Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 11:21:02 -0400
Reply-To: The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Subject: Re: Bus Depot Trailer Hitch
In-Reply-To: <4.2.0.37.19990513233732.06bb9560@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> Well, the trailer hitch from Bus Depot arrived today. It is
> amazing. Ron didn't do it justice in his description. It
> weighs about 35 pounds (16 kg)! If it weren't hidden inside
> the bumper it would have to be registered as an offensive weapon.
>
> Unfortunately it didn't come with an installation sheet -- Ron,
> was that an oversight?
No, the manufacturer didn't provide one. When they first came, I took the
bumper off of my '89 and tried it out myself. Installing the main unit
itself is obvious; you just remove the bumper brackets and slide it into the
holes the brackets slid into, then put the screws back in.
What's less obvious is the way the mounts for your bumper attach to the
hitch. There are two pairs of mounts included; one set is L-shaped and one
is more oddly shaped.
If you have the plastic bumpers you will find that the oddly-shaped ones
match perfectly with the holes in your bumper that the original bumper
brackets used. Once you attach these brackets, you can push the bumper
generally into place, and then you will see where you will have to notch the
bottom of the bumper in order to allow it to clear the hitch plate and push
all the way forward to the correct position.
If you have a metal bumper, it uses the L-shaped mounts. As I recall, the
long arm of the L attaches to the hitch and the short arm to the bumper's
existing bolt holes. Again, when you then attempt to push the bumper into
place you will see where you will have to notch the bottom of the bumper in
order to let it push fully forward to clear the hitch plate. As I noted in
my original post, it looked to me when trying this on my van that unless you
drilled an additional hole in the L-shaped mounts (to attach the bumper more
flush with the hitch), the bumper would sit too far back. But Just Kampers
tells me that I am mistaken. I suppose this is possible, since after
attaching the brackets, I didn't finish the job by actually notching the
bumper and bolting it on; I was playing with a brand new bumper that was
about to be shipped to a customer, and didn't want to send it "pre-notched"
for a hitch he didn't have!
> First is that I don't see immediately any place for attaching safety
chains.
I suppose that the safety chains in Europe are a bit different from here,
but there are a couple of spots on the hitch that you could use to attach a
safety chain: the two holes below the ball hitch that you are not using, or
there are two holes below it near where the flat plate is welded to the
hitch. I'm not sure whether or not these holes are large enough for the
diameter of the standard S-hook on a trailer, but it wouldnt be hard to
either add a second S-hook or replace the ones on the trailer. Doesn't look
like it would be a big deal.
> Second is a metal plate, about 75mm by 160mm by 3mm.
> One end is semicircular, the other is a rounded-off triangle.
Just Kampers tells me that this is a standardized mount for a trailer
electrical hookup - European standard, that is. Completely useless here, I
suppose, just throw it away.
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
http://www.busdepot.com
(215) 234-VWVW
