Modern Iron Works Ltd. are the largest supplier of towbars in Ireland and have been manufacturing McCabe towbars for sixty years. The company was founded in 1949 by Seamus and Michael McCabe. McCabe Bros. started trading as a repair shop serving the local agriculture industry. At this time we carried out welding repairs for local farmers and also manufactured hay lifting attachments for tractors and land rollers for tractors. In 1954 we had an enquiry from a local V.W. Dealer to know if we could make a “draw bar” (towbar) for a V.W. Beetle. After this first towbar was manufactured, word spread amongst V.W. Dealers, that towbars for the Beetle were available from McCabes of Rathdowney.As the word spread that we manufactured a towbar for the V.W., other garages contacted us and requested towbars for other brands of cars. From this humble beginning we have become the largest supplier of towbars in Ireland today, with a range of over 360 models. In 1969, McCabe Bros. became a limited company and changed it’s name to Modern Iron Works Ltd. Over the years we have invested heavily in new computerised machinery, to help and improve our manufacturing efficiency and to improve the finish on our products. We have invested in a new purpose built warehouse, which contains approximately 5000 towbars at any one time. Modern Iron Works Ltd. is currently certified to ISO 9001:2015, which is an international Quality Management System standard. Each new model McCabe Towbar is developed using computer aided design and undergoes rigorous testing to International Standard Regulation 55. This test is carried out on our in-house towbar testing rig. The Standard requires that a towbar must be mounted to the test rig and subjected to a 2,000,000 cycle test at maximum load. Each test is verified by either the VCA in the UK or TUV in Germany and then the Type Approval is issued. McCabe Towbars are only manufactured from high quality certified steel. The towbars come complete with high tensile bolts, fitting instructions and all necessary fittings. McCabe Towbars are available in a number of different styles, traditional Flange Ball, continental style Swan Neck and detachable Swan Neck. In 1997, Aidan McCabe spotted a gap in the market for a mobile towbar fitting service. Tow-fit was established to service both the motor trade and private customers who needed a towbar fitted. Tow-fit will come to your home or place of work and fit the towbar and also connect all the necessary electrics to the vehicle. This is an important service nowadays as there is an ever increasing amount of vehicle manufacturers switching to can-bus wiring systems in their vehicles and the fitting of the towbar has become a specialist operation. Other products distributed by Modern Iron Works Ltd. include roof bars, roof racks, roof boxes and bicycle carriers. Modern Iron Works Ltd. now also manufacture a range of Tractor Grill Guards for most models of tractors available. Since this branch back into the agricultural sector, we also started to manufacture Silage Pushers and Feed bucket Inserts for silage grabs to eliminate the necessity to keep removing a silage grab and putting on a bucket while loading a diet feeder.
