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Thread: fitting westfalia towbar to passat estate

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  1. fitting westfalia towbar to passat estate 
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    I bought a secondhand Westfalia towbar removed from a 02 Passat Estate and tried to fit it to my 04 passat estate at the weekend.

    The problem was that the pre-drilled holes in the car to fit the towbar (4 off, 2 each side) are 10mm diameter, but the holes in the towbar are nearly 20mm diameter.

    Am I missing some bushes that take up the difference in the diameters?
     
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  2. Re: fitting westfalia towbar to passat estate 
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    Whilst it doesn't answer your question directly, I recently fitted a Bosal unit to '05 (B5.5) estate ...... on that, the arms that slide inside the chassis box aren't much more than 20mm themselves, let alone having holes that big in them (they're 10mm on the Bosal)

    If you go here: http://www.westfalia-automotive.de/index.php?id=6&L=1 you can download the fitting instructions and compare them to the bar you have
     
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  3. Re: fitting westfalia towbar to passat estate 
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    Thanks for the link, I tried to find the fitting instructions but couldn't,

    According to the instructions it just has 10mm bolts, but it can't as the bolt would be a really loose fit in the towbars mounting hole.

    Has anyone fitted one of these ?
     
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  4. Re: fitting westfalia towbar to passat estate 
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    Quite by chance I stumbled on something you may find useful and the links are here:

    http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread...=122431&page=2

    led me to:
    http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...wguy/?start=60
     
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  5. Re: fitting westfalia towbar to passat estate 
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    I was looking at the photo's in that bottom link thinking "why's he stripped so much off?", "mine didn't look like that when the back end is stripped down" and "why are the bolts in horizontally, rather than vertically?" ..... then I noticed the square fuel filler and the back looked shorter - the car in the tow-bar fitting photo's is a Jetta (Golf) estate, not a Passat

    He has two cars, both plain white, one's a Passat and the other is a Jetta

    The Passat has bolt-holes which drop vertically through the rear chasis box's rather than horizontally as per those photo's
     
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  6. Smile Re: fitting westfalia towbar to passat estate 
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    Chipped2 Guest
    I have a 2002 Passat Sport TDi Estate fitted with a factory Westphalia detachable towbar which is the neatest I have ever seen. It simply clicks vertically with a satisfying 'thunk' into position and can be locked. I remembered that I had some instructions in the back of my service Wallet but it is only pages 25-30 inc. relating to the fitting/removal/servicing of the detachable part.
    Presume you require the pages 1-24 which I'm sure you can get from Westphalia. They were most helpful in providing me with a spare key for the towbar in 2004 which was supplied from Holland and came with a small tin box of PEPPERMINTS printed with 'Westphalia' on the hinged lid. !!

    The number I have noted on the leaflets is 028 9081 2439 so maybe worth a ring. I would add that the english on the above leaflets though has lost something in the translation from possibly Dutch and reads as double dutch.

    If you need me to take a look at the Towbar proper I could do so tomorrow and give details of any specific points raised.
     
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  7. Re: fitting westfalia towbar to passat estate 
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chipped2 View Post
    I have a 2002 Passat Sport TDi Estate fitted with a factory Westphalia detachable towbar which is the neatest I have ever seen.

    If you need me to take a look at the Towbar proper I could do so tomorrow and give details of any specific points raised.
    That's very good of you Chipped2

    What I need to be re-assured about is the size of the holes in the towbar itself.

    If you could remove one of the 4 bolts (the rear 2 screw into anchor nuts)
    and have a look into the hole, I'd like to know if the hole in the towbar is a lot larger than the bolt that secures it. and if so, does the securing bolt "crimp" the metal of the chassis into the hole, thus securing the bar?
     
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  8. Re: fitting westfalia towbar to passat estate 
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    Chipped2 Guest
    creedxup: I have unscewed the second 17mm headed bolt which screws into a square headed nut beneath the car. (It looks more like a coachbolt nut than a normal engineerin nut).
    This nut sits in a hole punched into the alloy exhaust heat shield so I am unable to see whether this square nut is attached to a steel washer plate beneath the alloy or just bonded by rust to it.

    What the first nut screws into I do not know as the same square nut is positioned in a similar hole punched into the alloy heat shield but has no bolt thread protruding through. The same 17mm bolt is showing in the boot and is very tight as was the first bolt.

    There is no modern captive nut or crimped fitting to screw into. It is currently raining here so there was a limit to what I can currentl do. The tow bar itself is of round tube contruction with the two sections attached. Is this what your Westphalia tow bar is? I have a feeling that your towbar isn't the same as mine?
    Can send you pics if needed.
     
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  9. Re: fitting westfalia towbar to passat estate 
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    On my '05 estate there are three holes through the chassis/boot floor on either side. The two rear most (nearest the bumper) have captive nuts that are welded to the chassis, and they are about 6"-9" apart. The third hole, further towards the rear seat, has no captive nut.

    My (Bosal towbar) used the rear-most and forward most holes, so one captive nut and one normal nut (which I changed for a "nyloc" type)
     
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  10. Re: fitting westfalia towbar to passat estate 
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chipped2 View Post
    creedxup: I have unscewed the second 17mm headed bolt which screws into a square headed nut beneath the car. (It looks more like a coachbolt nut than a normal engineerin nut).
    This nut sits in a hole punched into the alloy exhaust heat shield so I am unable to see whether this square nut is attached to a steel washer plate beneath the alloy or just bonded by rust to it.

    What the first nut screws into I do not know as the same square nut is positioned in a similar hole punched into the alloy heat shield but has no bolt thread protruding through. The same 17mm bolt is showing in the boot and is very tight as was the first bolt.

    There is no modern captive nut or crimped fitting to screw into. It is currently raining here so there was a limit to what I can currentl do. The tow bar itself is of round tube contruction with the two sections attached. Is this what your Westphalia tow bar is? I have a feeling that your towbar isn't the same as mine?
    Can send you pics if needed.
    Thanks for your help.

    I have the Westfalia bar with round rear section and two arms that insert into the bodywork, on those arms are two bosses (each side) welded on for the bolts to insert through, the bosses have an internal diameter of 19mm whereas the holes in the bodywork and the nuts that are welded on are M10 (10mm diameter).

    When you removed the bolt was the hole in the towbar much larger than the bolt/hole in the car?
     
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