Hitches and towing with the TDI

[BlueLghtning]

Sarah and I are both motorcycle enthusiasts which include dirt bike riding among our long distance touring we do on our street bikes also. For our dirt bikes though, we need to be able to tow our small 4.5' x 8' trailer and 2 dirt bikes which I'm really not expecting the Beetle to have any issues with.

One of the main reasons of getting the TDI was so that we could dump our 15mpg Jeep Cherokee 4.0L 4x4. Its a nice vehicle, but I'm hating the fuel mileage. I know the torque of the Diesel will help with towing for sure. Heck my 150hp 2.4L Grand Am has done plenty of towing over its life with this trailer and does pretty well, so I think the Bug should do just fine also. I could pull mid 20's on the Grand Am which wasn't bad considering. I do miss my '98 Dodge Cummins Diesel 3/4 ton truck. It never even knew that small trailer was back there, but even it could only squeeze about 20mpg out of it and it and was overkill for my towing needs the majority of the time.

Even with both dirt bikes on the trailer, I can easily lift the trailer off the hitch and push it around the garage or whatever just fine, so i know the tongue weight won't be an issue and the trailer is actually pretty light. I bought it specifically to tow behind the Grand Am and it has done very well with that.

HitchesForLess.com is just down the road from us and I've bought several hitches from them over the years with good success. This is what they have for the Beetle (pic is generic)
GWR = 2,000lbs and Tongue weight = 200lbs
- Hitch Link
- Install instructions in PDF

It appears to be the hitch that attaches near the spare tire holder under neath?


Now one thing you'll get to know about Sarah and I is we do love pics and I have plenty to share! Here's the trailer in question I've owned for like 6-7 years now and has towed countless bikes behind various vehicles.

This was back in my track bike days and I used to haul with a Toyota Tacoma and would haul two track bikes to the track.




At one time, I hate to admit it, but I owned this little roller skate on wheels (aka Rav4). It actually sucked at towing just 1 little dirt bike


Blurry pic, but my Grand Am towing a Ninja 250.


And this is what you call bringing all the toys with you!


This is my current dirt bike ('03 Gas Gas 300DE), but Sarah's old KX100. She's now riding an '01 KTM 125sx.




This is Sarah's current KTM 125sx

[MyOtherRidesAVette]

I luv fellow adrenaline junkies!

The bug should tow just fine!

MORAV

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by MyOtherRidesAVette

I luv fellow adrenaline junkies!

The bug should tow just fine!

MORAV

That we are. We had 8 bikes in the garage between us at one time. We were down to 4 for most of 2010, but now we are back up to 5 and shopping for 2 more dual sports for a trip in May.

Its funny that blue Suzuki SV650S that's in some of those pics I sold back in 2008. We just bought it back when the lady called me and said she was moving out of the country and did I want the bike back. My first answer was no, but then after hearing the price, I said sure. She had only put 600 miles on it over 3 years, but of course that meant we had to clean the carbs and the gas tank out to get her running again.

[MyOtherRidesAVette]

I get my fix on the water, but I can so relate. See my coming to the stable in my album.

[Tico4Life]

Gotta love the HP of the crotch rockets, I bought a Brand New CBR929rr when they came out the first year, had it for about a year, tricked it up a bit and then I got tired of the ride quality and traded for a Harley soft tail.
All I have now is my dodge RAM which I might be taking to the track in Sep at the diesel nationals to see how she does down the quarter mile.

Btw, we love pictures too so keep them coming

[Lew]

Where's the TDI?

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by Lew

Where's the TDI?

Those pics ended up in this thread - Not a New Beetle Owner.....Yet ;-)

[lightflyer1]

Under under 200lbs tongue weight and under 1000 lbs total trailer and load weight should pose no problem at all (depending on hitch limits). My Jetta TDI did just fine. Plan on adding a hitch to the NB TDI soon too.

[kcfoxie]

yeah for what you're going to be hauling, that shouldn't be an issue at all. I've seen a small horse trailer with a colt (a baby, baby baby baby) being pulled my a TDI Wagon once.... with the whole family and their stuff loaded ontop of the car. It was slow to start but that ride held 70 going down US-70 from the coast of NC without a lot of issues... we followed them easily 80 miles that day. You should be just fine, other than the "cute car" comments

[BlueLghtning]

I figured we should be fine, but just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I was missing.

The hardest part is going to be getting use to the lack of cargo space. The Jeep Cherokee had plenty of space in the rear for our cooler, big tub of dirt bike gear, boots, helmet, etc. I don't think that small trunk is going to carry much and the back seat won't be much better. We'll probably be figuring out a way to carry some of our gear and stuff on the trailer.

[kcfoxie]

And there is this... Rack-A-Bug - Rooftop Cargo Racks for your Volkswagen Bug - by Innovations

Someone made a trunk rack but no idea what happened to them over the years. If you're good with a welder you could get the carry bars and fabricate your own small cargo carrier and still have space for your two manual bikes.

[JetPuf]

Most hitches available will let you tow up to 2000 pounds and 200lbs of tongue weight. I've personally towed in excess of 2500 It was a short jaunt of 5 miles or so with a yard+ of soil in the trailer. Just be careful out there.

In Europe with the correct hitch and a braked trailer you can tow up to 3800 pounds.

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by JetPuf

Most hitches available will let you tow up to 2000 pounds and 200lbs of tongue weight. I've personally towed in excess of 2500 It was a short jaunt of 5 miles or so with a yard+ of soil in the trailer. Just be careful out there.

In Europe with the correct hitch and a braked trailer you can tow up to 3800 pounds.

I always get a kick out of the lower tow limits here in the states vs the same exact car in Europe. I guess not as many sue happy lawyers in Europe ready to pounce and of course people over there don't require a Hummer just to drop the kids at school. They actually use their smaller cars & trucks for things like towing and camping

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by kcfoxie

And there is this... Rack-A-Bug - Rooftop Cargo Racks for your Volkswagen Bug - by Innovations

Someone made a trunk rack but no idea what happened to them over the years. If you're good with a welder you could get the carry bars and fabricate your own small cargo carrier and still have space for your two manual bikes.

I do have 2 different Yakima rack systems from my kayaking days that could probably be made to adapt to the Beetle with the right mounts. One was setup for my Grand Am and the other that Saturn Vue in some of the pics.

[lightflyer1]

I have never liked putting extra weight up high.

Usually the problem isn't towing, it is getting stopped and control. I believe I have read that tongue weight should be 10% of the towed weight. So a 1500 lb trailer loaded, should have a 150 lb tongue weight. If the hitch can only handle 200 lbs tongue weight no more than a 2000 lb trailer loaded weight should be towed. I personally wouldn't tow anything that approaches half the weight of the tow vehicle. That weight includes the weight of the trailer and the load. Just because the car can get it moving doesn't mean it is safe to tow. Be careful what you do!

YouTube - car towing a trailer way too big

[2004NBTURBOS]

Originally Posted by BlueLghtning

I don't think that small trunk is going to carry much and the back seat won't be much bette

Maybe do a rear seat delete. There are a few posts on here if ya wanna do a search.

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by lightflyer1

I have never liked putting extra weight up high.

Usually the problem isn't towing, it is getting stopped and control. I believe I have read that tongue weight should be 10% of the towed weight. So a 1500 lb trailer loaded, should have a 150 lb tongue weight. If the hitch can only handle 200 lbs tongue weight no more than a 2000 lb trailer loaded weight should be towed. I personally wouldn't tow anything that approaches half the weight of the tow vehicle. That weight includes the weight of the trailer and the load. Just because the car can get it moving doesn't mean it is safe to tow. Be careful what you do!

YouTube - car towing a trailer way too big

Yeah, I've been around towing trailers enough to be smart about it. I'm definitely not going to be anywhere near 2k lbs. I'm not sure what our trailer weighs empty, but its light enough for me to walk it around the yard empty without straining. Our two dirt bikes probably come in around 500 lbs together and probably under 70lb tongue weight.

The most weight I'd ever see on that trailer would be two street bikes and even that is under 900 lbs together.

I did learn about struggling with a trailer one time carrying a 6x12 enclosed trailer behind that Toyota Tacoma that was in some of my pics. And it wasn't even overloading the toying capacity of the truck, but rather the poor little 4cyl just couldn't hold its speed up long hills. When I was having to drop to 3rd gear going up hill on the interstate just to hold my speed, I knew I was in trouble. I got a buddy with a 3/4 ton diesel to pull it back from the track and when he was leaving me in the dust, that's when I sold the 4cyl Toyota and bought a 3/4 ton Diesel myself! Man it was nice to be able to pull anything that would roll and I was tempted at times to try pulling that that wasn't supposed to move!

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by 2004NBTURBOS

Maybe do a rear seat delete. There are a few posts on here if ya wanna do a search.

you know, my wife and I don't really need the back seat (no kids). I might have to look into that, although its nice to have the back seat if you really ever need it.

Thanks for the idea though!

[BlueLghtning]

Okay, we had the hitch put on today. I've always put the hitches on in the past on my other vehicles, but the draw-tite looked a bit more involved with drilling into the trunk area, plus being winter time, I figured their $65 to install was worth it.

However, we did run into a snag when we showed up there today and their wiring guy looked at the car and refused to do the wiring part. He showed me that the wiring looks to be about 20g-22g and he just said that was too small for him to mess with and they didn't want to accept the liability of screwing something up. As far as I know, they don't make a plug & play kit for the NB and the converter box would have to be spliced in.

They gave us a number of a guy they used to have that worked there that was an expert in the wiring and would do it on his own, but thought I'd check to see what other people have ran into? I know we aren't the first to ever put a hitch on a NB.

So, are there any plug and play harnesses out there, or is splicing in the only way? Anyone have any first hand experience on wiring in a 4 prong plug on the NB? I did the wiring on my Grand Am, but it was straight forward, the wires were right there for easy access and they were pretty thick.

[TDI_bubble]

My uhaul hitch off CL came with a handy adapter but still splicing looks necessary.