Towing with 2015 Golf TDI 2.0 sportwagen

For my 2015 golf wagon I used Tekonsha or Towready harness #118646, which is not correct as it comes but very easy to move wires and make it work perfectly for the wagon.
Only splicing is to find power for it, I used nearby accessory outlet in trunk.

Instructions here
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=5347402#post5347402

Discovery said:

Victory!

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Can't wait to see more...

Face It said:

Can't wait to see more...

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The good part is, you can also not see it at all!

7way plug screw and glue on the bumper. Cord is fish thru a plug inside the trunk with a dab of silicon glue to seal it off.

Next step is to plug everything, including the brake controller.

Maybe I will be able to test everything with my camper this Friday.

Also, a short video to show where the hitch is bolted

https://youtu.be/hwX_ozd-4rg

That is slick

Damn. That is great.

OH WOW! I'm in! Now I just need to buy a reason to get a tow hitch.

Thanks for sharing Discovery!

Can anyone comment on how the GSW DSG would do towing a small boat, say something like a 16' tinny?

I am sure the towing part would be fine but I have concerns around pulling it out of the water.

The Tortoise said:

Can anyone comment on how the GSW DSG would do towing a small boat, say something like a 16' tinny?
I am sure the towing part would be fine but I have concerns around pulling it out of the water.

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I am guessing not well; from the 2015 GSW owners manual:

*Shrugs*

From earlier in the thread - https://www.thetowcarawards.com/tow-car/volkswagen-golf/

Code the ECU for towing and that heat is nothing more than an afterthought.

They say the same thing with the Alltrack, but few people ignore it.

I'd just be aware of the total weight you're towing, a 16' skift or boston whaler may not be bad, try and not use the most steep boat launches and you should be fine, no need to slide back and end up a video on youtube.

Interesting about coding the ECU for towing, didn't know that's a thing.

I figure a 16' aluminum would probably be around 1200 pounds, so way lighter than a BW.

Not having a garage sucks.
Wiring part of the project have been delayed due to intensive rain.

But.
In the meantime I decided to make a safety chain ring for the swan neck.

Me and a friend, bashed a rod into a square


and welded it on



No picture of the final product, it is now hanging in the shed while the paint dry, but you get the idea.

Look like this thread became my journal, so stay tuned for more!

Wiring completed at 90%



Only problem, how do I remove the hood handle??? I need to access the BCM to steal the brake signal for my brake controller...

Edit: Praise 1854sailor!

Discovery said:

Not having a garage sucks.
Wiring part of the project have been delayed due to intensive rain.

But.
In the meantime I decided to make a safety chain ring for the swan neck.

Me and a friend, bashed a rod into a square

and welded it on

No picture of the final product, it is now hanging in the shed while the paint dry, but you get the idea.

Look like this thread became my journal, so stay tuned for more!

Click to expand...

Knock on wood that swan neck doesn't fall out of the receiver, otherwise those "safety" chains aren't too safe. Better than nothing I guess.

740GLE said:

Knock on wood that swan neck doesn't fall out of the receiver, otherwise those "safety" chains aren't too safe. Better than nothing I guess.

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I also worry about that.
As far as my research went, I only found one reported case of a detachable swan neck coming off by itself.

But still.

There is a tab welded on the hitch frame partially covered by the bumper, I will also lock one of the chain into this tab.

Also, my trailer is equipped with runaway brake. The trigger cable will be hook into the tab that was designed to accept the Euro style trailer wiring.

So if my swan neck decide to fly off. I will have 2 back up.

I have confidence in my setup.

Alright!
Special thanks @Jedadiah for his help an precision on tapping the brake light for the brake controller.



Tap installed on BMC A57



Reinstall


Moment of truth
https://youtu.be/FwbU1IBzUpA

Brake controller installed!


Immediate road test to Canadian tire to buy soap to clean that dirty trailer.



She ride a little bit too low for my taste. I'll try to reduce the tongue weight or I'll install air lift bags. Still trying to figure that part.


TDI/DSG
I did alot of city with few km on the highway. First impressions, the DSG shift perfectly. I thought it would need to be on sport mode but it wasn't required.
You will smoke the tires if you ever try to start from still too quickly.
It was easy to get on the highway, speed of 100kmh/60mph. Transmission even shifted on 6th speed when it feel you don't want to accelerate anymore.

I previously towed this trailer from Canada to Texas and back with a 2015 5speed auto 4.0L 4Runner.
The TDI/DSG struggled less than the 4runner to maintain speed on the highway.
The transmission was always shifting, 5th speed was hard to reach and overdrive was non-existent.

Stability:
This has nothing to do specifically with the GSW, it's common sense, this is not a truck, it's a compact car. I mean, you can feel it's less stable. You will also definitely feel it when you get passed and you will definitely feel the slightest breeze.
I'm aware that my new rig is less forgiving then when I had a 1000lbs heavier truck.

I'm still debating whether or not I will weld/ install an anti sway.

I wouldn't go over 100kmh/60mph with that rig.
Also, even if they are not required in your state/country/province/native reserve trailer brake should be installed when you install a hitch on a small car.

So far, I'm impressed!

I will be monitoring this thread if anybody have question. This forum helped me alot, I'll try my best to help.

Looks good. Glad I could help.

Discovery said:

I also worry about that.
As far as my research went, I only found one reported case of a detachable swan neck coming off by itself.

But still.

There is a tab welded on the hitch frame partially covered by the bumper, I will also lock one of the chain into this tab.

Also, my trailer is equipped with runaway brake. The trigger cable will be hook into the tab that was designed to accept the Euro style trailer wiring.

So if my swan neck decide to fly off. I will have 2 back up.

I have confidence in my setup.

Click to expand...

you my good sir seem to be 1,000,000 times more concerned with safety that half the yahoos I see trying to brake land speed records with 6" tire snomobile trailers and wonder why the bearings or tires let go.

I'd almost wager you'd wear a belt with suspenders if it was socially acceptable.

Day 3.
Made it to a campground 45min away with fully loaded trailer (still under 1800lbs) .

No real issue except for the oil temperature went close to 248F on a long hill.
Might be better to shift manually/keep it on higher rpm. Seem to produce more heat on 6th gear.


Problem to figure out
Weight on the hitch is still too much (getting close to 300lbs) even when the trailer is empty. Friend suggested a hitch carrier on the trailer but I'm uncertain.


I took a look at other lightweight travel trailer, seem like they are all nose heavy.

I like to keep the car in 4th and let it rev a bit higher. The engine stays a bit cooler and I don’t want to go much more above 60mph. The setup seems to lug a bit in 5th with all the air we are pushing.

We try to keep the tongue weight up to about 250lbs. Or over 10% or the trailer weight. We had a sway issue on one trip when I put the new radial tires on the trailer. They sucked so I put the BFGoodrich tires on there and that stiffened things up. The tires are 45 series heavy sidewall passenger tires. We are a lot more calm about pulling it now.

You just need to play with the loading but make sure you have over 10% of the trailer weight on the ball. We just throw a bunch of stuff inside towards the front and away we go.

We also added a sway controler to the hitch so that helps too.

There are bigger hitches that help level the car and trailer using leveling bars and chains but those may not work with the Bosal style hitches.

740GLE said:

you my good sir seem to be 1,000,000 times more concerned with safety that half the yahoos I see trying to brake land speed records with 6" tire snomobile trailers and wonder why the bearings or tires let go.
I'd almost wager you'd wear a belt with suspenders if it was socially acceptable.

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I bought the Bosal hitch with the optional chain ring for my Golf from IPD. I was astonished that the chain ring was attached to the ball and not the frame. My solution is to run my chains through the chain ring and then attach both chains to the ring that is already there on the frame (Keeps the chains from dragging on the ground). I don’t know why they offer the option for the chain ring to be added since it is useless if the ball were to de-attach in transit so there is no safety protection.

Hwycruiser said:

I bought the Bosal hitch with the optional chain ring for my Golf from IPD. I was astonished that the chain ring was attached to the ball and not the frame. My solution is to run my chains through the chain ring and then attach both chains to the ring that is already there on the frame (Keeps the chains from dragging on the ground). I don’t know why they offer the option for the chain ring to be added since it is useless if the ball were to de-attach in transit so there is no safety protection.

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That seems to be missing the boat as far a safety! If the chains connect to the hitch, and the hitch falls out, really no need for the chains unless you can find a fixed point to attach to.

One concern with the Bosal is the tongue weight at 75kgs or 165lbs. With 300 lbs on the tongue, that may be too much for the design of the hitch. In the photos, it does look like the axle is quite a distance to the rear of the trailer. You might need to shift your load to the rear to get the tongue weight down.

My rule of thumb is that I need to be able to lift the trailer at the ball by hand. I also empty the car back seat and trunk of stuff so I am not loading up the connection at the hitch. This should eliminate the need for air bags in the rear. However, if you are packing some kids, and their stuff, you may want to put their stuff in the trailer too. In the photos, it looks like there is a lot of weight on the hitch to cause the car to bear down like that.

Keep in mind that you want to make sure that there is at least 10% (or more) of the trailer weight on the hitch to avoid swaying issues.

Alright, wife wants to bring bikes on our next road trip so I'm looking at hitch mounts systems.

How can someone order a euro hitch (Bosal/Westfaila) without getting gouged or firm dates?

I see IDparts is back ordered for their bosal with no ETA for the GSW.

PFjones doesn't even offer Bosal anymore, and only option of shipping seems to be $120 for 1-3 day shipping. Looking to obtain something in 2-3 weeks so cheaper shipping is preferred.

Any other sites other than PFjones?

Discovery said:

She ride a little bit too low for my taste. I'll try to reduce the tongue weight or I'll install air lift bags. Still trying to figure that part.


TDI/DSG
I did alot of city with few km on the highway. First impressions, the DSG shift perfectly. I thought it would need to be on sport mode but it wasn't required.
You will smoke the tires if you ever try to start from still too quickly.
It was easy to get on the highway, speed of 100kmh/60mph. Transmission even shifted on 6th speed when it feel you don't want to accelerate anymore.

Click to expand...

I've towed several U-hauls for moving kids from here to there and found that using Sport mode to launch kept me from spinning the tires. Once I was in second or third I shifted to D.

740GLE said:

Alright, wife wants to bring bikes on our next road trip so I'm looking at hitch mounts systems.

How can someone order a euro hitch (Bosal/Westfaila) without getting gouged or firm dates?

I see IDparts is back ordered for their bosal with no ETA for the GSW.

PFjones doesn't even offer Bosal anymore, and only option of shipping seems to be $120 for 1-3 day shipping. Looking to obtain something in 2-3 weeks so cheaper shipping is preferred.

Any other sites other than PFjones?

Click to expand...

I had a hitch bike rack but never ended up using it and eventually sold it at a garage sale. My wife and I have road bikes, though, that cost more than the car carrying them so I didn't really want a $20K dollar bumper

I used bike trays on the roof for a few years but was never really happy with how they felt (and couldn't put anything else up there). Eventually I got one of these, which is both faster, easier, and more versatile than a hitch mount:
https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Sports-Deluxe-2-Bike-Trunk/dp/B00ASSQYK4

It's a little higher off the bumper so gives slightly more protection than a hitch mount. Would probably not save the bikes from an SUV or might not even be a big deal depending on the bikes being transported. But that's turned out to be a great low cost, easily storable carrier.

bizzle said:

I had a hitch bike rack but never ended up using it and eventually sold it at a garage sale. My wife and I have road bikes, though, that cost more than the car carrying them so I didn't really want a $20K dollar bumper

I used bike trays on the roof for a few years but was never really happy with how they felt (and couldn't put anything else up there). Eventually I got one of these, which is both faster, easier, and more versatile than a hitch mount:
https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Sports-Deluxe-2-Bike-Trunk/dp/B00ASSQYK4

It's a little higher off the bumper so gives slightly more protection than a hitch mount. Would probably not save the bikes from an SUV or might not even be a big deal depending on the bikes being transported. But that's turned out to be a great low cost, easily storable carrier.

Click to expand...

I don't know about you guys but NOTHING touches my paint that doesn't need to, not even people. Lol (Maybe I'm weird though)

I'd freak out if i came home and someone had that mounted on my car. [emoji16]

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

bizzle said:

Eventually I got one of these, which is both faster, easier, and more versatile than a hitch mount:
https://www.amazon.com/Allen-Sports-Deluxe-2-Bike-Trunk/dp/B00ASSQYK4
It's a little higher off the bumper so gives slightly more protection than a hitch mount. Would probably not save the bikes from an SUV or might not even be a big deal depending on the bikes being transported. But that's turned out to be a great low cost, easily storable carrier.

Click to expand...

Oh geez - I thought going simple like that, but not on my shiny new(ish) car. Old Swagman hitch rack (very gently clamped onto Giant's best carbon fibre) when I need it; usually the bike goes in the back of the wagon, though.

Nuje said:

Oh geez - I thought going simple like that, but not on my shiny new(ish) car. Old Swagman hitch rack (very gently clamped onto Giant's best carbon fibre) when I need it; usually the bike goes in the back of the wagon, though.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that only goes on the old beetle or the leased golf, but the best solution by far was *inside* the wagon

Nuje said:

Oh geez - I thought going simple like that, but not on my shiny new(ish) car. Old Swagman hitch rack (very gently clamped onto Giant's best carbon fibre) when I need it; usually the bike goes in the back of the wagon, though.

Click to expand...

It's funny that I have a roof rack on the Beetle but carried my LOOK safely tucked away inside the trailer.

We are looking at a 14 foot tandem kayak as well so I will need a good way to carry that around. Anyone carrying a kayak?