Hinged towing system for speedy

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More pixs

Looks sharp! I may have to do something like for when I leave here.

You can tell that you're an engineer, Dave. Nice job!

Very ingenious. On the last 3 cars that I have towed behind my motorhome, rather than tap into the electrical system or add external lights I have removed the tail light assembly, drilled a hole in the reflector then siliconed in a dual element socket for a GE57 bulb. I then wire that back to the front of the car and plug in. The beauty is that the separate system doesn't cause any backfeed in the tow vehicles's electrical system thus eliminating diodes. Works great if you have the room in the housing.

David - pretty cool set-up! Looks like it was a fun project.

The light bar is exactly the set up my neighbor and I dreamed up. Now I see what it'll look like. I'm gonna stay with the towbar that hooks to the beam, though.

~WB

David, Very NICE job.

I have a towbar that I had made for my Spyder. It is made out of a regular bug bar and a super ber, along with some additonal material for gussets and also a couple feet of tube. It weighs over 30 pounds and works quite well.

I like what you did for the bar, great work.

For the taillights, my Spyder already has a 4 pin trailer connector at the rear end for when you remove the entire engine cover. So I ran an extension to the front of the car and plug that in instead of the car's harness. The slack to the tow vehicle gets coiled up in the front trunk when not in use. Works flawlessly so far for over 2000 miles of flat-towing.

BTW, you need to use 2 safety chains from the tow vehicle to the towed vehicle in most states.

Danny - David has 2 to Tow vehicle and 2 to Tow'd in picture -so he's legsal right? Ingenious use of PVC for rear bumper light bar! Ha just need 3rd LED brake light in center and sign "I'm pushing as hard as I can".

I have traditional bympers on my garage queen and, of course, the brackets are mounted per the manual where the prevent use of std bug tow bar on the beam. It worked before I installed the bumper - but I used a Harbor Freight adjustable dropped hitch ($20) to lower the ball for alignment.

I've got to rig up something similiar! (I'd like to not have to remove the bumper though as it has fog lights and alignment was a pain compared to Nerf bars).

David - Where did you find the beefier U bolts for the front beam? I agree the CMC ones are feeble - ok for muffler but not for much else.

BillD... where did you get your tow bar? Could you provide rough dimensions and a close-up/detail of the clamp that attaches to the beam?

I got it from a guy on the Samba. It is made to pull a VW bus. I have not set it up or used it yet. Apparently you need a narrowed bar for a bus and after seeing it, and getting measurements from him, it will fit to the beam inside of each bumper mount. It has a long reach to clear the front valance and an upward gooseneck to reach the hitch ball. It also unbolts and comes apart for storage.

Wolfgang - 1000# rated U-bolts came from Marshals Hardware store,about five miles from home here in San Diego. Marshals carries every nut, bolt, fastner, clip or attaching do-dad known to man, in SAE or Metric! That is one advantage of living in a city of one million people!

http://www.marshallshardware.com/

Bill - I like what you've done with your tow bar. That was my first choice when I started - until I found speedy was was way too low for that style of bar.

Everyone should remember that a "standard" under-beam tow bar for a Beetle is a little too short for the front overhang on a speedster. The front "kick-up" will interfere. I had to extend the bottom tubing of one about 6 inches before it would fit. Don't know if same problem exists on a bus?

Beautiful work, David! Great job!

David, my tow lights came out great! Cost me less than 20 bucks.

~WB

This can only mean that Wild Bill is getting ready to tow "Blackie" behind his motorhome....the one with the James Bond "Ejection Wheel".

Too bad Wild Bill ran over the cat.

Another hardware (hot rods etc.) source in SoCal: King Bolt
http://local.yahoo.com/info-20722963-king-bolt-company-covina

I'm jealous!

I've been tempted to string a clothsline between the upright posts and attach some old ragged underwear while towing. Coarse, if you drive thru Arkansas, they'l probaby get stolen.

Are you going to use any type of hold-down strap from the lights to the bumper?

Just finished adapting an EMPI super beetle towbar adaptor plate to my IM chassis today. Basically a 3x7 angle which fits between the torsion mounts and allows maximum ground clearance for the towbar mounts. The adapter will be a perm part of the chassis with the EMPI adaptor being removable with 6 grade 8 bolts.

Tomm

Yes, I have a strap but it's not on yet. I also have some red/white high reflective tape that they use on school buses to stick on it. The sucker should light up like a roman candle!
I got these lights for 10 bucks!
http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/trailer-lights/12-volt-magnetic-towing-light-kit-96933.html

Michael, Funny you caught that. The cat is 20 years old and deaf as a stone. I raised the garage door, took the picture and closed the door. He never woke up.

~WB

Some pics of my setup. Got it all done today and took these. Hope they inspire / help others.

Tomm

Tomm - does that scrape when you go out the drive? Seems like it would on mine - even the nut on my hitch ball drags when I back out with adjustable hitch down.

Not sure who's Speedster's photo is of but i'm going to use it a a template.

My drive is a cliff. The hitch hits w/o the speedy hooked up! My procedure is to get both vehicles into the street and then hook up.

Tomm

Wolfgang - that red speedster pix is the one that inspired me to design my hinged tow bar. Thank you very much.

Tomm - beware of any speed bumps or repaved streets with rain gullys in them. That, and my own driveway, is what scared me off from putting the tow handles under the bodywork - where they belong! Wish you good results.

Getting things welded up on my towbar. In order to get the clearances right, it worked out that I have to graft the bug bar beam mounts to my stretched bar. It should look a lot like Tomm's except the bars will go back to the beam. Hope to get it back tomorrow.

I can relocate the tabs on the EMPI towbar to the centerline of the arms or even to the top of the arm but every inch severely limits angular travel and increases the risk of bumper damage. Without removal of the bumper, I could extend the steel plate out and then up, in front of the bumper to create a higher towbar mounting point if this setup does not work. We'll see.

Tomm

Drove it around the hood last evening and it worked fine.

Clever fabrication! Nice tow-bar.

Note that more states are requiring safety chains now be used on both the tow vehicle (std. item) ...and now, the vehicle being towed.

OK, I successfully towed from Olympia to Vancouver, BC, Canada today with the new setup. I added DOT approved 6000lb safety cables before starting out. Tracked great and did not adversely affect the ride of the tow car. Stayed between 60 and 70 the whole way.

The attached pic shows my stylin' setup. Decided to tow the car, then had to get a metallic blue tow vehicle of course.

Tomm

Tomm - what are you doing (if anything) to keep the rock fragments from your rear tires from tattooing your speedy?

using a bra during towing.

Bet ya look rather cute too~

I got the bar finished. Ended up grafting the mounts from the stock Beetle bar onto my new bar. Mounts right up with no interference with the sway bar and it fits perfectly between the nerf bars. Co-pilot went shopping so I'll try it out tomorrow.

~WB

Cool set-up, Bill!

Okay, I'm sold. I'm going to do a similar setup to tow my IM to Ontario at the end of the summer, 5,600 kms. Was going to put it on a trailer behind the U-Haul but the way things are going I'll likely need another U-Haul trailer back there.

Bill...Looks great. I'd like to replicate it. What didn't fit properly with the bar as you originally received it? Could you provide any details/dimensions as to the differences between the original and the modified version?

Brian: First of all this stretched bar is made to pull a VW Bus.
It is narrower also. I picked up on this idea as our cars have bumper mounts that mount on each end of the beam and prevents the usage of a standard Beetle towbar which is wider and too short to clear the front valance.
The first pic is the way it came. The vertical mounts as is put the beam right at bar level. I needed a higher "reach" so as to clear my sway bar and have the towbar level.

You can note in the after pic that the VW Beetle mount places the bottom of the beam about 1 1/2" higher off of the towbar. Sorta reaching up higher to grab the beam. Now when connected to the beam, the towbar is parallel to the ground AND clears the sway bar by about 3/8". Not much, but just enough for my liking.

Another problem with the old mounts I encountered is they were set 2 1/2" apart.
Apparently VW bus beam tubes are 2 1/2" in diameter whilst standard Beetle beam tubes are 2" diam. (I assume)