like it has. There may be something cracked behind the bumper...

I have no worries about that drop plate itself. Those things are mild steel or at most boiler plate, which doesn't really lose any strength when bent.
However that towbar setup is only rated for 500 or 750kg due to the way it is mounted to the vehicle.

You need to either replace it with one that mounts to the chassis runners under the bumper or (better yet) brace the bottom of that one to the chassis under legs the bumper.
Somebody on the forum has done it before, and I am pretty sure he did post some pictures.

What puzzles me is that the drop plate should have been bent in the opposite direction if it had a knock on the tow ball. If the bend was caused by eg reversing into a pavement knocking it very low, the bend would have been higher up. My presumption is that it was caused by a very heavy tow ball weight on seriously bad roads.
I think the standard tow bracket is strong, but it would be better to check it out properly.

Although, I notice only now, that the reinforcement at the back is rather low. It could thus have been caused by a low down knock in reverse.

Peter is correct. That towbar is the same as the one on my Patrol. It is attached to the place where the pintle hook is attached on the GQ Patrol's. It is attached through the bumper into only the rearmost chassis crossmember, not at all to the chassis legs.

The towbar portion is in most cases strong enough, but the attachment point is only rated for an unbaked trailer, thus only for towing a trailer with a GVM of 750 kg.

Thanks for the feedback gents. It's actually crazy, were it not for this forum I would have happily been towing with that style of tow hook until one day my bumper got ripped off and my trailer trashed or even worse, someone got seriously hurt

So the search is on for a proper towbar....

What works if you use a combo of the old 4.5 one and your one then you attach 3 places ..look at johannes van die see post i assisted him to get it lekke . Dawid taljaard had his piece break off

This is what it looks like behind the bumper! Mine broke off. Rather get a proper tow hitch.
viewtopic.php?p=63346#p63346

Yeah I saw your post Dawid - scary stuff! I can't believe they fit something like that with no warning. You assume that if it is fitted by Nissan, then it can handle the full stated towing capacity. Definitely not so!!