Date:         11 Sep 96 09:45:16 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         CARVER_JEFFREY@aphub.aerojetpd.com (Jeff Carver)
Subject:      Vanagon Towing Report (long)

Purchased a '80 Westi last weekend for $400, but that's not the 
reason for this report.  Recent questions have arisen concerning 
towing a Vanagon.  Here's my report on the 210 mile towing trip.
I used a tow dolly pulled by a friends Chevy crewcab dually not the 
Toyota 4Runner as originally planned.

The only one-way rental outfit I could find was U-Haul.  They
put the specifics into the computer and wouldn't rent to me.  The 
Vanagon weighs about 5000 lbs and the Toyota about 4600.  They 
specify that the towing vehicle must outweigh the towed by 25%.  
Toyota's manual sets a limit of 5200 lbs.  U-Haul can override the 
computer at the rental place at the time of rental.  Their paper book 
on this stuff says the combination is OK.  Called the Palo Alto 
places for 2 days and phone switched over to the national reservation 
office every time, gave up.

Local rental places did NOT want dolly to be taken more than 50 miles 
away.  Over phone they all asked where I was going.  Just went to one 
in the morning and rented it, no questions asked. Don't ask, Don't tell.
Interesting that they didn't even question the rating of the 
hitch on the Dually, even though it is stamped on the hitch that it 
has a 4000 lb limit, but they never asked what I was towing either.
Used the Chevy, as the braking would be a lot better with that heavier 
vehicle, and it had a winch.

Now, onto specifics on using a towing dolly, had some problems.
At the end of the ramp on the dolly is a 3 inch high stop for the 
wheels.  Unfortunately with the geometry involved, the heat exchanger 
and tail pipe interfered with backing bus onto ramp.  Had to locate 
bus WAY to the right side to clear heatex, which left RR wheel on top 
of side of wheel well, not in it.  Placed a piece of wood under wheel 
to bring it up to level with side of well.  VERY glad we had a winch 
to lower/raise bus to get correct position several times.

The actual towing was rather uneventful, except that at a fuel stop, 
I checked the oil and the dipstick was smoking and we were a quart 
low. (Nyah, nyah, even 'merican trucks overheat the oil!!!)

During the travel the bus shifted left and endangered the heatex 
again if we rolled it off the dolly.  Jacked up each wheel to place a 
4 inch piece of wood under each tire to raise it, and then rolled it 
off the dolly.

The 4Runner was there to take the dolly back the next day ($40 for 24 
hour rental) and had to trouble shoot their wiring to get it to have 
running lights (about 9:00 PM by now).  The reason so many rental 
trailers have such dismal lights is that they don't take the time to 
run a decent ground to the trailer, they use the ball hitch as a 
ground.  I ran a separate wire for ground and everything worked well 
after that.

- Jeff + (2) '80 Westi's, '67 Sqbk, '64 Ford Crewcab, '87 Subaru 4WD
Grass Valley, California

BTW - on a previous tow dolly adventure I rolled over the strapping 
that holds down the tire and had to dismantle the strap arrangement 
to put it in the right place for use.  I had sucked a valve seat and 
didn't want to run the engine so I put it in reverse and used the 
starter to back it up onto the dolly.  Didn't have the heatex problem 
with that dolly.  I had tried for 2 hours to get that bus up that 
dolly without success until, duh, I used the starter.