Westfalia (or Bosal) hitch & SoCal custom fabrication

[mauric6943]

I know, I know, I too hate seeing threads on the same subject but I promise you I've done numerous search and do not post lightly.

over the 4th of July I Picked up a 2010 JSW 6spd and immediately started thinking about a hitch rack. After doing a few cursory searches and finding some promising info, I even went so far as to buy a Thule rack that requires a 2" receiver. We have lots of bikes.

From everything I've read, either Westfalia or Bosal is the way to go. The towbars are expensive but everyone who has installed one says there solid. I want one. I've even emailed a fellow board member that has a Wesfalia towbar for sale.

Ok, enough background, now for the issue/questions

First, the Bosal rack. Where can I get one? I've contacted etrailer.com and they don't carry a Bosal rack that fits the JSW.

The main reason I'm interested in the Bosal is due to the 2" receiver adapter from etrailer. $200 is steep but it meets all my needs assuming I can find the towbar AND it'll accept the attachment

http://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Accessories/Bosal/BSL043964.html

Now for the Westfalia. I've seen a handful of custom solutions that people have devised but I zero fabrication skills. No reason to sugarcoat, the truth is the truth.

The custom solution I like the most is #73 in DarrenF towbar install thread.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=2823550&postcount=73

Compared to others I've seen, this solution makes sense. Any guesses on what work like this might cost? Also, if anyone knows a reputable shop (or shade tree fabricator) let me know.

I don't want to pull the trigger on the towbar without a clear idea of how much more I'll need to spend to actually get to use my rack.

THanks for reading and if there is anything I've left out of my consideration please let me know.

maurice

 

[poweredbytdi]

The Bosal 2" receiver available at etrailer.com pairs with a Jeep hitch. You will need to see if it will pair with their other hitches. Once you know, please post so the community knows the answer. Both the Westfalia and Bosal hitches are available from online retailers in the UK, some also in the US. I can post some links later describing where they are.

 

[mauric6943]

From etrailer.com
---------------------
Thank you for your email.

The hitches in your email are designed for completely different vehicles and
will not fit the Jetta SportWagen. Currently Bosal does not make a hitch for the
Jetta. The following link will take you to the recommended hitch and wiring kit
for your vehicle.

http://www.etrailer.com/partlist.aspx?pc=60283,119179KIT&csrid=104

----------------------

The link takes you to a Hidden Hitch model w/1 1/4" receiver. From looking at the Bosal site, I believe they make a towbar for the JSW but it must be something etrailer is currently selling.

pfjones and eurohitches are the only sites I've come across with the Westfalia hitch but I'm hesitant to buy until I have a plan/price for fitting a 2" receiver.

 

[poweredbytdi]

Links I had saved in the past looking at doing this myself:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=269692

PF Jones UK dealer
http://www.pfjones.co.uk/tow-bars/t...state/vw-golf-6-estate-2009-2013-towbars.html
Also:
http://www.eurohitches.com

I still wonder if the bosal 2" receiver will fit their European hitches.

For wiring harnesses I have seen people use the etrailer solution and also make their own harness. vw_leadfoot has some great write ups:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=290710
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=299779

 

[mauric6943]

I've seen this one before also but Unfortunately I don't skills to replicate.

Links I had saved in the past looking at doing this myself:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=269692

If you pursue this option will you do the fabrication yourself? Or have you looked into prices for having the fabrication done by a shop?

Anyone in SoCal have any suggestions? I saw a thread on another site of a guy in CAN that make his own towbar. He made a few others but he said that the cost would come very close to the Westfalia or Bosal. I'm open to suggestions.

maurice

 

[mauric6943]

Just a quick bump in case anyone has any ideas for me. Going to post over on VWVortex too since this isn't a TDI only question

 

[h2oskier]

Hi, mauric6943 & poweredbytdi,

Have you heard anything yet? I have a 2011 Jetta TDI and I am kind of in the same boat as you. I want to utilize the Bosal 2" Hitch Adaptor sold by etrailer with a Bosal towbar made for my car.

I've actually planned to purchase Bosal over Westfalia for the sole reason of not fabricating. That said, I think the Westfalia is the better build and will likely fit the styrofoam insert in the spare tire compartments in our cars; though, please don't quote me on this.

I plan to purchase through PF Jones. I am waiting to hear back from PF Jones as to which towbar will fit my car as, according to their website, both of the detachable towbars from Bosal listed on their site appear to fit my car (034-583 or 049-533). The latter 'looks' like it would fit the Bosal 2" receiver sold by eTrailer, but I'm not sure.

So enough about my car, the joint beneficial question for all our cars is: What model/manufacture number, code, etc can we use form the Bosal 2" Receiver sold by eTrailer in order to link this to the towbars sold by PF Jones. As of late, neither eTrailer nor PF Jones have been able to answer my questions.

I will post if I find anything.

 

[schreibers]

I don't know about Bosal, but I know when I was looking for a replacement swan neck for my Westfalia those are all interchangeable from what I was told (though obviously the neck curves vary from vehicle to vehicle). Having said that I would wager it would work and if it doesn't you eTrailer has a very good return policy. First though you have to find a Bosal hitch for the NA/Euro Golf Wagen/JSW (or fabricate one using a non specific donor).

I ran into a situation where my car was lowered but we built a teardrop travel trailer. Westfalia was the perfect height and the JSW towed like a dream. However with both vehicles fully loaded the H&R springs were hurting so I swapped in tiggy springs and now the Westfalia ball was too high. I found many neck alternatives on ebay.uk but shipping was crazy so I gave up on the idea of hacking one up to as the base for a custom receiver. I ended up tig welding a receiver to my swan neck.

Might be something you could have done & it would be way cheaper than $200 for that eTrailer part. Especially if you cut the receiver to mate up and all they have to do is weld. I like your idea because you'd have the best of both worlds (swan neck & separate plug in 2" receiver for your bike rack). That was my plan too but it just wasn't cost effective.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aj52sbmlajgogaa/IMG_20131111_144427.jpg

 

[h2oskier]

Ok. I was hoping to find a part number from the specific towbar/receiver used on the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee in order to find out what specific towbar/receiver part number to look for when searching for one to fit my car, or simply to confirm the one I purchase for my car will accept the Bosal Detachable 2" Reciever Adaptor. Thus I looked up the towbar/receiver kit from etrailer thru the bosal catalogue

(http://www.catalogue.bosal.com/pdf/pdf_mi/048443.pdf)

using the fields: [other contries], Jeep, Grand Cherokee, [Select], 2012; Again, I've received conflicting information. If you watch the video from etrailer

(http://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Accessories/Bosal/BSL043964.html),

and compare it to the PDF from Bosal's catalogue, the receiver appears welded to the towbar in the video from etrailer and bolted together in the PDF from Bosal's catalogue.

That said, Bosal's PDF catalogue shows the bolted individual receiver part number to be 99-4071-350 and the total complete part number for the towbar/receiver and all parts is 048443.

Finally, etrailer's part number may be proprietary and is BSL047143 and the Detachable 2" Receiver Adaptor is BSL043964.

I am unsure if Bosal produced more than one type of detachable towbar/receiver for this vehicle. After doing the query under [all countries] I would assume receiving one result meant that they only produced one type towbar/receiver for this vehicle.

I heard from Bosal that they (Bosal) were having some difficulty with the etrailer 2"Receiver Adaptor. Who knows if this means anything, but it may or may not explain the difference in towbars form the etrailer's video and Bosal's catalogue.

I feel dizzy.

 

[mauric6943]

H2O - Unfortunately I haven't made much process other than getting some information from a fellow JSW owner that a 2" mod for his Westfalia.

As for the Bosal adapter, I got the distinct impression from eTrailer that the Bosal doesn't have a towbar that works with the adapter the sell. I also came across a thread somewhere where a person had purchased the adapter and confirmed that it did not fit his bosal towbar. I've only seen the adapter for sale on eTrailer so I'm going to assume that it is a limited item with limited application.

I also ran across a post somewhere that showed a guy who made his own towbar and vertical 2" adapter. I don't know TN I'd bet there's a shop that would be happy to fab something for you if you can find the specs and the process will be better than what I'll pay here in Southern CA. If I run across the links, I'll post up

 

[h2oskier]

Thanks. I had already read all the posts you've mentioned.

I'm not opposed to fabricating and this may be what I'll do, but any fabrication for the 2" Adaptor will be completed using a spare swan neck. Money isn't an impediment because I'll be keeping the car forever and this towing setup is important to me.

When I get it all together and installed, I'll do a complete writeup including costs, procedures and lots of pictures.

 

[uberdiesel]

This is what I did way back when with a bosal hitch on my mk4 wagon.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=201865

It was an adapter I fabricated that received any 2" carrier that existed.

However, the bosal hitch I have on my mk6 Golf is different and can't be modified the same way....

But I'm thinking about it!

 

[SFHGolfTDI]

I'm not sure if you're still looking for a fabricator in Southern California, but I was looking through some of the other hitch posts, and one guy used them:
http://www.eckharts.com/index.html

I can't find the thread now, but he had them custom fabricate a hitch with 2" receiver behind his bumper.

EDIT: Found the thread with the build from Left Coast Resident: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=353573

He says it only cost him about $200-$300 to have them fabricate that setup.

 

[Jedadiah]

Another option instead of fabricating would be to buy a Thule rack from Amazon in the UK. I bought a Thule Express two bike and even shipped the price wasn't bad. Actually it was less than comparable Thule 2" receiver models I've seen for sale here. In shopping, i realized that the seller has to be Amazon or they won't ship to the US.

The express clamps on the euro ball like crazy. There is no moving it and it's easy to remove. Here's a link to a product search on their site.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...s=thule+bike+rack&sprefix=Thule+bike+,aps,306

 

[SFHGolfTDI]

Only works if you don't already have an expensive rack! Also, we have another car with a hitch and it would be nice to use on both.

 

[Early8Q]

If I am understanding correctly, you want to adapt a receiver hitch to a bosal/westfalia style towbar. I recall seeing someone, on this forum, who used a Landrover receiver in place of the towbar; it mounted where the towbar would normally be installed.

That said, I think it would be worth the money to use a true towbar mounted bike rack, as referenced above. The beauty of the towbar, aside from the clearance, strength, and OEM nature of the towbar is the quietness and stability of the towbar. It doesn't rattle like a receiver tends to in my experience. I would look hard at buying a true tow bar mounted bike rack if I were you. PFJones among others will sell to us in North America, and to me the expense would be worth it as opposed to a fabricated receiver. Just my opinion.... I have been using a bosal tow bar since 2009 and will never go back to a receiver hitch if I can help it.

 

[SFHGolfTDI]

Like I said, my other car is a Jeep CRD with a normal 2" hitch and I just bought a Thule T2 platform bike rack for the Jeep. I'm in no rush to buy a hitch for the Golf, but if I did, I'm not going to double up on bike carriers, as elegant as the euro carriers are. If Bosal would just get their act together for the North American market, like they almost did with that hitch adapter, we'd all be in better shape. Sounds like they're having to go through the DOT stuff now and so all production is on hold (including sales to IDParts and other suppliers). They could still be ordered form abroad, from PFJones and such, but if you're looking for a good hybrid solution to accept state side accessories, you're out of luck.

 

[mauric6943]

My situation is similar to SFHGolfTDI, I already have a Thule rack that requires a 2" receiver and the 2 bike extension. It's my own fault for not confirming what is was going to take to get the JSW prepared before purchasing the racks, but done is done.

Thanks for the reference to Eckhart. Oddly enough, I bumped into another cyclist here in SoCal with a JSW and she had Eckhart fabricate the hitch for her. That may be my ultimate solution although it didn't look quite as clean as the Bosal or Westfalia solutions.

I did receive some great information from glslutz regarding his solution (hyperlink in 1st post) that I'm keeping just in case I go that route. My bikes haven't seen nearly enough road or singletrack time in the last several months so my motivation to choose an option has waned.

maurice

 

[SFHGolfTDI]

Unfortunately, etrailer has stopped selling that adapter and all Bosal items because I think they are still going through DOT approval--that was the info I got from IDParts who can't get any new hitches from them until they add the chain attachment. IDParts is now limited to the stock they have on hand.

I'm fairly certain that the tow hitches for the MK4 (at least that IDParts carries) would take the adapter (user Romad in this thread posted a pic of his and it looks identical), but now with the adapter no longer available, it is a moot point and we are left to waiting again for an elegant out-of-the-box eurohitch solution to be made available to us here in the NA market. I can't afford it now anyway, but it seemed there was a short window, in theory, when someone could have picked up a eurohitch and the etrailer adapter and had an awesome setup. However, I haven't found anyone on this forum that got in on that.

 

[SFHGolfTDI]

My situation is similar to SFHGolfTDI, I already have a Thule rack that requires a 2" receiver and the 2 bike extension. It's my own fault for not confirming what is was going to take to get the JSW prepared before purchasing the racks, but done is done.

Thanks for the reference to Eckhart. Oddly enough, I bumped into another cyclist here in SoCal with a JSW and she had Eckhart fabricate the hitch for her. That may be my ultimate solution although it didn't look quite as clean as the Bosal or Westfalia solutions.

I did receive some great information from glslutz regarding his solution (hyperlink in 1st post) that I'm keeping just in case I go that route. My bikes haven't seen nearly enough road or singletrack time in the last several months so my motivation to choose an option has waned.

maurice

What did you end up doing?