Re: Towing a Rabbit Pickup by the Front Bumper mounts?

Both my old '81 and current '82 pickups have the steel front bumper brackets instead of 
the shocks like my old Rabbit used to have.  But a tow dolly might still be the best 
option, as you get the front drive wheels off the ground.


On 8/24/2014 1:00 PM, [email protected] wrote:
> Absolutely DO NOT tow by the front bumper with this.  The bumper is mounted on hydraulic 
> "shocks" that are net intended for this kind of load (transverse much worse than 
> longitudinal).  You MIGHT get away with it, but if you don't, it is quite a mess when 
> one lets go.
> The way to do it is make a fitting that is rigid in bending going back to the mounting 
> holes on the frame "accordian" where the bumper absorbers mount.  Weld those two stubs 
> to a tranverse angle or tube to which you can bolt the tow bar adapters.  The 
> pseudo-bumper is critical to prevent the tow bar (that has not cross beam) from putting 
> side loads on the bumper mounting points and adapters.   Put the safety chains SOMEWHERE 
> ELSE - such as around a lower control arm and hope to hell you never have to rely on 
> them (the car will whip and slam hard against them at the limit).
> On Sun, 24 Aug 2014 15:32:15 -0400, Maynard <[email protected]> wrote:
> I've just struck a deal on a 1981 Rabbit Pickup Diesel LX. I'm hoping to
>> flat-tow it home using the universal adjustable tow bar I already have. It
>> looks somewhat like this:
>>
>>  <http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Adjustable-Arms-Chains-5000/dp/B005ESZ058/r
>> ef=pd_sbs_auto_6?ie=UTF8
>> <http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Adjustable-Arms-Chains-5000/dp/B005ESZ058/r
>> ef=pd_sbs_auto_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=1R9VK9S0KE340GBZPXQV>
>> &refRID=1R9VK9S0KE340GBZPXQV>
>>
>>  I've used this tow bar before on older vehicles and I'm confident it will
>> get me where I want to go, but I won't have the luxury of fabricating the
>> mounting brackets on-site and I'm not going to have the opportunity to visit
>> the vehicle again prior to picking it up. I know the front bumper is mounted
>> to a pair of bumper mounts using two holes each in the mounts. I think I
>> could mount the tow bar's mounting plates to these bumper mounts, but I
>> neglected to measure the distance between these holes.
>>  Could somebody measure the distance between these bumper mounting holes on
>> their own Rabbit and report to me? (I think it's somewhere around 4"-5", but
>> I need a pretty accurate measure if I want to pre-fab.) It appears that the
>> bumper mounts on this Pickup are solid steel connected to the frame, not the
>> shock-absorbing mounts I had on my 1984 Jetta.
>>  I know I could rent a tow dolly or vehicle trailer, or even call AAA, but
>> none of those options is convenient to my situation.
>>  Any help would be greatly appreciated!
>>
>>  ~Maynard
>>
>> '82 Westy Diesel
>>
>> '86 DoubleCab Diesel
>>
>> '11 Golf TDI
>>
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>
>
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