Date: Mon, 3 Jul 1995 21:50:47 -0700 (PDT)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: David Schwarze <des@teleport.com>
Subject: Towing a bus
Hi,
Having just bought Jeff Schneiter's bus, I am faced with the problem
of getting a bus with no engine from thr Bay area to San Diego (about
500 miles). Unless I can send it UPS :) I think the only option is to
tow it. The problem is how.
I found out that I can rent a trailer from U-haul for $50/day. This
is the kind that the whole bus would sit on (but it has no winch - how
do you get a non-mobile automobile up on it??). Great, but what do I
tow it with?
I have a Mustang with more than enough power to pull the bus, but
it only weighs 3000 lbs, and towing a 3,000+ lb van behind it might not
be good for stability. It might not even be legal. Then there is the
fact that the Mustang is a unibody, and it might take some doing (and a
lot of money) to get a hitch attached to it that will handle the load
and not twist the body. Plus, the Mustang is a weekend drag racer, and
putting a 30lb trailer hitch on it is not good for 1/4 mile times.
So, that leaves the bus. I know, it only has ~65 horsepower, but it
weighs 4,000 lbs and has a good strong frame to mount a hitch to. And
I don't care about a hitch being welded to it. And it would be kinda
cool to see a VW bus towing another VW bus, no? And I could take the
coastal route to avoid the 4100 ft "Grapevine" hill. I want to do it.
A class II hitch (3,500 lbs/300 lbs tongue weight) should do fine,
methinks. Am I insane? I wouldn't be in a hurry, and I don't care
about going fast. Am I crazy? Nuts? Please tell me I'm not...
-David
============================================================================
David Schwarze '73 VW Safare Custom Camper (Da Boat)
San Diego, California, USA '73 Capri GT 2800 (Da Beast)
e-mail: des@teleport.com '87 Mustang Lx 5.0 (Da Sleeper)
http://www.teleport.com/~des '93 Weber WG-50 (Da Piano)
============================================================================
| 
