Exhaust bracket query

[dej2000]

 

I recently had a tow bar fitted to my van, and to prevent it from rubbing against the tow bar, the garage shaved off part of a bracket near the exhaust. I'm not entirely sure what the bracket's purpose is, and I'm worried this modification might cause issues down the line.

Does anyone know what this bracket is for and if shaving it off could lead to any problems in the future? Ive attached photos below. I'd appreciate any insights or advice on if I need to do anything.

Thanks in advance! 

[dej2000]

*Photos are before and after 

[Picasso]

the end of the bracket is to stop the exhaust pulling out of the rubber and in time it will as the back box is heavy and rubber will stretch and it will pop out of the rubber hanger 

[kev1839]

When fitting a tow bar this has to be done to stop the bracket hitting the tow bar . Mine is the same ,I fitted a rubber 'p' clip , been on a year now no problem, recently passed MOT no worries either 

[dej2000]

@kev1839 Thank you for the info!   Quick question - are these p clips similar to the one you fitted and do you know the size (mm) of your p clip?

Thanks again 

 

[kev1839]

Yes that's the ones , I really can't remember the size I've had then in the shed for some time , just lucky I had one that fitted . 

[pcous]

We also have a towbar fitted, for bikes and I discovered the bar had also been shortened by the fitter who put our towbar on. HIs solution was to drill a small hole through the bar near the end and put a washer/splitpin to stop the rubber hanger from working its way off the bar. Seems to work...

However, I also noticed that the exhaust box was lowered slightly (20mm) to avoid vibration against the towbar, so non-standard hangers were put on by the fitter. All was well until these perished over time and needed replacing - but Toyota  hangers no longer fit and I'm now looking for a longer version (55mm b/w hole centres rather than 35mm).

Has anyone with a towbar fitted found longer rubber exhaust hangers (don't have to be Toyota, of course)?

[pcous]

By way of a follow up....

I asked around for longer exhaust hangers and found that Powerflex do a range of aftermarket hangers for exhaust modifications. The Toyota Alphard OE hangers are 35mm between hole centres and our exhaust box needed to be just a tad lower to avoid vibrating against the towbar. The Powerflex EXH011 hanger is a universal type and has holes at 40, 60 & 80mm, so can be used to drop the exhaust box enough - for us the 60mm hole was well placed (and the additional 'unused' length of the hanger went above the top bracket, rather than below where it would be nearer the exhaust box). I had to drill the holes to enlarge to 12mm to fit, but this is a fairly easy job if you're handy enough to fit the hangers yourself. There appears to be no need to drop the front rubber hanger on the exhaust box.