Bagged a unicorn

[David.X5]

Got mine installed this weekend. Yaaaay!!!!!

Weird about the bolt retainers - I had to open the ears a little bit with pliers, but my bolts fit inside with no more trouble. The bag of hardware I received was completely sealed, so maybe it was an early version thats been sitting in a corner for a long while.

Wish someone had warned me to buy extra plastic rivets to hold the new steel bumper to the bumper cover - I broke about half removing them and had to make an emergency run to Advance Auto on Sunday around 7pm. After some scrouging, I found some plastic rivets that were close and was able to wrap it up.

[garrett.fell]

Ah. Mine is not quite done yet. I still need to do the bumper skeleton replacement. Thanks for the warning on the clips. Any tips to avoid destroying them? I plan to do this tonight.


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[garrett.fell]

Originally Posted by David.X5

Got mine installed this weekend. Yaaaay!!!!!

Weird about the bolt retainers - I had to open the ears a little bit with pliers, but my bolts fit inside with no more trouble. The bag of hardware I received was completely sealed, so maybe it was an early version thats been sitting in a corner for a long while.

Wish someone had warned me to buy extra plastic rivets to hold the new steel bumper to the bumper cover - I broke about half removing them and had to make an emergency run to Advance Auto on Sunday around 7pm. After some scrouging, I found some plastic rivets that were close and was able to wrap it up.

Curious. How did the bumper re-fit go. The instructions suggest you push the mounts up as far as they will go then torque the 3 and 9 o'clock bolts to 65nm. How much fiddling was required to get the gaps right? Still not sure which gaps I'll be looking for when the time comes.


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[David.X5]

I don't have any magic to offer on the clips. Stop by the dealer and get extras if you can. I broke about half, trying to be real gentle. I think there are 15-20 all together. They are plastic and have aged to the point of being real brittle.

OK, one hint - spray something like WD40 on it (front and back) while you are trying to pry the center pin, once the lube gets in there, it will be much easier to move it and you are less likely to rip the plastic cap off. Did the same thing for reassembly - you need to use a little lube to be able to push the center pin down with a hand tool or your fingers.

[garrett.fell]

Originally Posted by David.X5

I don't have any magic to offer on the clips. Stop by the dealer and get extras if you can. I broke about half, trying to be real gentle. I think there are 15-20 all together. They are plastic and have aged to the point of being real brittle.

OK, one hint - spray something like WD40 on it (front and back) while you are trying to pry the center pin, once the lube gets in there, it will be much easier to move it and you are less likely to rip the plastic cap off. Did the same thing for reassembly - you need to use a little lube to be able to push the center pin down with a hand tool or your fingers.

How did the bumper re-fit and alignment work out for you? Lots of fiddling or did it work out right the first time?


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[David.X5]

Worked out fine the first time. I decided to snug up all the bolts before putting the bumper on, as I was working along and thought it would be better if it wasn't floppy. Something like 16 of them can be torqued all the way, but the instructions (from the DIY) said leave the other 4 loose - i left those snug. I used a transmission jack (flat top) as a work platform which worked great - cranked it up till the height was right, then slid the bumper in to engage the ears on each side. Had to go back and forth from side to side a couple of times, as it seemed to like to engage one side and then pop out when I walked aroud to the other side (this is where two people would help). But, it stayed put and I put the two big bolts in with no trouble and it was lined up with an acceptable visual gap.

I thought about breaking out my laser level then decided I would rather get cleaned up and go to bed :-). Good luck!

[garrett.fell]

Mines done as of last night! Very-clean stealthly install. I really dig it!

Still need to figure out if I'll need a drop-hitch in excess of the specification. Makes me a little uneasy but at the same time I'll be towing something relatively light with no tongue weight.....still haven't fitted the tow-bar to my beetle to see what I need to do to keep it horizontal.






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[Riggodeaux]

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 ....

[spongerich]

My trailer towing experience is limited to my 4x6 landscape trailer, but I've pulled it (with my old VW GTI no less) up to and a bit past its rated 1000lb capacity.

My experience is that a little weight on the tongue is actually a good thing as it seems to minimize swaying. IIRC, most of the guidelines I recall say that 10-15% of the total weight on the tongue is ideal.

[garrett.fell]

Originally Posted by Riggodeaux

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 ....

Yup. That's exactly what's going on. I need to keep that tow-bar horizontal. Even though I have not measured it yet - I presume I'll need something that's a little lower than the 4-inch drop BMW shaft I got. Picked it up off eBay for $30-something shipped. Just as inexpensive as the harborfreight haul-master stuff I picked-up and then returned over the weekend. That was closer to 10 inches center to center vs 8 as the spec calls for. I probably could have re-drilled the hole closer to 8.5 but I don't think 8 was achievable.

As for the car - it's probably around 1800 pounds or so. Stock spec was 1714 but it's got a completely different engine and trans in it from what amounts to later-model-designs as opposed to what it came with in '59.

I noticed the BMW spec says 1650 pounds for something without a trailer brake. I am above that but assume that the fact there is no tongue weight may change the story slightly - the tongue isn't getting more weight put on it as a normal trailer would "push down" under braking conditions.

Looks like BMW says 5.5 inch drop is the max - but that also assumes you're able to tow to the max capacity - whereas I am closer to 1/3 of that.....


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