OT: Mounting a tow hitch to a wagon.

[Kneale Brownson]

I'd be surprised if any hitch specifically made for an A4 (or a scoobiedoo, for that matter) actually bolted "to the floor of the trunk".  I have hitches on two Audi 200s and a VW Jetta, and all of them bolt to the frame rails.  The Audis bolt THROUGH the floor of the trunk as part of the attachment to the frame rails.  They're all rated at a 2500-3000 pound tow load, which I assume is more a matter of the car's braking ability than actual towing issues.

mike <mikemk40 at yahoo.com> wrote:  550lbs is tiny, most hitches are probably rated for 10
times that.

Where to fix it
. 

The floor is sheet metal but is also designed to be
strong enough to deal with the load of a hitch and
still perform as it should if you get rear ended.

The bumper is also carefully designed from a safety
point of view but that doesn’t include attaching a
boat to it.

In euro land hitches have to be E marked to
demonstrate that they are safe for the loads and don’t
affect the safety of the original vehicle, given the
litigious nature of the states I’d be surprised if the
same sort of thing didn’t apply over there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF693eh9mUU shows what
happens if you get it wrong

I’d go with what Audi/Subaru designed


--- Tyson Varosyan wrote:

> Warning: This is pretty much off topic.
> 
> 
> 
> I have a towable boat and trailer in total weighing
> about 550lbs - well
> within tow range for any vehicle. I have been using
> my big work truck to tow
> it, but that's like shooting a fly with a shotgun -
> way overkill, a waste of
> gas and not much comfort. Past few months I have
> been toying with the idea
> of sticking a tow hitch either on my A4Q Sedan or my
> wife's '02 Subaru
> Legacy Wagon and I think that it makes more sense on
> the wagon.
> 
> 
> 
> I have looked online and even posted the question
> here about hitches and all
> of them seem to mount to the floor plate of the
> trunk - drilling
> through-holes and bolting on. That sounds stupid to
> me. First of all,
> drilling holes in the trunk is silly - obviously one
> day they are going to
> leak, you have bolt holes in the bottom tearing up
> whatever you have on top
> and making the surface uneven and the floor plate
> itself is just sheet-metal
> liable to bend, stretch, break, etc. Why not mount
> the tow hitch to the
> bumper's crash bar? I have not removed the bumper
> covers on either car to
> look, but I would expect either a steel or
> reinforced aluminum bar firmly
> attached to the car, perfect for drilling and
> bolting or welding on a hitch
> receptacle. Much more accurate too. The bumper
> should be able to pull the
> weight, it's certainly firm enough. Is there
> something that I am not
> considering?
> 
> 
> 
> Tyson Varosyan
> 
> Technical Director, Uptime Technical Solutions LLC.
> 
> tyson at up-times.com
> 
> www.up-times.com
> 
> 206-715-TECH (8324)
> 
> UpTime/OnTime/AnyTime
> 
> 
> 
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