Accessories

Trailer Hitch:

Every car that I have seems to end up needing a hitch sooner or later. I wanted to get one on the Westie ASAP in case the front half that I found needed to be towed across the country. It turned out that I found a running front half, but I often need a hitch for towing some 3000 lb. Electric Vehicle to a show or some such anyway.

Years ago I put a hitch on the old stretch by making it up from scratch. This time I wanted an easier way. I went down to the local U-Haul where the counter person was kind enough to let me go in back and measure the hitches that they had in stock. The frame members on a Vanagon are farther apart than most vehicles so it's hard to find one with a main tube that's wide enough. I wanted one that didn't have the receiver below the main tube for a cleaner look. I also didn't want one with a long receiver that would stick out too much.

I ended up with a hitch off of a 87 to 95 Nissan Pathfinder, U haul part # 75020 for $154.53 including tax. Its main tube was exactly the right width to fit between the Vanagon bumper mounts.

The hitch comes with large plates on the side for mounting to the Nissan frame. I cut them off with a sawzall and cutting torch. I then bolted the bumper mounts in place, fit the hitch, and tack welded it to the original bumper mounts. The hitch was then removed and welded fully. I spent about 4 hours on it total.

It could be made stronger by fabricating new bumper mounts that go deeper into the frame. This would allow for another set of bolts to mount it to the Vanagon frame (which I figure is the weak link here). I've recently seen hitches on Ford Expeditions (The Ford Valdez) that look like they may curve around the back of the Vanagon better than the one I found. I would check it out before building another.

I've towed up to about 6000 lbs so far. That was a full size Ditch Witch on a flatbed trailer. Crazy! I was being very careful. I use it often for towing electric cars up to about 3800 Lbs. I don't think that I'd regularly tow over that without replacing the stock bumper mounts with longer tubes.

The hitch stayed at this level until I stretched the Van. At that time the bumper was installed by drilling a couple holes in the bumper and tapping holes in the hitch to hold it. The bumper was cut out to slide over the receiver and hammered in a bit to clear the pin that holds the receiver in place. In the end the bumper is about an inch farther back than stock.

Transmission:

I'm using a rebuilt tranny from KCR (see Links for contact info). It has a 4.57 ring and pinion from an air cooled Vanagon, .77 4th, 1.127 3rd and stock first and second (but stronger aftermarket racing gears). Kevin from KCR also suggested a 4 spider diff so that's in it too. I've been running it for over 22,000 miles, no trouble so far. The straight cut racing gears are noisier. This is especially noticeable in first and second gear, but it seems to have subsided some since I did a lot of first gear hill climbing at high load. I think they just need to get worn in. Kevin at KCR was very helpful, I also appreciate that the cost for the rebuild was very reasonable. The tranny came a little late, but to be fair, I did tell him that I was in no hurry. All in all I'm very happy with KCR.
At this time, without the extra torque that I expect to get from the electric front drive in the future, I find that first gear is too tall for SF city streets. That poor clutch of mine, next time I'll try to upgrade to a 228 mm clutch.