[Vwdiesel] hitch saga

Tue May 22 08:06:08 PDT 2012

No one said we were towing more then 2000lbs (or 3000 lb max at times). Just because you have it doesn't mean you use it all. My tires have a certain load rating on the car-doesn't mean I load up the car to that load rating as that would be 5424 lbs the cars tires would have on it. With the style that the DOT aproves you really don't have a choice on the hitch hieght as it come off the car so low your trailer tongue would rub over a lot of things (and ours had even with the rasied hitches that were told with them). Also, the two trailers my family uses are Aluma trailers as the winter salt tends to destroy steel/wood ones in a matter of a few years or you have it so over built that it is too heavy anyways. So that doesn't leave us with much options to redesign the trailer tongues as easily. Could be done but that doesn't solve what all the other 90 HP tdis are towing with on there DOT aproved hitches that do move when you step on them. We haven't seen any ill effects of our hitches yet and I doubt we will. I have seen plenty of others that can even secure a load down and I would think they should be the ones we should worry more about. Just in the past year in Wisconsin I have had a bed mattress fly out right infront of me on a 4 lane (I knew it was coming so I was able to react). And one car in front of me ran over a 500 lb tractor weight that flew out of a dodge from a stop light with 8.5 inch long grade 8 bolts coming out of it. And was I suppose to keep using the spare tire tin that the DOT hitch was used on? It only had two none grade 8 bolts on the right side. There was around 5 on the left side. Or I could minic the design that the Europeans use on these same cars (bosal hitch anyone) which by the way has closer to a 3000 lb tow rating but a metric ball (close to 2 inch) that some people use on the 2 inch trailers and it replaces the rear bumper just like Dave's and my hitches. Except that one gives you one attachement-the ball mount that comes from under the bumper and raises up around 6 inches anyways. My 2 inch receiver was added as there is more options to what I can put in it. I could put a winch on if I really wanted now. I can have a locking ball mount that is tightened down so it doesn't move as much. It was all on the options. Also my brother is a certified welder and has two years welding school experience with my Mechanical engineering degree I think we likely overbuilt everything just fine for the car using VW's own real hitch design overseas. For some reason I doubt I will use the ball mounts 10,000 lbs tow rating on my car ever. 

Travis 

> From: pmdolan at sasktel.net
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com; tgott at hotmail.com
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] hitch saga
> Date: Tue, 22 May 2012 08:18:07 -0600
> 
> Travis:  that is by far the nicest drawbar I have ever seen. 
> 
> HOWEVER: the idea of using Class III stuff on the back of a MkIV car is 
> ludicrous.  On top of that, using raised or dropped mounts COULD be 
> inviting disaster. 
> 
> What you really want is a setup that puts the longitudinal loads at 
> exactly the same height as the mounting points of the hitch - to 
> minimize torsional loading at the mounting point from braking loads 
> (acceleration loads - particularly with a 90HP car pulling a couple of 
> tonnes load) are pretty much irrelevant).  that means center of ball 
> at some height as bolts that attach hitch assembly to car (bumper 
> attach points, or whatever). 
> 
> I usually build my trailers with adjustable tongue height exactly for 
> the reason of avoiding drop hitches (not always possible - e.g. when 
> towing low cars with high trucks). 
> 
> On Tue, 22 May 2012 14:06:44 +0000, Travis Gottschalk 
> <tgott at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Dave, were you able to get a flip plate on at all? If flipping up 
> > ising a hitch like this 
> > http://www.etrailer.com/Ball-Mounts/Softride/SR26039.html wouldn't 
> > have the ridge on it and it would allow the plate to drop down some 
> > while the ball mount is on. With a trailer it isn't as big of a deal 
> > having the plate visable but do you want to have to remove the ball 
> > mount right after the trailer is off each time is my thoughts. Since 
> > the hitch is much higher then the Class 1 was you may need more drop. 
> > Mine is a 6 inch drop but I have some lift added to the golf The 
> > jettas I think are 3 inch drop vs the 10 or so raise the Sportwagon 
> > had and the 3 or 4 the 05 wagon had. How are you running the wiring? 
> > Do you have a powered convertor (6 wires into 4 instead of 5 into 4). 
> > I had the 5 into 4 but you blow your fuse one time and you will hate 
> > yourself for it. The car has the little fuses and the blinker one 
> > isn't very common even at a truck stop or parts stores. The have 
> > higher rated ones
> > but if you blew the small one that doesn't help you out. Just some 
> > other thoughts. Here is the converter I run. I have it powered from 
> > the battery but most do it from the in truck cig lighter plug-in and 
> > then I ran another extension into the hole going into the bumper for 
> > the license plates. Your hitch does look clean (not hacked up to fit 
> > on the angle like mine). You will like it and you won't have any 
> > movement on the hitch when you bounce on it now. I feel you could 
> > hang the car from it. Travis 
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