Trailer hitch

So I have been dogged by the lack of a trailer hitch on the Thingamajigger.  I say dogged, as I have gone back and forth on one of the high end bumpers that RMW, GW or VC sells but cannot get past the price (or the extra $100 to ship it east).

Finally I succumbed to my own pressure and made one, here is how I did it. If you choose to follow my lead: follow all safety precautions when working with tools and make sure you know how to weld as this is a potentially dangerous scenario with inadequate welds.  I claim no responsibility for any issues that arise from someone following the plans set forth on this page.  I intentionally did not add dimensions here, as it is only a suggestion and not a how to.

First, I took off the existing bumper and the bumper mounts.  Disassembled the mounts from the bumper, and then ground away the welds for the tow loops on the bottom of the mount.

Then, I enlisted a friend and for the price of a 12 pack of his favorite beer flavored water I had him break out his plasma cutter and cut square holes through the bumper assembly.

The de- hooked and square cut bumper mounts can be seen here:

The holes are large enough to pass a 4 foot piece of 2 inch x 2 inch (with 1/4 inch wall) steel tube through.  The tricky part is that you need to leave clearance for the bumper mounting nut on inside of mount, while ensuring the tube will not rub on the rounded body panel of the van.  Have a look, it IS rounded a bit and WILL interfere if you are not cautious.  I suggest using a stainless bumper mount bolt that barely passes through the nut. Thereby leaving plenty of clearance.

Mounting the bumper mounts, and then sliding the tube through as a test fit:

Check your clearances now.  Then I slid the bar out, and slipped two receiver collars onto the tube and slid it back into place.

The collars look like this:

When clearances are checked and you like the positioning, protect the body of the van from weld spatter and tack weld the bar to the outside of the bumper mounts.  I grabbed a level indicator to make sure the bars horizontal surface coincided with the vans horizontal surfaces.  Not really necessary to be ultra tight on this spec, but I knew I would be using a cargo carrier at some point and would be bothered by lopsided mountings.

After tacking the bar in position, remove it to weld.  This is going to get REAL hot, so give yourself some space away from the van.

Welding up the outside is fairly straightforward as long as your holes are not over sized.  The inside is trickier, and the collars we slid on will help with that.  The collars will provide a weld point all around the bar and attach at approximately 60 percent on one side of the bumper mount. Not that the stock  Vanagon is able to tow 1000's of pounds due to its anemic power, but a strong weld will ensure years of safe towing. 

Allow to cool, and it took a bit.  I went in and made myself a sandwich. Then came out and test fit my assembly.  

The next part is not for the Vanagon squeamish or the purists out there.

In order to attach the receiver tube, I relieved the body panel so I could have a flush fit of the receiver tube.  Why would I want that, or find it necessary to cut up my van?  Let me ask this: have you ever whacked your knee or shin on a trailer hitch?  They don't move, are solid and after it happens - you do anything to keep it from happening again.

Given the amount of time going in and out of the hatch, the potential for whacking a shin is high.  I have said it before; I have no problems altering the van for utilitarian purposes as long as it is done correctly and with caution.

So I measured three times, and cut myself an access hole.

This will allow me to weld the receiver tube (bought at local trailer shop) in a position that I choose.

Positioned it and tack welded it in place.  Slid a bar into the receiver to make sure my desired angle was correct (I angled it slightly up, so even a fully laden Westy would not drop a cargo carrier past the horizontal plane).  And removed it once again for welding.

I highly recommend some sort of gusset on the receiver tube, and you will require a safety chain attach point on the main hitch.

Also, you will need to notch your bumper for the hitch.

My hitch looks like this now, as I await some gussets to arrive from a friend so I can tow a trailer.

Lookee lookee.  A non shin bashing receiver tube!

So the bike rack I plan to use fits perfect, swings out of way for hatch and upon loading I find it does not fit my 6 year old kids tiny bike frame. Crap.

Well, I said that I eventually wanted a cargo carrier.

Went over to the hall of cheap tools (Harbor Freight) and bought a 500 pound capacity aluminum cargo hauler for $99.  It went on sale two days later for $79, just my luck. 

So I spent half an hour assembling this cargo tray.

After assembly and installation, I realized that it was going to obstruct my taillights.  With the bike only, I was ok but I needed to devise a safer alternative.

Looking around my garage for a box of trailer lights I have, I formulated a plan to use stock Vanagon taillights.  

With a minor removal of some aluminum I realized the stock lights could easily be used.  

After removing this piece of aluminum, I ran out of whizzer grinding wheels.  More to come later.

This was the supplied uprights I modified to act as retainers for the taillights.

Had a receiver light kicking around, why not use it?  Had to trim off the center mounting bar to allow the clearance for the depth of the light.  

The nearly finished cargo carrier, just before I finished up the wiring harness.