I could go on a picture by picture issue (first two are trailers, not
cars, and though large, may not be much more than 1500 pounds.) The 4th
one is a relatively small boat and again maybe within stretching
distance of the towing capacity of the Vanagons....

BUT, EVERY SINGLE one of these is a DoubleKab. I.E. a TRUCK to begin
with. The DoubleKabs are lighter in weight (from my experience) than
the Passenger or Westfalia vanagons.  And some of those images reveal
potential issues (notice how squashed down the rear is on number 3, the
one with the big boat.) I bet number 3 also has auxilliary brakes. The
trailer not created from Vanagons might too.

http://homepage.mac.com/kimbrennan

The ATV (Polaris Ranger 6x6) is about 1500 pounds, so I've been a bit
over the towing capacity of my Passenger Syncro (due to the extra
weight of the trailer itself). This is a trailer without auxilliary
brakes.

Towing with the original 2.1 was VERY slow (I could get up to 50-60 mph
in a couple of minutes) but if there was any sort of grade it I was
usually down in 2nd gear pretty quickly. The GoldBrick now has a Tiico,
which makes accelerating considerably better and grades are less of an
issue.

But braking is still an issue (I have not upgraded to big brakes on
this vehicle). I need a much longer braking area. When I tow this, I
tend to go on back roads so as to not impede other traffic, because 1)
I'm never going to be fast with this big a load, and 2) because I don't
want other traffic to get in my way and force me into any need for
sudden stops.

The Vanagon frame is pretty darn tough. It just doesn't have the
wheels, brakes, engine or transmission set up for heavy duty towing and
though you can get away with it...you're rolling the dice each time you
tow that M1-Abrams around...