[Vwdiesel] Hitch Saga

[Dave Cook]

Thanks for the pointers.  I knew that yours was like that.  I was just trying to decide if a different option might be better or stronger.  

For the safety chains, there were no provisions on the receiver I bought, but they were selling hooks made for attaching chains, so I bought a set and will just weld them in a convenient place.

I am not super concerned about the plate being flipped up too much. I figure a cop would figure it would naturally be obscured by a trailer and wouldn't think much about not easily being able to see it anyway.

I almost forgot about lighting!  I better stop and get a harness.
 
Dave Cook


________________________________
 From: Travis Gottschalk <tgott at hotmail.com>
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com 
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 2:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Hitch Saga
 

Mine was the first of 3 hitches. I didn't have proper planning on time and I had a 4 hour drive so yes a little can be seen of my hitch behind the plate. Not the end of the world though as you have to be right level to see it as walking up to it you can't see it from above. Think how your safety chains are going to attach as well. The Jettas there is hooks coming out below. On my premade hitch the wer to the sides of the reciever tube but they are hart to hook the hooks on as there isn't much room to get your hands in there to snap them in. FYI, the harness that runs the lights on your licence plate goes through a plug on the left side. Great spot to have the wiring for the trailer feed through as well so you don't have to shut your hatch on it every time. I just fold mine up into the cavity when not being used and have a cover on it to seal it up some. I did use the OEM lights for the plate. Someone else has used lighted bolts but I feel there was
 enough light from the OEM o
nes I didn't have to do that. I also unhooked one of the flipper springs that holds the plate so it wasn't as strong. 

You will have to do a lot of marking and aligning and possibly ligth tack welds to see if it works well. Cut the hold in the plate area of your bumper where you want it and have that part mostly done. Tack weld the hitch up and place the bumper back over it and see where things are and if you can reach around to get the pin in the ball mount and the safety chains on. If it works pull the bumper and finish welding. And take pictures. I attached the flipper to the bumper, cut the hole and did this but was a little off since I didn't 100% mount up the bumper. But the lower the better for the plate and ball mount on. Too high and the plate is flipped up a lot and may attract unwanted attention. 

You will get some looks with the hitch in. Funny to listen to people that see mine. I have a 6 inch drop on mine to reach the trailer where the first one was like 2 or 3 raise. Some people even keep both hitches on. One for the trailer and one for a rack of some sort. 
Travis G                           
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