[Vwdiesel] Towing a Rabbit Pickup by the Front Bumper mounts?

Sun Aug 24 18:35:01 PDT 2014

there are two issues with towing by the by the bumper:

#one is that the shocks can fail (yes, have seen that)./  Have also 
seen a lot of them lose their oil and just sit there looking like they 
are ready to take a braking load from a tow bar - they are not. 

#2 is that the bumper is attached by a vertical bolt in double shear. 
 It is a PIVOT designed to let one side of the bumper system collapse 
without putting load on the other side.  The shock is very long, and 
has a LOT of leverage from side loads passed to the attach points - 
that are designed for single shear loads, not tension loads (from 
lateral loads).  By welding up a rigid adapter that ties the two 
together, you can greatly reduce the transverse load on the attach 
bolts.  

And it will fit all A1 cars (IIRC)

Take it from someone who builds towing and towed equipment:  DO NOT 
screw around with towed vehicles.  Do EVERYTHING you can to make it 
idiot proof.  I have had a large piece of farm equipment on behind a 
two ton truck, and a feak occurrance of a stray rock (on a paved road) 
knocking out the hitch pin safety clip and then had the hitch pin climb 
up and out on a rough stretch of road.  All I could think of when I 
saw serval tons of soon-to-be-scrap iron wandering accross the road 
into the oncoming lane in my mirrors is I hope to hell nobody is going 
to crest the hill ahead before this thing goes into the ditch. 

In today's ultra-litigious society, it could end very badly - or worse 
someone could get hurt or killed. 

Russian Roulette, 4 of us done, who's next?>

n Sun, 24 Aug 2014 18:02:53 -0700, "Andrew .Libby"  wrote:

       I've towed my '79 locally twice with a towbar around the bumper. 
 I never thought about the bumper shocks failing.  I didn't have any 
issues, but now that it has been brought to my attention will not do it 
that way again. 

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 5:57 PM,
  wrote:

        Played Russian Roulette a few times and came out just fine too, 
but can't recomend that to anyone else. 
  On Sun, 24 Aug 2014 19:52:36 -0400, Jason  wrote:
Towed quite a few Rabbits by the front bumper with a tow bar...Never an

        issue or damaged to the bumper shocks. 

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 4:49 PM, Roger Brown  wrote:

> Both my old '81 and current '82 pickups have the steel front bumper
> brackets instead of the shocks like my old Rabbit used to have.  But a tow
> dolly might still be the best option, as you get the front drive wheels off
> the ground. >
>
>
> On 8/24/2014 1:00 PM, pmdolan1 at sasktel.net wrote:
>
>> Absolutely DO NOT tow by the front bumper with this.  The bumper is
>> mounted on hydraulic "shocks" that are net intended for this kind of load
>> (transverse much worse than longitudinal).  You MIGHT get away with it, but
>> if you don't, it is quite a mess when one lets go. >> The way to do 
>> it is make a fitting that is rigid in bending going back to
>> the mounting holes on the frame "accordian" where the bumper absorbers
>> mount.  Weld those two stubs to a tranverse angle or tube to which you can
>> bolt the tow bar adapters.  The pseudo-bumper is critical to prevent the
>> tow bar (that has not cross beam) from putting side loads on the bumper
>> mounting points and adapters.   Put the safety chains SOMEWHERE ELSE - such
>> as around a lower control arm and hope to hell you never have to rely on
>> them (the car will whip and slam hard against them at the limit). >> 
>> On Sun, 24 Aug 2014 15:32:15 -0400, Maynard  wrote:
>> I've just struck a deal on a 1981 Rabbit Pickup Diesel LX. I'm hoping to
>>
>>> flat-tow it home using the universal adjustable tow bar I already 
>>> have. >>> It
>>> looks somewhat like this:
>>>
>>>   >> Chains-5000/dp/B005ESZ058/r
>>> ef=pd_sbs_auto_6?ie=UTF8
>>> >> Chains-5000/dp/B005ESZ058/r
>>> ef=pd_sbs_auto_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=1R9VK9S0KE340GBZPXQV>
>>> &refRID=1R9VK9S0KE340GBZPXQV>
>>>
>>>   I've used this tow bar before on older vehicles and I'm confident it
>>> will
>>> get me where I want to go, but I won't have the luxury of fabricating the
>>> mounting brackets on-site and I'm not going to have the opportunity to
>>> visit
>>> the vehicle again prior to picking it up. I know the front bumper is
>>> mounted
>>> to a pair of bumper mounts using two holes each in the mounts. I think I
>>> could mount the tow bar's mounting plates to these bumper mounts, but I
>>> neglected to measure the distance between these holes. >>>  Could 
>>> somebody measure the distance between these bumper mounting holes
>>> on
>>> their own Rabbit and report to me? (I think it's somewhere around 4"-5",
>>> but
>>> I need a pretty accurate measure if I want to pre-fab.) It appears that
>>> the
>>> bumper mounts on this Pickup are solid steel connected to the frame, not
>>> the
>>> shock-absorbing mounts I had on my 1984 Jetta. >>>  I know I could 
>>> rent a tow dolly or vehicle trailer, or even call AAA,
>>> but
>>> none of those options is convenient to my situation. >>>  Any help 
>>> would be greatly appreciated!
>>>
>>>   ~Maynard
>>>
>>> '82 Westy Diesel
>>>
>>> '86 DoubleCab Diesel
>>>
>>> '11 Golf TDI
>>>
>>>   _______________________________________________
>>> Vwdiesel mailing list
>>> Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
>>> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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>
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