Nicely done, Garrett. As I understand it, your issue is keeping the tow bar close to horizontal given the low ride of the VW compared to the height of the hitch when mounted 'oem' - the short [8"] hitch shaft and relatively low drop of that hitch [4-5", as I recall]. Pulling the VW flat, on all four wheels, would give practically zero tongue weight, and [as I recall] NMT a ton of towed weight of the bug. Not within spec, but, as a simple caveman and not a mechanical engineer, I would think [absent sway issues] this wouldn't test your OEM hitch if you have, say, an 8" drop. I would be concerned about length of the hitch shaft, and would keep it as close to 8" as possible. See etow dot com for a wide variety of drop hitch options. FWIW, I use a cheap northern tools hitch [maybe 10" long, 4" drop, 1 7/8" ball, but 1" shaft, I think] to pull my bro-in-law's light yardwork trailer to pick up 20-25 bales of hay [a ton of load and trailer, max], local hauls. I use the 'official' hitch with a 2" ball when towing more than that ....

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2006 X5 3.0 6-spd w/Evo UUC ssk
sport/premium pkgs
born Valentine's Day, 2006.