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| Towbars, Hitches and Braking Systems for your Toads, etc. Questions, concerns, or suggestions regarding what equipment to use to tow your Toad with are discussed here. |
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#1
06-12-2008
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Adding A Reciever Type Hitch To Your 'Bird
You can view the modification that I did to my 'Bird, to add a heavier receiver type hitch, by going to
http://www.pbase.com/iamflagman/image/26781589 this is the first in a series of photos of the hitch modification, so to see more of them just click on NEXT at the right of each page to see the next one. One of the things that I mention is the fact that when I added the receiver hitch assembly to the BOTTOM of the stock hitch, that it actually took away the dragging protection of the large rollers that came on the 'Bird. This especially became apparent after I switched to a 7 foot longer and heavier 27 foot 10,000 pound rated trailer that is loaded to 8,800 pounds, this added more tongue weight, enough so that I now load my VW inside the trailer backward, so that the VW's engine is directly over the rear of the trailer and that helped to reduce the tongue weight. The tongue weight isn't enough to even notice the difference in the handling of the 'Bird, but it did cause the receiver hitch to drag more often than before, so I added a Maxi Weld-on Steel Skid Roller http://www.tweetys.com/index.asp?Pag...D&ProdID=12378 that I purchased from http://www.tweetys.com/ This addition has been very efficient in protecting the hitch as can be seen in this photo on my web site, that I added this morning I mention all of this so that if anybody is thinking of doing this modification to their 'Bird, they might want to think about adding the receive hitch to the TOP of the stock hitch instead, if you are just going to be towing a toad and not a heavy trailer like I do. This modification was done in this fashion to my 'Bird so that it could be reinforced more effectively, due to the weight of the trailer that I planned on pulling. Here is a photo of the 'Bird and trailer combination You can see that the trailer does not effect the way that the 'Bird rides as far as being level and I DO NOT use an equalizer type hitch, or a sway control type hitch as there isn't enough of a problem in towing this size trailer to become a problem, the only difference in handling that I notice is, if I'm not looking directly at my mirrors, I can tell by the slight movement in the steering wheel when a large semi is starting to pass the rear of the trailer, but it isn't enough movement to alarm me, it is just more noticeable than when the trailer is not hooked up to the 'Bird. Since I normally pull the trailer, I have adjusted the tire pressure accordingly, about the only time I tow just the toad by itself is when I'm taking the 'Bird to the Tour Bus Company shop for service and that is only a 70 mile round trip, so I never change the tire pressures. I have also added a set of rollers to the back of my trailer, after we changed out the axles to spring type that are a little bit lowered, thus the back of the trailer comes in contact with the ground when going in and out of some drives. Here are the rollers below that I used on the trailer after driving from Florida to California with the new axles installed above and dragging the tail going in and out of some drives, they work great, i had them installed while I was still in California and purchased them direct from PAK Industries, they hand delivered them to me, while i was at my brothers visiting, they are great people to deal with;
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 JOHN FINN FORUM MODERATOR-ADMINISTRATOR 1982 FC35RB I'm NO EXPERT, but I did stay in the FINN'S INN EXPRESS last night HOPKINS, SOUTH CAROLINA VISIT THE FINN'S INN EXPRESS REMODELING ADVENTURE AND TECH. TIPS I'M SO SLOW ON THE HILLS,THAT I GET TO SMELL THE FLOWERS AS I GO BY.....AND WATCH THEM GROW TOO!! NOT SO MUCH ANYMORE   Visit the WILD HARE RACING website REMEMBER 9/11 Last edited by iamflagman; 08-15-2018 at 12:16 PM. 
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