Thought I'd share this info for others seeking to do the same. I've split the installation up into two parts. Part 1 will deal with the mechanical installation, whereas, part 2 will deal with the electrical.

Difficulty: Easy
Duration: 1-2 Hour

AIM


A typical tow bar for the Impreza is held in place by 6 off M12 bolts (3 on each side). They will bolt up into existing holes in the rear lower chassis rail. These holes typically are already in use. The rear bumper will typically conceal the tow bar and have a cut out to clear the tow bar tongue.



Equipment/Tools Required
- Tow bar
- 1/2” Drive Socket Wrench
- 17mm Socket
- 14mm Wrench
- 10mm Wrench
- Screw Driver (Flat)

Optional
- Torque wrench
- Grease/ Anti-seize
- WD40/CRC
- Rags/Brush – It’s amazing how much mud/dust/rocks accumulate, might as well clean up as you go
- Safety glasses – I hate rocks/ dirt falling onto face/eye when I’m working under a car
- Gloves – Reasonably knuckle safe job, but what the heck… call me a pussy, I dare you….
- Bricks…

Steps
The following areas require attention prior to the installation of the tow bar.


Area A Preparation (Left side)
- Unmount exhaust in 3 off locations highlighted. WD40 can be used to lubricate.
- Support exhaust with bricks.


- Remove left rear exhaust mount by unscrewing 2 off M12.
- Remove L bracket assembly by unscrewing 2 off M12 and 2 off M10 bolts.

- You will have removed the following parts:



Area B Preparation (Centre)
- Remove bumper clip by unscrewing 2 off M6 bolt and using screw driver to pry 1 off bumper clip.

- You will be left with the following:


Area C Preparation (Right side)
- Remove rear tow hook by the removal of 3 off M12 bolts.

- Gently lower the rear right black box assembly by letting it hang off the flexible hoses mounted at the front by removing 3 off M10 nuts.

- Remove the bracket for holding the black box assembly by unscrewing the last M12 bolt.
- The following pieces have now been removed:



Tow Bar Install (A second pair of hand would be ideal. But ‘bench pressing’ the tow bar assembly into position worked for me. )
- Insert the rear bar over the rear bumper lower lip (1).
- Then rotate the end plates over the bolt holes (2).

- Inserting 1 off M12 bolt into the following holes will assist in holding the bar in place. Do it up finger tight.

- Don’t forget to anti-seize/grease the bolts.

- Align tow bar with remaining holes.
- Reinstate the exhaust mount and black box bracket with the remaining M12 bolts. I used a torque wrench and tensioned each bolt up to 50 ft lb.

- Reinstate black box.

- Reinstate exhaust onto rubber mounts.

- You will have the remaining parts left over that are no longer needed:


And there you have it. Tow bar installed.



You will notice that the trailer plug is missing. This will be covered in the next post.

Part 2...

So this is where we got left off. This setup will require hand signalling...


Difficulty: Easy
Length: 30 Minutes

Equipment/ Tools
- Electrical plug spades (like these)
- Screw driver (flat)
- Crimping Tool (like these)
- Wire Cutter/ Stripper (like these)
- Multimeter

Optional
- Electrical Tape/ Heat Shrink
- Solder and Soldering Iron


Steps

- Install trailer plug

- Locate grommet on underside of wheel well

- Remove grommet

- Poke hole in grommet

- Pull wire through

- Reinstate grommet

- Locate trailer harness. According to the wiring diagram, this is connector R79. A copy is available at Download PDF Subaru Impreza 2004 Wiring Diagram | PDFTown.com

- Here are extracts from the manual showing the location of R79 connectors in the wagon and sedan:


- This is where it is in real life - it needs to be freed.





- This is the pin out details of the connector. I've summarised it into a table to save you going through the wiring diagrams.


To wire trailer harness into connector, performed the following:
- Cut wires.

- Strip wires.

- Crimp spades onto end of wire.

- Solder wire (optional).

- This picture shows the spades all crimped and soldered.

- Now test for continuity with multimeter.
- Plug spades into R79 connector - for this step, use the above wiring table and any one of the following links (choose the type of trailer plug setup you have):
http://www.lion.net.au/TRAILER_WIRE/...gs%20Bases.pdf
http://www.cir.com.au/Documents/Trai...ng_Diagram.pdf
http://www.britaxae.com.au/downloads...g-Diagrams.pdf

- Plug trailer plug into socket and test the lights - it helps to have a spare foot to do the brakes. Otherwise, use the bricks from the first part of the install!
- Once tested and all is working fine, tape up (optional).
- Neaten up wiring route (optional).

- Reinstate boot interior.
- Start towing


All done

Nice work Fred.

Cheers,

Joe.

__________________
MEH.....

Just Did the same install last week on my 07 wrx. Hardest part was holding the bar up whilst tryin to line up bolts. Also their are stuff all DIY's on the net for this. Maybe pyt wrx in the title so it shows up on google.

__________________
The one perkent...

For those who aren't keen on the electrical connections, here are some links to ebay for two sellers that will supply a plug and play type setup. it will be a lot neater and easier. cost is circa $30-40.

NEW Subaru Impreza Liberty Forester TOW BAR Harness NO Socket Attached | eBay
Subaru Impreza Liberty Forester Trailer Harness | eBay

Furthermore, you will notice that the black and blue wires are not usually required.

Cheers, Fred

How would this go on an MY03 but with a big exhaust. my exhaust cannon takes up the whole cut out bit on under side, it looks the exact same as your back of the car but i cant see of the pic how far down the bar comes to the cutout where the exhaust is ? if you can let me know how far from the top of the cutout to the bottom of the bar it would be great. thanks
and also where did you get the bar from ?

that is the exhaust on my car