(This is a followup to the post about a vanagon towing a
huge motor home.)
The original poster did a typo, saying something like ..
'the vanagon was travailing at 65 mph'. I think that was
correct, the VW was 'travailing' as in giving birth.
Anyways, here's some info. My family and I took our 134k
(now 140k) mile '87 Wolfsburg from Cleveland, OH to
Orlando, FL to Atlanta, to Grand Junction, CO and back to
Cleveland. 6700 miles in 31 days. All the while towing a
2200 lb (I weighed it, fully loaded) pop-up camper. The
vanagon, fully loaded, without the 650 pounds of four
people, was 4000 lbs. The GVWR is 5200 pounds, I think. GVWR
doesn't tell you how heavy the vehicle is, just how heavy
the load plus vehicle can be. I would estimate the vanagon
weighs about 3600 lbs dry.
The owner manual gives 1250 lbs as an unbraked tow limit and
1800 lbs as a braked tow limit.
Our experience?  Well Big Bertha did ok. She couldn't make
the worst part of the Rockies. I had to rent a U-haul to
take the camper over the Rockies. She did make it up the
worst part, actually, at 10 mph in 1st gear, overheating,
oil light coming on, stopping to cool off on 70 mph highway
on the shoulder, but the U-haul was rented, she was gonna
BLOW!
Down the worst part, I learned what brake fade is. It is no
longer theory to me, we came very close to losing the
brakes. I could have done better (but I'm still a 'driver').
I should have stayed to the right, not allowing the vanagon
to get over 50 mph, in second gear.
Bottom line. Follow the owner manual. Get brakes on a
trailer over 1250 lbs loaded, those kind that brake when the
trailer pushes against the towing vehicle. Don't try the
rockies even then. The vanagon was 30 mph in second gear all
by itself fully loaded and everything. But Big Bertha did
good.
All in all, we had a great trip. For the part to Disney
World, seven people, all their stuff, a 2200 lb pop-up
camper. Sleeping, eating, towing, camping 7 people just
fine. And it gave my wife and I separate accomodations from
the kids, whom we just can't sleep with. Russ Gilbert