Dave, I thought the same but actually it's not a problem.  We have just spent some five months on the road with ours, Almonte to Key West to La Manzallia,  MX to Santa Cruz, CA then on to home in a few more weeks.  So far no problems hitting anything with it.  I thought the topes in Mexico would surly get ti but no, not a problem.  It's close enough to the front wheel that it follows along quite nicely.  They will become a necessity soon as most all campgrounds will require you to have a holding tank or they will not allow you in.  This IS the case in Germany now for sure as we discovered last March when we were there.

On 2012-03-26, at 9:00 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> I have not used it.  The photo looks like it likely reduces clearance.  Is that true?  I would like to have one, but I do not want to lose any clearance.  Also, someone else mentioned having to modify air conditioning lines.  Further information on that, anyone?  mcneely

       Please note that I will be away from my business travelling from November 01 until April 30, 2012.  Parts orders will be processed although not as quickly as usual.  I will always be available for contact by E-mail.  If you phone your call will be addressed by Greg T. Brown here and he will either call you back or advise you to contact me directly by E-mail. Details of this adventure are on our Travel Blog: http://frankcondelli.com/travels/

Cheers,    
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 VW Westy, '00 Kawasaki 250 Sherpa, "98 Ducati 750 Monster & Lionel Trains (Collection for sale)
Frank Condelli & Associates - Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems
BusFusion a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10, 2012