Westfalia Hitch and Wiring on a Mk7 Golf with a trailer brake controller

I welded a curved piece of round stock.

90 in the middle then 45s to bring both ends back to same plane.

I do the same on trailer with it going through chain link. That way you don't Weld directly on the high tensile chain link itself...

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Ontario said:

Do you have any pics of the eye bolts you added for chains? Or maybe can explain how you mounted them?
The Westfalia hitch for my Sportwagen just arrived, so Im looking for ideas on chain loops.
Thanks!

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Both types of chain loops were purchased on eBay. Local welder did both for $25 including paint.

whoaaaa can you resize those down a bit?

Also where did you score the Bosal 2" Resse adapter? Tesla as well?

I went on a Tesla forum and asked if anyone had one for sale. I got a contact from a guy who sold me his for a small premium over the list price from Tesla.

Bad news everyone.

The Bosal receiver adapter is NOT the same as the Westfalia swan neck. The Bosal is just a bit too big in diameter to slide all the way into the Westfalia round receiver (for lack of a better term). We’re talking like 2mm where the trigger ball is and 1mm at the top of the spindle.

It looks like there is enough material that you could machine it down to fit but I’m a bit wary. What says the collective?

i'll pay for shipping to check on my westy hitch

Where you located?

This camper I bought has 242# tongue weight.


Think it's a fuzz too much? There's some fudge error, right?.... :/

Hitch is rated for 80kg, around 175#....

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jason, what trailer did you get? Any pics to post? Can you lighten your tongue weight by moving items to the back of the trailer? What's the loaded weight of the trailer?

I would consider the design of the safety loops and their intention. If you should overload the hitch capacity and it should come out of the receiver, then what happens to the safety chains?

If this situation occurs the only thing keeping the trailer connected to the car is the electrical plug!

The challenge with the Bosul hitch is that the say it can carry 3,300 lbs but the tongue weight is only 165 lbs. When planning the ideal tongue weight compared to gross weight being towed is that you want at least 10% of the gross weight on the tongue to help minimize sway. We like to aim for 15% in our rig. If you maxed out both of these values, you would only have 5% gross weight on the tongue. I am sure other factors could be considered to minimize sway like keeping your speed down, etc...

Rpod 172

Its at my shop 80 miles away from where I live.

I have the trailer module, just sourcing a good hitch.

Maybe I'll still end up pulling it with the pickup? I planned to keep the vw 60 and under.

242/2338

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If you were to even load up that much, she'd be squatting so much you'd probably won't want to even try it.

I think euro/UK ratings for towing say 85% the GVW can be safely towed, and they use very light tongue weight but speeds are also very limited, not sure if it's 55 Max.

Granted the builders of the campers over there build to those rules, campers here build to the 10% tongue weight cause bubba has a 3/4 ton and can tow a house.

jason, the r-pod is quite a rig! When we started looking, we looked at those and the T@B's. We eventually found a second hand Camplite (1,620 lbs dry) which seems to work well with the car.

I wouldn't abandon the idea of towing the TDI as it is a natural tow vehicle. Just work out a hitch that will give you what you need to pull the trailer. Maybe consider some helpers or airbags in the back to keep the car level as well.

I see 8 bolts I can utilize. Maybe I'll just make my own?

Whats the size of those bolts? Grade?

I'm sure with enough foot plate and anchors it'll take 250# down pressure.

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https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hi...Wagen/2015/306-X7315.html?vehicleid=201560922


Whats 300 more Pounds? Seems the weak point might be the foot plates? Or maube just being conservative?

Does it use the same holes/bolts as the Westfalia/bosal?

If so I'd say they're being conservative or hitch is weak where floot plates are.

I'll laser cut some stock and use longer bolts if needed to match European ratings....

Stitch Weld some round stock to straighten the flex of the hitch spanning vehicle?

I'm sure something can be modified to compete with those Brits....



Edit

Called, it's supposedly composed of an alloy which contains aluminum (?, not sure on that, if so, they added it for weight, and comprised strength...) and the foot plates are 1/4" thick.



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the westy/bosal hitch uses the frame rails and only 4 bolts where as that eco hitch uses the bumper bracket bolts, they use 4 M10x35 (10.9 Grade) bolts. I forget the small bolts the stock bumper bracket uses but they are much smaller.

If you have the supplies and means you could def combine rail mounting as well as bumper bracket mounting, I think someone has already fabbed something up, i forget where I saw it though.

Hmmm. Wonder if one fabbed a hitch to utilize all 12 bolts?

Just iron.

If you find that link of a car torn apart showing the side bolts, post it, I'm curious.

I might buy this Eco hitch and just wrap some iron to grab the side like the Westfalia hitch.

I don't want that goofy goose neck thing. I'd prefer 2" square right off the car.

Maybe I'll make a jig and take care of this side of the pond...

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Op, you wouldn't happen to have any photos of your hitch install with all coverings removed, would you?


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jason_ said:

Op, you wouldn't happen to have any photos of your hitch install with all coverings removed, would you?


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I double checked on my computer, and I don’t have any pictures with the bumper covers off..

I can't seem to find the one that the guy did for a mk7 but same concept here.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=459466&highlight=custom+hitch

Oh wow.

The European hitch uses the long reach holes along main "rail", which are deep reach?

Does this concept apply to the mk7?

If so I'll just buy the Eco hitch and add some angle or square stock and grab 4 more heavy anchor points... ... Best of both worlds.

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correct, take a look at the westy install manual for an idea. One thing an eco hitch does is retain the stock bumper bar, where the westy replaces it with a square bar, thus if you get rear ended all that force will go right to the frame rail mounting points not the flat mounting points thus compressing the rails more uniformly.

https://www.pfjones.co.uk/westfalia_fitting/321782.pdf

Not a deal breaker for me, but you also have no tow hook with a euro hitch. On the MK7 it threads into the bumper bar. I’d have to have some pull me out of a ditch with my hitch.

The good part about the tow hook being part of the bumper bar is knowing that VW definitely is confident that the bumper bar mounting points, which the ecohitch uses, can support pulling the weight of the car itself.

Jedadiah said:

Not a deal breaker for me, but you also have no tow hook with a euro hitch. On the MK7 it threads into the bumper bar. I’d have to have some pull me out of a ditch with my hitch.
The good part about the tow hook being part of the bumper bar is knowing that VW definitely is confident that the bumper bar mounting points, which the ecohitch uses, can support pulling the weight of the car itself.

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Pulling the car via tow hook doesn't mean the tow hook can support the weight of the car (3,400 lbs), pulling a car out of a ditch def doesn't require that much force, maybe half that? Also any rope that can be tied to the tow hook can be tied to the receive hitch.

hm.

I used that tow hook and pulled my 1ton truck home one day.


I was hauling cement in the back and tore the center of the clutch disk out

So it power assist brakes and steering.

vw pulled that dude home no issues, and we used the truck to slow the car to keep strap nice and tight so there's no jerk taking off.


worked good. truck is almost 6000 empty, I had probably 3k in the bed.

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a toureg pulled a 474, and a Tundra pulled the space shuttle.

I think everyone can agree small vehicles can slowly move crazy large masses, but that doesn't mean the stock tow hook location can support the weight of the car. Maybe it can but I'd be impressed by those small fasteners used to secure the bumper bracket to the frame rails

I was.

Getting a running go and using a chain. That will be bad.

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740GLE said:

Pulling the car via tow hook doesn't mean the tow hook can support the weight of the car (3,400 lbs), pulling a car out of a ditch def doesn't require that much force, maybe half that? Also any rope that can be tied to the tow hook can be tied to the receive hitch.

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In my past life, I drove a wrecker (a tow truck with the boom in the back) for two years. In my training classes, we were told that the pulling tension can be as high as 3 times the weight of the stuck vehicle when the vehicle is stuck in the mud. Of course, this is a worse case scenario where the axles or control arms are buried in the mud.

If you lose the factory tow point because of the aftermarket hitch, there are receiver shackles that will fit in the hitch. I'm not sure about the 1.25" hitches, but there are some for 2" hitches.

I just bought a 2015 TDI 2.0. I assume it’s a CRUA engine it has the adbleu regen. My owners manual says that 2L/150hp (110kw) diesel engine DSG Automatic This vehicle cannot be used to tow a trailer the vehicle will not be covered by any Volkswagen Limited Warranty. This includes the 24 months 100K warranty on the buy backs.

Any thoughts about this?
Thank you so much.
Rob

Rob, check out this link.

https://www.practicalcaravan.com/reviews/tow-car/31376-volkswagen-golf

The year is different but you can find more on the golf tdi by searching google.

Thank you for the link.

The MK7 CRUA with either manual or DSG. Maybe because it has 15 KW less engine power I am not sure if it was in the original manual that was with the car when new. But it certainly is in the manual that is now in the car on page 175. Maybe someone who has the original 2015 book can take look if the restriction is in there as well.

The wow bars that they sell in Europe by Westfalia uses two bars that go along the frame rails inside the frame and are bolted in. The USA version of tow bars uses the three or four bolts that holds the accident safety bumper behind the body part. Not sure if this is weaker.

The big question is will the warranty be voided is I do have a tower fitted just for a bike rack with light on the corners so I do have a 3.7 or 13 pin connector on there.

List of mods for my Mk7 planned:

1. MIB 2 Radio Upgrade
2. EcoHitch and the OEM wiring.

Regarding #2, does the OEM wiring also allow for the ABS/ECS systems to recognize towing when applicable?