Tow vehicle - VW Beetle

[B and TW]

I saw a 13 foot boler being pulled by a mazda miata through the mountains of BC.. not sure if the guy made it but it he made it THAT far at least.

Go find a 1.9L TDI and swap that in

[SherryNPaul]

A couple of years ago, we parked next to a Boler towed by a green VW beetle in eastern Ontario at a Walmart parking lot. We got to chat with the owner and her mom for a few minutes. The beetle was fairly new, and not modified to my knowledge. Not a recommendation, just interesting...
Sherry

[Borden]

The VW has a lot of Hot Rod power and trans upgrades available and a trans cooler would also help. Not shure about the hitch but this is a small trailer 1000 lbs maybe? would only require a class 1 hitch.

[Matt in SV]

Here's a Beetle being pulled by a Beetle!

[Borden]

At 1400 lbs on a VW "if Hot rod engine and transmission upgrades added" sounds good but trailer maybe over 50% of car weight and you would require trailer brakes in my area. Only need a class 1 hitch. May also want a sway bar setup.

[Borden]

Went online and read at mto web site last night and have called to clarify the below statements.
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/saf.../trailer.shtml
1 The law requires brakes on trailers that weigh 1360 kg (3000 lb.) or more.
They do say on one page if trailer is 50% of vehicle weight it should have brakes but this is not stated as law on page
2 Vehicle mirrors adjusted to clearly see traffic approaching from behind. Use extension mirrors if necessary. Stated on site.
3 Maximum widths
Motor home, truck camper, truck, house trailer and dolly: 2.6 m (8'6"). This is law
4 Tongue weight not to exceed hitch capacity. Use the correct class of trailer hitch on your vehicle. (Class I — up to 2000 lb; Class II — up to 3500 lb; Class III — up to 5000 lb; Class IV — 5000 to 10000 lb) Repair or replace broken or worn out hitches. Contact a trailer hitch retailer for more information. is all they say on hitches
This also is a quote but is not stated as law, WD could be used to gain more tongue weight as it puts half on front of tow vehicle.
Our car is unibody the hitch is fastened at back and center tube runs forward to be fastened again. This lets us use a Class 3 hitch. our car would have a 200 lb. limit and we needed 250 lbs. Class 3 the dealer says not mto gives us 400 lbs.
5 Safety chains are spelled out in detail on their site as law; long read, but in short strong enough needed to do job.
6 If the trailer weighs 2,800 kg (6,171 lb.) or less; Register the truck or car for at least the weight of the truck or car which includes trailer tongue weight.
Weight transmitted directly to the ground, by the trailer, is not included in the RGW
This quote is also law.

[B and TW]

Laws aside there's a reason people pull trailers with heavy vehicles - it's more stable on the road while you are cruising. When wind hits your trailer doesn't have enough weight to pull the tow vehicle around. You could have a Harley with 13 inch quad piston brakes and 1100hp but I wouldn't tow any travel trailer with it.

[mcbrew]

Originally Posted by B and TW

Laws aside there's a reason people pull trailers with heavy vehicles - it's more stable on the road while you are cruising. When wind hits your trailer doesn't have enough weight to pull the tow vehicle around. You could have a Harley with 13 inch quad piston brakes and 1100hp but I wouldn't tow any travel trailer with it.

True, but you have to take it in perspective. A 3,000 pound car towing a 1,500 pound trailer is the same weight ratio as an 8,000 pound truck pulling a 4,000 pound trailer. Although I am sure it would tow well, you certainly don't need an 8,000 pound truck to pull a 1,500 pound trailer.

My van weighs about 5,500 pounds and is rated to tow 6,000 pounds. It tows so well that I'd feel safe towing a little more I'd the hitch was rated higher. That is the same weight ratio as my little Scion towing a 2,900 pound trailer. I wouldn't do that, since the hitch and brakes probably wouldn't be up to it... Not to mention the clutch.

There are a lot of things that contribute to whether a vehicle can tow safely or not. Towing my little cargo trailer with a Christmas tree on it the other day reminded me what "overkill" means. I couldn't even tell it was back there. I notice the Scamp... especially at highway speeds. Braking and handling aren't an issue... Fuel economy takes a dive, though.

[Borden]

During the 80'a and early 90's I drove around Ontario year round pulling a 27' woods travel trailer behind a Dodge van with cooler and proper hitch setup. We just need to be reasonable in ratio and setup, (with proper tongue capacity).
The boler trailer above is very light and VW’s have a great frame; though stock HP maybe a bit low; not shure and I do not know how you would add extra cooling for the transmission.
It just sounds like a lot of fun to be had.
Really like the shots 'Matt in SV' looks like fun setup.
I think we need to just have fun with our little rolling palaces
Keep in mind i do think we should listen to Joe Diaz as he knows a lot more about VW's
also as stated in group a truck in not always needed.
Great group like all the comments made. So much good input from all that commented.

[Borden]

B and TW this is not a shot, but just a fun photo. Harley’s have been pulling little tear drops for years. It is just about ratio and hitch setup.

[B and TW]

Obviously there is a breaking point for everything. With size you get weight of course, but you also get wind resistance. You could have a 1500lb sail that was 500x400 feet, and sure, completely impractical and dumb, but would blow most vehicles off the road if the right wind hit it. So yes, there's definitely a fine line around there somewhere. I'm amazed at how well my jeep pulls the boler, like you said, I can definitely tell it's there but when ripping along you definitely forget about it sometimes

[Evan Friesen]

My father in law has driven vw's most of his life and swaps the vw engines with the early 90's 2.0 subaru engines. He has done it in the vanagons and a transporter, but I don't know if it can be done in a bug.

VW transporters or samba single/double cabs make killer tow vehicles with subaru engines. When we got our Boler we towed it home with my father in laws '85 Transporter and got more looks than I have since lugging it around with my Subaru Forester.

You can find used 2.0 subaru motors from the 80's or 90's for under a thousand bucks, and they have plenty of torque to haul our trailers. They fit in the VW's small engine compartment because like the VW's they are a horizontally opposed engine (Porsche also makes it's boxer engine as mentioned by someone earlier...they probably cost a bit more than the Subaru's though...).

[Ken C]

another long thread with photos to look at Here

[entitledg]

Just checked out the link but what would be the fate of this thread then The pics were not much but very good cars.

[Greg H]

Originally Posted by Cyndi B.

Doesn't anyone remember what happened to Pintos when they got rear ended?

Yeah, they exploded,BOOM!!!

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by Evan Friesen

My father in law has driven vw's most of his life and swaps the vw engines with the early 90's 2.0 subaru engines. He has done it in the vanagons and a transporter, but I don't know if it can be done in a bug.

VW transporters or samba single/double cabs make killer tow vehicles with subaru engines. When we got our Boler we towed it home with my father in laws '85 Transporter and got more looks than I have since lugging it around with my Subaru Forester.

You can find used 2.0 subaru motors from the 80's or 90's for under a thousand bucks, and they have plenty of torque to haul our trailers. They fit in the VW's small engine compartment because like the VW's they are a horizontally opposed engine (Porsche also makes it's boxer engine as mentioned by someone earlier...they probably cost a bit more than the Subaru's though...).

That's interesting. I would rather see a VW diesel engine inside a 4wd Subaru, though. That would be a sweet combo!

[pbraunton]

a TDI into a 4 runner would make the best of both worlds.........lots of towability, 4 wheel drive, and 50 MPG to boot....(not towing)

[Rick G]

Originally Posted by Perry Mac Donald

Hi all , I'm planning on buying a project VW beetle , the older ones . I've seen them pulling bolers and trilliums but my question is , will the car be able to pull the boler without being to laboured

I just saw your question today. I used to have a 1964 VW van with a 1600 cc engine, which was about as big as it got back then for those vehicles. I could barely go over 55 mph (90 kph) without the van becoming unhappy. I would not have imagined towing a Boler or anything else with it, but if I did I would have to go even slower. I did several cross-country trips at that speed, which took a day or so longer than they would with a more modern vehicle. I also once owned a 1968 Beetle, again with the 1600 cc engine. It was great for local travel but we did not attempt to tow anything with it and it was stunningly loud (inside the vehicle) on the highway. Not to mention the almost non-existent heating/defrosting and absurd windshield wipers.

My guess is that your old VW will labour mightily and your best sustained speed will be low enough to annoy everyone else on the road if you drive on single-lane back roads. Also, the old VWs did not get really great gas mileage anyway (my Beetle was about 36 mpg in Canada, with a 20% bigger gallon than the US, and the van was about 27 mpg) and I think that mileage would suffer terribly with a significant load.

On the other hand, it would make a heartwarming picture.

Rick G

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by Perry Mac Donald

Hi all , I'm planning on buying a project VW beetle , the older ones . I've seen them pulling bolers and trilliums but my question is , will the car be able to pull the boler without being to laboured

No.

[John McDonald]

Not recommending this, but the VW bug, trailer and I survived.

Back in the 70s I had a 4 year old 69 VW bug with 60,000 miles and new valves when I started moving around the country pulling my stuff on a 4x8 snow mobile trailer with 4' high plywood sides. The trailer probably had a max weight cap. of around 1500 lbs and I know I loaded it past that because there were times when the trailer frame rubbed the top of the tires on rough roads. I drove with this rig from Vermont to Arizona (and "rested" for a month or so) then on to Vancouver B.C. and "rested" for a year then on to Denver, CO (think mountains) and "rested" for 3 months then back to Arizona for a years "rest" then on to Louisiana and "rested" for 3 years. By this time, of course, my knuckles were permanently white.
The VW was junked with 139,000 on it because the bottom was rusting so bad it was falling off or things were falling through the bottom and I didn't want to be one of them. I kept the engine and moved it with me to Iowa thinking I would tear it apart and rebuild it, but instead I gave it to the local community college auto tech program. Never did get to see how it looked inside, but it was still running just fine --although surely it was ready for another set of valves.
Way back then I barely knew anything about tow ratings, but I sure did know that those 1500+ lbs behind me did not want to stop once they got going. Of course I kept my speed down (or should I say the trailer kept my speed down - seldom over 50mph) and drove with my eyes looking about one mile ahead of me.
The point is that the engine/transmission seemed to handle the overloaded situation without any problems. Amazing I was never pulled over by the cops.

Cheers John