Date:         Sat, 7 Dec 1996 10:00:43 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         natasha!mholser@Adobe.COM
Subject:      Re: More Big Buses (funny cargo)

> Rode like a dream though....

I'll second this.  Anybody else find this true, too?  My singlecab was so
stiff in the suspension that it would only really handle well with about
a thousand pounds in it.  Acceleration and braking we're too good, but the
ride sure improved.

Not so funny about big loads -- or loads at all:

I had a friend, a Park Ranger in Yosemite, who was killed driving his bus
from Yosemite to Fresno.  He was returning a VW core engine, which he was 
carrying in the back of the bus.  He went around a curve, and found the road
blocked.  Braking hard, the loose engine took flight, and removed the back of
his head.  Moral: secure the load.  VW did not provide factory tie-downs worth
crap on the trucks, and nothing in the Kombis and panels to speak of.  I have
seen none with "headache" panels -- I got mine from a Dodge van.  I suspect
we've all carried something heavy enough to kill us loose in the back.  Think
about getting whacked by a connecting rod, even.

Loads are dangerous -- secure them.  Well maybe not 50 yards of sod.

malcolm