| Author |
Message |
Frederick Robbins
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 10:02 pm: | |
looking for info on a tow bay to buy or how to build >> am going to tow a vw bus behind my 04 .. thanks for any info |
TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 10:05 pm: | |
what is that exchange service thing online..this is about the third guy looking... |
FAST FRED
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 5:16 am: | |
The Great old VW tow really EZ ,
a new tow bar at JC Whitney is too cheap to bother taking the increased liability from a home brew.
FAST FRED |
BrianMCI
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 10:42 am: | |
I rarely agree with Fred...
And J.C. Whitney doesn't always have the best quality...
BUT, in this case I agree with him.
In my trade we have a bunch of guy who can really weld.
But the difference is immense between fabricating and welding
(for instance)a Message Board mount, and welding up a fabricated tow hitch that could concievably have your life and the lives of people around you on the highway resting on it's integrity.
As Fred mentions, the liability factor alone ought to persuade you: If the hitch company's product fails THEY get sued.
Brian |
Michael Lewis (Puffbus)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 12:43 pm: | |
I restored VW Vans for many years, and in fact am looking for another for a toad because my Chevy Tahoe is so heavy. It will also offer a second bedroom for our two teens.
I would urge you to be very careful with the JC Whitney towbar. Not because it will not handle the weight of the van itself, but because the load you will wind up putting in the VW can make it very heavy and dangerous with that bar. In fact, JC Whitney does not offer a bar explicitly for the type 2 VW's....guess why? My comments apply to pre-Eurovan models.
Under no circumstances should you tow with any bar which attaches directly to the bumper or to the two "horns" which attach the bumper to the frame. Don't ask me how I know this...
If you are serious about towing a VW van, please have high quality mounts made and attached with grade "8" bolts directly to the frame.
Michael |
Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 1:01 pm: | |
We used to do a lot of veedubs and we used one of thost that attached to the torsion tubes, and I think it might have even been JCW.
We put eleventybazillion miles on that thing, and wherever it is someone's probably still using it.
We only towed Bugs with it though, I never considered towing a transporter. and Michael's spot on, no matter which one you get, it won't handle the bus and a thousand pounds of junk.
Gary |
John that newguy
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 10:36 pm: | |
The tow bars that are adjustable are the easiest to hook up and
disconnect when you're in a hurry. Most manufacturers sell their
older products for 1/2 the price of their new line. We bought our
$380+ bar for $150 shipped, from the manufacturer. It was
worth every penny. |
darisb
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 15, 2004 - 11:41 am: | |
I've been working on VW's for over 20 years. I wouldn't tow any VW by the bumper. Try this: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=108146
I don't know anything about this guy. Samba is a pretty active site for VW related stuff.
Regards,
Daris |
R.J.(Bob) Evans (Bobofthenorth)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 15, 2004 - 12:18 pm: | |
I own a fab shop but I bought my towbar from Princess Auto. $179 and all I had to do was mount 2 u-brackets on the front of my micro-truck. 2 hours later I am ready to go with something that looks nice & is relatively easy to work with. Not worth the hassle of building it myself - IMHO |
Stephen Fessenden (Sffess)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 15, 2004 - 9:46 pm: | |
Grade 8? The local shops say to use grade 5 for connections for hitch and tow bar because, grade 8, though it has a higher tensile strength, shears easier and it is a shearing stress that towbar and hitch mounts put on the bolts. Just use big enough grade 5 bolts. If you think they are not strong enough, big John Deere tractors are put together with grade 5.
There was an article on towbar maintenance in one of the magazines. It all centered around the adjustable, self centering bars. A straight A frame will need less maintenance. I think a VW bus looks good with an A frame tow bar verical on the front. We towed one all over with a locally fabricated tow bar or angle iron. It was over built for that vehicle. |
Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 15, 2004 - 10:39 pm: | |
It depends on how the hitch attaches and the force of the load.
the Reese hitch I had to buy in an emergency for the bird had a mixture of 5 and 8 bolts.
Also, coarse and fine thread change the dynameics of things, there's no hard and fast rules, there are lots of facts to consider.
Gary |
Tom Caffrey (Pvcces)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - 12:22 am: | |
Stephen, if grade 8 shears easier, why do you suppose Cat buldozers were built with grade 8 bolts? I think that they are harder, and may well break before bending, but I don't really believe that they will shear easier.
IIRC, grade 8 is something like 140,000 psi tensile strength, but steel can be made stronger than that. I seem to remember that 180,000 is readily attainable. Mild steel is something like 60,000, by comparison.
For what it's worth.
Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576
Suncatcher |
Johnny
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - 9:58 am: | |
The Class 4 (10,000lbs) hitch on my F-350 was mounted exclusively with grade 5 bolts. |
Tom Caffrey (Pvcces)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - 10:21 pm: | |
I just reviewed the specs on grades today and see that grade 5 is listed as 105,000 or 120,000 psi. I would think that this would make them plenty strong.
Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576
Suncatcher |
Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - 10:53 pm: | |
You guys are trying to oversimplify a complex issue.
Steel (Or any material) has a variety of properties that relate to strength. Although higher tensile strength sounds stronger in any condition, it may actually have a lower shear strength. As hardness increases so can brittleness.
In the case of a Cat wearplate, the bolt itself doesn't carry the shear load, the plate backs up against a shelf in the blade the bolts only keep the wearplate in place.
Gary |
RWC
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 8:16 am: | |
Tensile strength is along long axis of bolt shear strength is at 90 degress to long axis. |
Jim Ashworth (Jimnh)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 9:52 am: | |
I just looked it up in Machinery's Handbook. Tensile strength for grade 5 is 120,000 psi and for grade 8 is 150,000 psi. Shear strength for any steel alloy is .75T (tensile strength). As the tensile strength goes up, so does the shear strength.
A 3/8" bolt is .11 square inches which has (in grade 5) a tensile strength of 13,200 psi and shear of 9900 psi. Seems to me only one bolt is needed to anchor the hitch, the rest are needed to keep the hitch from pivoting. LOL
Jim |
Marc Bourget
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 10:35 pm: | |
Wonder how much in the way of G loads a Tow'd imposes on a hitch if there is a little slack in places?
Seems 2-3 G's would be easy if there was some slack, maybe more. Depenging on leverage imposed by the mechanics of the "hookup" of the hitch, you might see a 5X increase of the 2-3Gs.
I don't know myself, just thinkin bout it'
Onward and Upward. |