Westfalia Euro Trailer Hitch – DIY – 54 pics

2012 golf rear euro bumpers

Shniba45 said:

Would it be possible to get this same info for a Mk6 Golf? I've been through the various threads on the westfalia and don't recall ever seeing the part numbers.

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here you go
2012 golf rear euro bumpers

Question about access cover for the rear bumper

I really enjoyed your detailed article about the trailer hitch installation, and I would like to find somebody who can do it for me (I am not very good with tools) but before I will order the hitch I want to buy every little pieces including the access door and I did call Ecs and they are not carrying the item anymore, do you have any idea where can I locate one?
Thank you.
Petfixr

petfixr said:

I really enjoyed your detailed article about the trailer hitch installation, and I would like to find somebody who can do it for me (I am not very good with tools) but before I will order the hitch I want to buy every little pieces including the access door and I did call Ecs and they are not carrying the item anymore, do you have any idea where can I locate one?
Thank you.
Petfixr

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Thanks. I had the euro valance ordered from Parts4Euro. IIRC it was around $500. Also ensure they ship it in a box and not in a bag like mine was Then you will need it painted too...luckily mine was replaced since I had been rear ended and convinced the body shop they didn't want to try to do it homemade style as they would waste too much time doing it...they dealt with the ordering and the receiving of the part and also had to repair it as it was "folded" during shipping since it was sent in a plastic bag

As for the install, if you are uncomfortable doing it perhaps a local GTG might find you someone willing to help you out?

Wow!

Big Thank You Leadfoot! Just installed a Westfalia hitch on my 2013 JSW. This write up made it a breeze. Welded the chain links on for safety chains as you described. The heads up on the clips in the wheel wells and the fastners on the heat shield made them a snap to take apart. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the install went. Terrific pictures!

paddlecar said:

Big Thank You Leadfoot! Just installed a Westfalia hitch on my 2013 JSW. This write up made it a breeze. Welded the chain links on for safety chains as you described. The heads up on the clips in the wheel wells and the fastners on the heat shield made them a snap to take apart. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the install went. Terrific pictures!

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Coolio! Excellent...glad it all worked out for you...




.

I got a deal off ebay for a Westfalia that fir a Golf for my JSW.
The spacing was the same for the frame rails, but the mounting holes were different.
I drilled the rails for the rearmost holes and welded nuts on the insides like the original and drilled the front for the proper spacing for the front. It ended up fitting OK and fit behind the bumper cover OK as well.
It was a little kludged, but more than adequate and I saves a LOT of money. The guy selling it included a light adapter that also worked great.
I reccommend the Westfalia (preferrably the corrrect ont that doesn't require drilling and welding).

Access door dimensions

Hi!
We try to install a Westfalia euro hitch but I do not have the right size access cover.Can you tell me the dimensions, so we can cut out the correct size and later when it will arrive we can refitted.thank you.

petfixr said:

Hi!
We try to install a Westfalia euro hitch but I do not have the right size access cover.Can you tell me the dimensions, so we can cut out the correct size and later when it will arrive we can refitted.thank you.

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As mentioned above, the access panel size is indicated on the inside of the bumper when you remove it. There is a slightly raised line showing you where to cut.

Curious to where you think you are getting the access panel as no one state side sells them anymore that I am aware of? Also, how are you holding this panel in place if you don't have the Euro valance?

Bringing this back from the dead... I want to install the westfalia towbar on my MK6 Golf and the physical install seems straightforward enough minus the access cover.

vw_leadfoot in your research did you figure out what connections would be necessary to install the VW Trailer Control Module? The module is easy enough to source in the states since both the Touareg and Tiguan have it. I would imagine in Europe there is a part number for tow prewiring (I can't imagine VW installs it at the factory in every Golf). Here in the states the Touareg and Tiguan come from factory with the prewiring installed so as far as I know there is no part number here. This module will cover the lighting aspect as well as automatically adapting the Stability Control program to control trailer sway, alarm goes off if trailer is disconnected, light bulb monitoring, and adapting the RVC and OPS systems when a trailer is connected.

Basically I want to stay OEM for the trailer electrics as well as tow bar. If you have any insight into this it would be greatly appreciated.

Answered my own question... It seems on the PFJones site you can order the towbar with dedicated electrics. I looked at the install manual for them and they in fact trigger all the OEM stuff like the stability program as it taps into the CANBUS. When I get this installed I will post a DIY and my results with coding in the trailer module.

Yes when you order the hitch from PFJones you'll get the module and Euro 6-Pin plug...not worth the hassle to install if you ask me to figure out the electrics unless you own a VCDS and know your way around the program.

Just put mine in, decided on the do it yourself bumper cut, went ok, need some plastic and dzus fasteners to finish it up.

I found the heat shield clips would thread off the studs they were on by using a screw driver to chase them around, minimal distress to the clips and it went right back together with a push, I used Leadfoots muffler clamp solution to provide a plate for safety chains, however I think I made it a smidge too narrow, the right link is close enough to the knob I'm worried it will cause issues.. oh well, welder is still plugged in and it's a snap to add some extra meat..

Including removing the curt hitch and welding up the safety chain bracket it took me 6 hours, all in all not bad, Leadfoots pictures and writeup were key for a painless bumper removal and refit!

ihatespeed said:

Just put mine in....Leadfoots pictures and writeup were key for a painless bumper removal and refit!

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Thanks...glad it went fairly well! Instead of revamping the safety chain piece you made up you could always just use a small SS shackle on the loop...that is what I do now with my current setup...it is just so much easier to snap the chain on the shackle than dig under there to find the chain link.

I was installing an eco hitch, and found OP's posting here very helpful. It starts out very similar. Here is a link to an installation of the ecohitch. between the two, it made for some very good instructional help. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=4781869

7-pin or 13-pin

I guess I should have asked before I purchased the wiring harness. I bought the Westfalia detachable hitch and the 7 pin Euro wiring harness from PFJones. I want to use it to pull a small camper at some point that would need a 7 pin US flat blade style connection. Is this possible with the wiring harness I have or do I need to exchange it for the 13 pin before I install everything.

7 pin or 13 pin makes little difference. In the US the 7 pin has different wiring. The euro has separate wires for the brake and turn indicatosr and the US standard has the brake and turn lamps together. You will need a three wire to two wire converter to combine the single brake wire and the two separate turn indicators.
E-trailers sell them. Fortunately if you installed the electrical kit there is no need for powered converters since you are not connecting the actual left and right lamps from the car to the trailer wiring. The module is already powered from the car and it's circuits are separate and also detects the trailer hookup.
I used this one"

http://www.etrailer.com/Wiring/Tow-Ready/119178.html

ClarkThaShark said:

I guess I should have asked before I purchased the wiring harness. I bought the Westfalia detachable hitch and the 7 pin Euro wiring harness from PFJones. I want to use it to pull a small camper at some point that would need a 7 pin US flat blade style connection. Is this possible with the wiring harness I have or do I need to exchange it for the 13 pin before I install everything.

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You should be able to once you code the module for North America. No conversion modules necessary. Just wire up the turn signals, tails, and ground at a minimum (other lights if you have them) straight to a euro 7 pin adapter. The only light on the euro that the US 7 pin doesnt have is rear fog. I have a flat 4 wired straight to my 13 pin westfalia and it works great.

Wire Crazy

Thank you redbarron and gjas for your input!

First I am not an expert but I love working on cars and learning new things. So this is my thinking on my wiring thoughts.

12N 7-Pin Euro Wiring
1 - Yellow -1 Left Indicator
2 - Blue - Foglight
3 - White - Earth
4 - Green - Right Indicator
5 - Brown - Right Tail / side light
6 - Red - Break / Stop Lights
7 - Black - Left Tail / side light

7-Pin US Flat Blade (Bargman plug)
1 - White - Ground
2 - Blue - Trailer Breaks
3 - Brown - Tail / Running Lights
4 - Red - 12 V+ charging
5 - L turn /Stop Lights
6 - R Turn / Stop Lights
7 - Aux

So would it be possible to put a 7-pin US Flat Blade socket on instead of the 12N Euro and just wire accordingly?

I would just run a separate wire from the battery to the 7-Pind US Flat Blade #4 for the 12V+ and then wire the 12N pin #5 and #7 together and use in the 7-Pin Flat Blade as 3-Brown-Tail/Running Lights.

Any Thoughts?

If you can recode your module per GJAS18 then the turn indicators will include the proper brake turn information.
If like my system your module will not take the code then the converter will be necessary.
The newer Euro only module are not programmable for country per Westfalia. It seems that Westfalia used to be the OEM module provider, but is no longer.
The OEM provided modules like are supplied for the Tiguan and Touareg can be programmed and the older modules can be. Perhaps the more expensive electrical kits can be as well.
The units with the two plugs seem to be programmable and the ones with the single longer connector don't seem to be. You can always try with the VCDS and it may work. Always worth a try. I tried many times with mine and also asked the distributor in Germany and they checked with Westfalia and at least the module I have is not programmable.
Good luck and you should have no problems with rewiring the plugs other than the brake/turn issue.

You could definitely wire up the connector to a US plug but the downside is it wont mount to the towbar. The bar has a spot for the electrical socket to mount and unless you make something custom a US plug wont mount to it.

What is the part number of your electrical kit? Is it one of the universal kits or the dedicated electrics? The part number for the 7 pin with country code is 321600300153. There should be one number different I believe since they should have sent you the version for LHD cars.

Also if you need a valence with hitch access... refer to my other trailer thread
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=4885198#post4885198

For a few more detailed instructions on installing the towbar and electrics see my post on Golfmk6.

http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1963339

Thanks to this thread (and gjas18 specifically for the rear valence part #) I've successfully installed the towbar, along with a north-american 7-pin connector.
It took some modification to the connector itself (one of these), and to the towbar (grinding out a slot), but overall it turned out better than I had expected!
I don't have any pictures with the valence installed, but here's how I installed the north-american connector.



















My lines weren't perfectly straight, but after trimming off the excess at the bottom you wouldn't even know!

For the electronics I just rigged up a small circuit board to drive the trailer lights off a 12v supply, triggered from the Golf's lights.
Towed a 6'x8' trailer full of stuff to the dump, and I barely knew it was back there. The Golf tows like a champ! Couldn't be happier.

Selling my Westfalia hitch now...local Ontario pickup only...

Westfalia Tow Bar c/w Euro Valance and bike rack
Tow Bar: Model: “321 630 600 001”, imported from the UK March 2012, with two detachable goosenecks, 50 mm fixed ball (2”)
Fits: Golf V Wagon 2007>, Golf VI Wagon 2009>, Jetta V 2005-2010
1800 kg / 3900 lb towing limit
Paid: $470
Sale: $225, some minor surface corrosion
Euro Valance: Model: 1K9 807 433B GRU, includes access panel and all hardware
Painted: Deep Pearl Black, easily repainted.
Paid: $525
Sale: $225
Euro Thule “HangOn” #972, tiltable 3-Bike Rack Carrier specially made for 50 mm fixed ball Westfalia Hitch, imported from the UK
Paid: $185
Sale: $100
Sale: Tow Bar, valance, and bike rack: $500 firm (Save $50 over individual parts)

Does anyone have copies of the photos in OP's main tutorial. The Flickrs, photobuckets of the world have ruined it. Doing this install tonight or tomorrow and dont want to screw up my rear bumper.

EDIT: I had messaged OP to see if he still had the photos to get this thread fixed. I never heard back from him and saw where he was rather rude to other folks asking for help in other threads. I wrote OP off and kept searching the rest of the internet. I was able to use this link: https://motoiq.com/project-mkvi-golf-tdi-lets-tow/2/ Note that you have to cycle through the pages at the bottom to read the full walk-through.