Actually, it means that Jamie's hitch does not provide the needed
support to the frame to account for that load. I have towed Vanagons on
tow loop mounted hitches. I have also broken the tow loops carrying a
luggage rack. The real advantage of my hitch is the replacement of the
bumper brackets with the three bolt extended mounting. BTW towing an
un-braked load in Canada can get you into a lot of trouble. In RV
forums, it is common discussion of folks getting caught with motor homes
pulling cars that do not have auxiliary brakes. Heavy fines and
impounding seems to be the consequences.

A few of my hitches have been tested by getting rear ended. The Vanagons
have been saved and some of the offenders sometimes totaled. They have
bent, but not broken and the frame mounting has spread out the load
saving the rails.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Greg Potts
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 5:42 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: SOURCE OF HITCHES

Hi Mark,

My family has successfully and safely towed a 5000 lb baywindow bus
with a Jamie Rivers hitch. Those tow loops are pretty near
indestructible  and the hitch is quite beefy.... Frank Condelli has
told me he has seen a recovered westy where the frame bent before the
tow loops did.  Does that mean that Jamie's hitches are stronger than
Dennis's?  Hmmmm.

We should find a pair of testosterone-laden syncronauts and a couple
of stumps and settle this outside. Perhaps a spectator event for
EveryBus or Synchro de Mayo??

Happy trails,

Greg Potts
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1973/74/79 Westfakia Conversion **Bob the Tomato**  LY3H
1977 Sunroof Automatic L63H/L90D
http://www.pottsfamily.ca/westfakia
http://www.busesofthecorn.com

On 31-Mar-06, at 4:37 PM, Mark Tuovinen wrote:

> Anthony,
>
> The link and info is great, but as I see it these are mounted to
> the tie down loops and therefore not as good as the hitch that list
> member Dennis Haynes offers.  Dennis' hitch mounts securely to the
> frame with with three bolts per side and plate steel, they do
> require minor bumper modification, at least for chrome bumpers, but
> this takes only a few minutes and you  end up with a very stout
> hitch that fits nicely, installs easily, and will tow anything that
> you would sanely want behind your van.
>
> Mark in AK