Show what you tow!

I got the same tires on my adventure trailer, just smaller..

For my Camper I'd be tempted to put some BFG TA KO2's on 15's, I'm running em on the Q7 on 17's and we boondock and want to camp early and late in the year, super thick sidewall.. Trailers are tough on sidewalls and with nobody riding in the back whom cares about stiffness, its more predictable and less influenced..

How about the leaf springs on it, are they shot? they arent flattened out or anything right?

I've had really good luck using car/truck tires on trailers instead of trailer tires strangely enough. Car/truck tires are much higher quality tires in general, better construction, similar/higher load ratings, more stable, etc. Many times you can find a pair of used tires at a local tire shop for a reasonable cost that will work well on a trailer. Often times someone will have road hazard damage on one tire and the others have 1/3 tread left on them and they replace all 4 since winter is approaching or something like that. Beware of the date on the tire so you don't get something 10 years old.

Hello,

Fix_Until_Broke said:

I've had really good luck using car/truck tires on trailers instead of trailer tires strangely enough. Car/truck tires are much higher quality tires in general, better construction, similar/higher load ratings, more stable, etc.

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I switched to passenger radials, too. In fact, my wheels/tires are full-sized spares from sold-back TDIs. I must admit that I keep my loads at 1000 lbs or less. I figure that any pair of passenger radials made to carry the 2271-lb front GAWR at 35 psi is probably giggling at my modest 1000-lb trailer at 25 psi. The ride is smooth and the tires are speed-rated. Seems like a win to me.



Scott

Also could be the Shasta camper has more weight up higher (cabinets and such) that makes it a little top heavy compared to other campers. Add in softer sidewalls, worn springs AND bushings, and no shocks or sways bars you end up with a trailer that likes to sway and is much happier towing below 60MPH.

Jason

Hello,

I've been doing a project at home which requires me to clear out the garage. So far, I've moved all of this into a storage unit with my "baby trailer:"



I've used the trailer so much lately that I've had plenty of opportunities to "stunt park."



I have enough different photos that I decided to write an article about it. Feel free to have a look.

Scott

Sway Bars?

Question for the experienced. I just picked up a pair of swaybars for
my MkIV, an H&R 25mm rear, and a VW front 25mm with adjustable end links. A local who sold his VR6, and is cleaning out his garage.

The price of $30 for the pair was so silly I jumped at them. I don't necessarily want them for daily driving purposes, I'm happy with my current suspension setup (see my sig). But with a planned circumnavigation of the continent coming up this spring with a ~1200# tear drop camper, I'm wondering whether beefing up the suspension is beneficial.

I will also be very occasionally towing my 2500# boat/trailer combo.

Worthwhile?

Cheers!
R*2

Upgrading the Sway bar wont help with towing, you shouldn't be driving it that hard w/a trailer to notice.

Tow Bags are the best suspension upgrade for towing.

Every truck I have even towed with had upgraded sway bars, I am not sure why you nay-say on R*2's question regarding his Golf.

With a truck, the hitch is higher, especially in 5th wheel applications, and there's probably more force acting against the hitch. Everything is happening at a higher center of gravity on a truck. It's hard to imagine a swaybar could help much on a car with a hitch that's ~10" from the ground.

Here is a question: Could a Jetta Wagon TDI safely tow a Mazda Miata 750 miles?

What's the weight of the miata and trailer, or tow bar? How is you wagen set up?

Miata is 2100 lbs
Trailer would be a rental like U-Haul so about 2100 lbs also
Bosal towbar on Jetta

Not sure what your car is rated for but my 10 is rated in Europe for a maximum of 3300 pounds with proper equipment.

I wouldn't do it with 4200 lbs. With a tow dolly maybe. The hitch ball weight of that would be way too much.

Lightflyer1 said:

I wouldn't do it with 4200 lbs. With a tow dolly maybe. The hitch ball weight of that would be way too much.

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Unfortunately you can't use a tow dolly with the Miata (at least the 1st generation) as the gear oil will be at the rear of the transmission. As I understand it, the gear train rests in the oil when the car is level; with a dolly, the gears that turn when the rear wheels turn won't get sufficient lubrication.

So it looks like I'll either have to drive the Miata one-way or rent a pickup and autotrailer from U-haul.

Thanks for the info, guys!

@romad - Silly question then, why not tow it backwards with the steering locked? We used to do that with RWD trucks so the rear end was not turning. Other option (I think I know the answer) is why not disconnect the drive shaft?

Jason

Swaybars, in our case have been installed in the Beetle for years. Recently, we have run into a problem where the rear swaybar adjustment on the passenger side seems to be out and we are getting a fender rub with the trailer on big dips in the road. I have tried to adjust the coil overs but the swaybar is pulling that side of the car down.

I have new heim joints to replace the rusty ones and will install this weekend to fix this and then we are off to the Washington coast for some camping.

I think the swaybars provide stability by tightening up the car. If you have a light trailer and even lighter tongue weight, the car will hold the rig straighter where it might want to start swaying without the added support of swaybars. The Beetle is rock solid with the trailer and I think it is due to the swaybars, coil overs and fully adjustable shocks. I wouldn't have it any other way

The tongue weight (approximately 10%) of a 4200 lbs trailer would be well over the max for the Bosal like Lightflyer1 says. I would expect that the trailer is a dual axle rig and would have brakes on both axles. The trailer brakes would definitely help and if you could lower the tongue weight to the hitch capacity it might work. If the Bosal has a 175 lbs tongue weight, you would have to slide the load back to the rear of the trailer creating a very bouncy situation with the potential for fishtailing.

Have you considered flat towing with a towbar like kjclow suggested? I think dweisel has done that to retrieve many of his flock of Beetles.

Here's a recent adventure escaping from Irma... Tandem towing with my 40' diesel RV. Surprisingly, the mileage didn't drop as much as I expected, only lost about 2mpg from the extra load!

Seems the bigger the engine is the more you REALLY have to work it to affect mileage.

Sent from my One using Tapatalk

SilverGhost said:

@romad - Silly question then, why not tow it backwards with the steering locked? We used to do that with RWD trucks so the rear end was not turning. Other option (I think I know the answer) is why not disconnect the drive shaft?

Jason

Click to expand...

Yes, I considered both of those options but wanted to try the easiest way first. I have time as I won't need to do this until next year.

Not actually towing, not actually a TDI, and not actually my car. Wanted to share though.
Here is my friends 2.5 JSW weighed down with the pop-up I just recently got. I just got a Westfalia hitch, harness, and tow bar cutout diffuser for my MK6 GTI (Again sorry not a TDI, but not many people interested in towing on the other forums.) and I just need to get a brake controller and put it all together. So hopefully soon, I'll have pictures of that. The picture is of the trailer loaded fully onto the JSW, we didn't pull it all because of a few reasons. It was cool to see how it looked and how much it weighed it down though. The trailer is right at 2,000lbs unloaded and hitch weigh with full propane and the battery was weighed at about 300lbs. That's way too much, and I won't be towing it that way, but it was a good visual to see. The JSW has a 2" EcoHitch and AirLift helper bags in the back, they were only at about 5PSI when the picture was taken though.

Geordi said:

Here's a recent adventure escaping from Irma... Tandem towing with my 40' diesel RV. Surprisingly, the mileage didn't drop as much as I expected, only lost about 2mpg from the extra load!

Click to expand...

Since both the jeep and trailer are narrower and shorter than the RV, you probably don't get much extra drag. What kind of mileage do you usually get in that rig?

Geordi said:

Here's a recent adventure escaping from Irma... Tandem towing with my 40' diesel RV. Surprisingly, the mileage didn't drop as much as I expected, only lost about 2mpg from the extra load!

Click to expand...

How'd you get away with that? It is illegal in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North & South Carolina.

"escaping from Irma"

I'm guessing the "powers that be" turned a blind eye in view of the circumstances.

kjclow said:

Since both the jeep and trailer are narrower and shorter than the RV, you probably don't get much extra drag. What kind of mileage do you usually get in that rig?

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I don't have 100% accurate numbers at the moment, I only just bought a heavy truck Scangauge on this trip. The previous owner said he got around 11mpg, but that could be at 55mph / not towing / not much in the water tanks / and no generator while driving. I was doing 65, I have slightly smaller tires on it right now (new for this trip) and towing with the generator on and full water tank. On the previous tires which were taller, I *think* I was getting around 9mpg with the generator running, but I was also running faster then too. Once I have a chance to put some miles on at the same speed but not towing, I can get a more accurate image - I'm not impressed with these tires though, they will be getting swapped out again when I have the chance. I'm going to try and sell the old ones first, then I'll pick up another set of used truck shoes, swap them, and sell these shorter ones. Buying used for $75 each is WAY better than new for $500 each!

romad said:

How'd you get away with that? It is illegal in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North & South Carolina.

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Officially, tandem towing is allowed only with a CDL, yet I have seen more and more 5th wheel RVs towing tandem. Nobody seems to care about them. I've also seen a couple HUGE motorhomes (one that has been on TV a few times) with bumper pull cargo trailers behind, and a bumper pull BOAT behind that. Way longer than my setup.

Rrusse11 said:

"escaping from Irma"

I'm guessing the "powers that be" turned a blind eye in view of the circumstances.

Click to expand...

I agree with this as well. I fully expected to be pulled over at least once and hassled with, but after driving past no less than 50 troopers in 3 states while going in both directions (these guys were EVERYWHERE) and they were definitely running enforcement on the way back... Nobody even blinked at us. Fate protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise.

Here's a very good video demonstration showing the importance of proper weight distribution when towing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd-hUX8memY&t=150

.

Hello,

I think we've been sharing some trailer setup advice in this mega-thread. I recently went to repack my hubs since my trailer may be joining us on an upcoming 1800-mile road trip. Rather than repacking, I discovered some hubs that feature a zerk fitting which flushes grease through the bearings and out the front of the hub (sort of like a Dexter axle). Purchasing them was overkill for my current needs since they're pre-packed, but the fittings will come in handy when it's time to "repack" next year.

Here are the exact hubs I purchased: https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200466891_200466891


Before putting the Tiguan centercap in place...


I have more photos and a write-up at https://stealthgti.com/2017/10/23/ultra-tow-trailer-hubs/. The swap was super-easy.

Scott

Scott, did dirt caps come on the zerk fittings? If not, suggest you get some so grit isn't pushed into the bearings when you regrease them.