Help With Custom Hitch

DPM

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 16, 2001
Location
Newtownards, N. Ireland
TDI
2019 Rav4 AWD Hybrid, Citroen C4 BlueHDI
For your further edification, here's a euro rear re-bar as fitted to (IIRC) a Polo. Notice the concertina-like ribs on the support, for controlled collapse.



And this is the euro-hitch as installed on a new Passat. It follows the line of the original rebar closely, giving the bumper's collapsible liner something to crush into.



 
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SilverGhost

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Location
Back in So Flo - St Lucie
TDI
'05 Golf - totaled :(, wife's '13 Beetle - buy back, TDIless
Pics of my homemade hitch

As promised here are some pictures of the hitch I have installed on my 2005 Golf; (click the pics for larger pics)

1) Here is the receiver sticking out under the lic plate. And yes, my solution for hooking up safety chains is ugly - I have been mulling over ideas to change it.

2) Here is a shot across the back of the car to show the receiver tucked in tight.

3) This picture shows the receiver sticking out under the 5mph bumper. Also hard to make out is the bottom of the tube going across behind the bumper. NOTE: The bumper cover is removed for the rest of the pics!

4) Here is the shot showing the cross tubing that the receiver is attached to. And, no that's not an optical illusion, the tubing was bowed slightly to follow the contours of the body work of the car.

5) This picture shows my FUGLY welding.:eek: I never was that great on a stick welder and this machine was junk. Back to the point, this shows how I mounted the hitch to the car. The stock bolts were replaced with longer grade 8s :)confused:). As others have commented - the flex and tension vs shear mounting are issues I want to resolve.

6) A little hard to see, but this shot shows that there is a mounting bolt on the outboard side of the shock in addition to the two bolts on the inboard of the shock. Also more of my HIDEOUS:( welding holding the cross tube to the mounting plate.
7) BONUS SHOT! Somehow during the original construction of my hitch, I had come to the conclusion that the 5mph bumper was directly behind the lic plate. This prevented having the receiver hidden behind the plate until needed. BUT, as this shot shows, there should be room to have the receiver behind the top 1/2 to 1/3 of the lic plate. Probably a tight fit for 2" but little problem for 1 1/4". The wire harness in the pic is going to the lic lights and those two screws are the holding the lic plate on.

I want to change my design some what. Thoughts I had;
- sandwich the hitch mount between the bumper shock and the body of the car. This would allow for a piece to reach into the frame opening to attach like the euro hitch does, without loosing or modifying the bumper shocks.
- move the receiver up behind the lic plate. My Scout (as well as Blazers and Broncos) had folding plate brackets. That or sliding catch (like a desk or toolbox drawer).
- add some way to stabilize a cargo carrier. I like DieselProgrammer's idea. It is removable to the point where nothing is visible. Main complaint is the hitch is still close the ground when in use. Having grown up in a town with steep driveways, I try for as much clearance as possible.

Results: Hitch works as designed. I have towed >2800lbs more than 2500 miles without incident. It handles the current duty of a 40"x48" trailer fine. I just don't know if I trust it putting a cargo carrier back there.

Jason
 
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SilverGhost

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Location
Back in So Flo - St Lucie
TDI
'05 Golf - totaled :(, wife's '13 Beetle - buy back, TDIless
DPM said:
And this is the euro-hitch as installed on a new Passat. It follows the line of the original rebar closely, giving the bumper's collapsible liner something to crush into.

You're going have a few people drooling:( or mad:mad:.....OR BOTH!:eek: Notice "PASSAT" and "TDI". Why oh why doesn't VW bring these over:D

Jason
 

SilverGhost

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Location
Back in So Flo - St Lucie
TDI
'05 Golf - totaled :(, wife's '13 Beetle - buy back, TDIless
robinhood said:
SilverGhost,

nice looking setup! I am thinking about a similar set up with the exception of the 5mph bumper. any chance you still have measurements from making your set up?

Thanks
Robin
I have the scale drawings that I made while designing the hitch. Of course they have scribbles all over from changes I made during the build. Some are improments and most are mistakes I made, such as reversing components or not figuring in the wall thinkness.

I'll post them up later when I get home.

Jason
 

Hatchet Ratchet

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Location
Freedom, WI
TDI
2004 Jetta PD
Das boot an der landung!



Well I finally finished my project. except for the wiring converter.... wired for tow in daylight only,
no running lights hooked up yet.

found out i had to have the car parked in 1st w/ ebrake on, hold on brake, push in clutch,
start car, let out clutch a bit, let off of brake, giver some juice
till the car pulled against the ebrake, then let off ebrake,
and let out clutch as increasing throttle to get boat out of landing....
was the first shot at using a manual trans to launch a boat.

if i can get all the pictures complied, i may have to put together a how to pdf. or just upload pics to the
server for the hitch.
 
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Hatchet Ratchet

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Location
Freedom, WI
TDI
2004 Jetta PD
Hatchet Hitch Pics

a thankyou to DieselProgrammer for his custom build and posts as a great starting point for my project. i did take lots of pictures through out my build and hope to share, or possibly build these for other TDI Clubers.
a fair warning, the fitup is very custom:confused: , meaning lots of tack, weld, grind, beat, haudraulic press, roll, ect. btw for anyone not experienced w/ stainless, it really pulls when the welds cool, especially if you put a lot of heat into a given weld. i did weld from one side and back gouge my weakest joints to base material and weld from the opposite sides to achive, knock on wood, full penetration welds. the rest were just groove and fillet one side welds. i did use gas backing for a purge weld for the pie wedge cutouts on the crossbar to hopefully keep any cracks from developing down the road.

i didn't take a whole lot of measurements as most of it was just fit up trial and error.

the hitch style is very similar to DieselProgrammer's, however, i opted just to go w/ the 2" reciever style, not stealth, keep the 5mph bumper and build it to withstand a nuclear blast. you'll get to see more pics later showing off my so so tig welds. its not a hidden style. i may pull off the crossbar and polish up the reciever part real good.

no reciever yet, just a clear view of the shock absorbers bolted to the studs on the main stud plates 1/2"thk, 5/8" studs, nuts, rolled to fit rear body curve crossbar, 3/8" studs to mount the shock absorber plates to, they had to be drilled out to take a larger american stud.


this shows the 1/4"sq. washers, 3/8" studs & nuts that mount to the angle inside the frame rail, 5/8" stud & nut that holds the crossbar to the studplate. and yest if you look close at the crossbar, it is acutally (2) 2x2x3/16 angle welded toe to toe to make the 2"sq section. its what i had to work with.

this shows a 2" sq. tube w/ center marked, i measured off of two symetrical stamped points before i tacked up the reciever to the cross bar to verify the reciever was in line w/ the car. also shows the safety chain ears in this view, w/ 5mph bumper re-installed. the lower part of the plastic on the rear bumper had to be cutout to allow for the reciever where it is welded to the crossbar. the weakest weld is ball park calculated for an aproximate 200lb bouncing load w/ a factor of safety of 2 with restricted allowable working stress values. not the full 80ksi ultimate of stainless. i think i used something like 2/3 theroretical yeild for allowable weld stress to validate the acual weld sizes used.
 
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