Date:         Wed, 25 May 2011 08:34:40 -0500
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Place to mount shackles?
In-Reply-To:  <BANLkTin2zooULy+fryfaASqNFV7BG2sB7Q@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

On a related, but not exactly on-topic subject... this is related to the
original post in that the vanagon bumper is too flimsy in itself to attach
anything to. It is a cosmetic skin that covers the part of the body meant to
take an impact (except in the rear, where there is no such part). This is a
lot different from the clamps that may dad made up years ago to tow VWs
with. They just grabbed the bumper, loooped some chain through as a backup
and off you went. Now we are dependent on other things.

I went shopping and asking around when I tried to come up with a vanagon tow
bar. Turns out that the metal bumper is held on with two puny screws that
could not possibly tow the car if they were the fasteners for a towbar. And
there are no other choices that I know of except

a) welding some larger fasteners alongside them in such a way that they
would be covered by the bumper in normal use, and that the bumper could be
removed should the car have to be towed. This idea obviated the intended use
of my tow bar, which was to bring home vanagons I might find on cragslist or
wherever. Another similar concept was just to drill a 3/4 inch hole through
the "lip" behind the bumper on the front and fit the towbar with a bracket
that would attach to the lip with clevis pins. This would allow me to tow a
vanagon if I had access to a drill, the two holes being fairly minor
modifications although I admit I have never drilled such holes in the
particular spot on the vanagon.

b) cutting the bumper and welding on some heavy brackets on the underside
that were mainly hidden from view by the bumper, which would not have to be
removed to use them. This method also offers the problem that while it would
work well on your personal vehicle, it would not help you get any other
non-modified vanagon home.

So, I gave up. But still thinking about it, because if you're going to tow
or extract yourself, you need the same kind of strength. The bumper simply
won't do.

Any other ideas? There is not even a place to put a D-ring up front that I
could find, that would actually work, without removing the bumper to use it.

Jim

On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 7:44 AM, george jannini <georgejoann@gmail.com>wrote:

> >> "Approach angle"? "Off-roading"?...You have me confused with someone
> with more courage and more brains than I. <<
>
>    Ya's don't have to go off road to graunch yer air dam... in
> Atlanta, all you gotta do is tackle some of the steep driveways we got
> around here.
>
>  Mine's gotten all kind of torqued over the years...it's an '89, and
> this bus is low.  Too low.
>
> Geo/ATL
>