[Vwdiesel] Hitch Saga

Mon May 21 05:48:14 PDT 2012

Dang it, I made it tighter!  Aaugh!  I wondered if I could get some welds on the inside if the tube, but at this point I think I might be better served to just buy some more steel and make it fresh and call the $50 bucks I spent on my "bargain" hitch a donation to "The Human Fund."  The stupid thing is covered in rust anyway so the whole thing would need to be ground down.  (Flaking paint made it look OK in the pic, but underneath the layer that readily came off is rust.) Unfortunately, I had a friend pick it up for me so I didn't get a chance to see it until the money was gone.  I thought I was going to get it when I could see the seam open up a bit in the pin holes.  At first, the seam wasn't even noticeable.

Oh well, lesson learned.  Maybe I can dick around with getting the remainder of the draw bar out and resell it.  But I want to get the Golf put back together first.

I was looking at new hitches to possibly cut up, and noticed that the inside of the receiver tube was not painted.  Well no freaking wonder this happens!  

Dave Cook

________________________________
 From: James Hansen <jhsg at sasktel.net>
To: 'Dave Cook' <davevw at yahoo.com>; 'VW Diesel Group' <vwdiesel at vwfans.com> 
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 2:27 AM
Subject: RE: [Vwdiesel] Think I can tow my boat with my Golf? Hitch Begun

Too bad Dave.  Only way to get a really stuck draw bar out of a receiver is
to use a press.  I've chained one to a cat, driven away like an episode of
dumbest stuff on wheels, and it stopped the truck dead, would not come out.
Only way is to cut a slot in the receiver to relieve the space occupied by
the rust, or use a press that can overcome the considerable strength of
rust.  Just so you know, what you did actually shrunk the receiver to the
drawbar tighter.  When the weld cools, it draws the material tighter- just
like to remove a bearing cone from a hub, put a bead on the inside, the cone
(race) is usually shrunk enough to come out with small encouragement.

You could just cut out the old receiver tube, and weld in a new one.
-james

-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of Dave Cook
Sent: May-20-12 6:10 PM
To: VW Diesel Group
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Think I can tow my boat with my Golf? Hitch Begun

Not too much progress today, unfortunately.

I did get both pieces of angle iron ready, with the nuts welded in and
such.  

But, I cannot get the stupid draw bar out of the hitch I bought on
Craigslist!  I have been spraying PB Blaster in there since Wednesday, I
have hit it with a hammer many times, my neighbor and i hooked it to a tree
and he tried pulling it with his truck, I welded some beads on the outside
to heat it up, and we tried the truck thing again.  All to no avail.

I thought I had a brilliant idea, and cut the end of the draw bar off, and
used a metal blade on the sawzall and cut a groove through the draw bar in
two places, though the blades weren't long enough to quite get to the end of
the draw bar inside the the hitch mount.

So, I'm thinking of scrapping the thing and just building my own after all. 
I figure I can get some 2x2 square tubing and a premade receiver tube, and
weld the receiver tube to the 2x2.  

Any reason that wouldn't work?

Dave Cook

________________________________
From: Dave Cook <davevw at yahoo.com>
To: VW Diesel Group <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2012 10:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Think I can tow my boat with my Golf? Hitch Begun

Well, I got started on the hitch today, though I didn't get super far.

I did get the bumper off, and 3 of the nuts welded onto the angle for one
side.

I bought a 4 foot section of angle iron, and cut it in half.  For the
passenger side, I could tell that it wasn't wanting to go in flat, so I
drilled three holes in the frame, and in the angle.  I then removed the
angle, and bolted 3 nuts in, which I spot welded on.  I then removed the 3
bolts, and used one sacrificial bolt to hold each nut tight and prevent
warping as I welded it in further.  

I then bolted it in with the three bolts to pull the angle and make it lay
flat, and drilled through the frame from the side into the angle to mark
where the other two nuts should go.  That is where I had to quit for the
evening.

So tomorrow I'll remove the angle again, and drill it for the two side
bolts.  And repeat the process for the driver side.  

Then I'll weld the  hitch I bought on Craigslist to the two bits of angle
iron.

At this point, I don't think I'll worry about reusing the two bumper shock
plates and bolts.  I just don't see how the thing could move up and down at
all, and it is obvious that they do nothing for preventing it from pulling
out-not that it would anyway as far as I can tell.  

The only thing is the Craigslist hitch-turned out it is pretty rusty.  I'm
not worried about structure, but it'll be a bit of work getting it ready to
paint.  Also, the hitch is stuck in the receiver due to the rust.  I've been
spraying it with PB Blaster over the past few days but haven't gotten it out
yet.  I may have to weld a bead along the outside to get some heat in there
and break it up, unless anyone else has some ideas.

Dave Cook

________________________________
From: Tad <tadc at europa.com>
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 4:32 PM
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Think I can tow my boat with my Golf?

Thanks for sharing Bill, I've been looking for a small lightweight tent
trailer... although the price seems a bit steep.

We had a similar rig when I was a kid - small Coleman tent trailer towed
behind our 77 Corolla wagon.  Except that one was steel poles and canvas.

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 9:22 AM, Frank G. Pival <hold at drizzle.com> wrote:

> Here is the direct link to what William is talking about
> http://www.costco.com/Browse/**Product.aspx?Prodid=11752397&**
> whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|**3960|51276&N=4041978&Mo=0&pos=**
> 5&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&**cat=51276&Ns=P_Price|1||P_**
> SignDesc1&lang=en-US&ec=BC-**EC1061-Cat3960&topnav=<http://www.costco.
> com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11752397&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC%7C3
> 960%7C51276&N=4041978&Mo=0&pos=5&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=51276&Ns
> =P_Price%7C1%7C%7CP_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&ec=BC-EC1061-Cat3960&topnav=>
>
> Frank
>
>
> On 5/16/2012 7:34 AM, William J Toensing wrote:
>
>> At age 79&  an 82 year old wife, it is not practical for me but if I 
>> was
>> 20 years or more younger I would jump at it. What is IT? It is a 
>> combination tent&  utility trailer that can be pulled by a compact. 
>> It sells for $2400 delivered, some assembly required. Who is selling it?
>> Costco on line. As a utility trailer it can haul a small boat, canoe, 
>> motorcycle, or ? Just read it a few minutes ago on the Costco online 
>> notice I routinely receive. If interested go check it out at
www.costco.com.
>>
>> Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA.
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>>
>>
>> -----
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>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
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>> 05/16/12
>>
>>
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