Towing an Eriba Puck w/Buggy

[wythac]

That's pretty cool Gene. Any idea of the weights of your buggy and the teardrop?

That location is about right for where I will put my hitch. My engine cage is attached to the frame horns and cradle down below, and the rear subframe (attached to body mounting points and shock tabs on shock towers). It is a very substantially attached section of the frame, a good solid hitch mounting spot.

[Gene C]

Gadget is a little heavier than most buggys that weigh about 1400 lbs
Loaded with the dual fuel tanks about 2500 lbs
I have not weighed "Relaxo" the Teardrop as of yet
I do try to balance the weight loads of both of them when on a trip
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Gene C

Burlingame Ca

[joescoolcustoms]

Wow! The more I look at this thread, the more I am thinking about building a tear drop to pull behind my '56 Oval Baja. The baja has two fuel tanks, 1 in standard location and one Long Ranger in place of the rear seat, plus a lengthened wheel base (RGB's turned slightly rearward) and should pull a small camping trailer just fine with the 2276 engine.

Would make a fantastic weekend combination!
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Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

[wythac]

Here is a Westfalia trailer in the classifieds:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1059509

Although it is no Puck, it has a cool shape all it's own. This one is empty inside, but you could make whatever you wanted for an interior. Good thing it is on the wrong continent for me....I'm runnin' outta space.

No chance of getting this one either. Who would think that they would take their last ride in a trailer.....

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1057706

[GTBRADLEY]

Here is a neat one for you. Probably enough roon to carry a tent and a few camping items. I know Neil does a great job so I would imagine it is quality all the way.
http://www.hawkeyebuggies.com/page6/page6.html
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Thunderbug by Bugformance 1969

[Gene C]

My images disapeared
here they are again

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Gene C

Burlingame Ca

[JD1]

Using this http://www.mamotorworks.com/acvw?frame=1.6461

I think I can tow the puck. I have a Porsche engine and Porsche brakes.

Any ideas? Going from SLC to The Irvine Classic.

david

[73SpeedBuggy]

[HeidelbergJohn4.0]

[JD1]

I think I'll have something fabed for the Ghia to tow the Puck.

Any tips?

david

[wythac]

Posted this in my build thread but thought I would update this old thread in case someone searches it for information.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=375286&start=60

Go to the last page of this thread to see the hitch assembly for the Buggy pulling a Puck. There will be more on that thread as I gain more experience pulling trailers with the buggy.

[Tom_T]

DUPE POST from your other thread, just for folks reading here who may want to see the suggestions on towing a Puck with a Buggy (or other short wheelbase vehicle) ....

My wife found your other topic on the Puck, since we're looking for a nice vintage Puck/Pan/Familia to pull behind our 88 Westy.

I know, that's repetitively redundant, but we go to vintage trailer rallies with our restore 1960 Avion T20 (sim. to Airstream), but a smaller option would be nice at times & the Westy is considered too new as many of the vintage trailer rallies, plus we can use it with our 85 BMW 325e - both of which we're OOs of them. We have the GoWesty hitch on the Westy already, which we use for a Yakima Swing Daddy bike rack + the 4-pin electrical hook-up.

She & I were actually reading there more for your experience of towing the Puck with your Vano, which I'm guessing is an 88-91/92 Carat/Wolfsburg. It sounds like it tows well with your tintop, & brakes reasonably well with the Vanagons' notoriously weakish braking - especially with a loaded full camper like ours. On our annual summer long XC trips, we'd typically end up at 40-ish mph on the big grades - down to 20-35 on the 3 big I-70 grades - loaded with 2 kids & gear/food for 4.

She wants to know how you found a SoCal garage find Puck!?

We're in Orange, OC, CA & have been looking for one since March, so if you hear of any &/or lose interest in yours, please shoot me an email or PM.

However, my main reason fro posting here was to offer some suggestions for your Buggy set-up to tow the Puck.

Not seeing any updates since 2015 on your Manx/Buggy+Puck exploits, I wanted to suggest a couple of things for stability - if you do experience any issues beyond the tires above (yes, use the higher pressure on pavement when towing, & a tad less for traction for soft stuff when towing - experiment with what works best off-road towing).

Suggested Options:

1 - You can load some cargo forward on the Puck to get more tongue wt. (secured down of course), since your Buggy has enough power for the Puck anyway.

2 - You can load cargo on the forward rollbar/rack over the passengers to load the front end more,

3 - You can weld another 2" receiver on the front of the Buggy frame & use a cargo rack there for gear which will really add wt. over the steering wheels.

4 - You can get 1 or 2 of the friction type anti-sway devices/bars made by many WD hitch mfgrs. & add that to the Puck's coupler tube (possibly with an outrigger to get the angle usually found on the trailer a-frame - if the straight on attachment doesn't resist the sway), which link to a 3-ball coupler (2" + 1-2 smaller 1" balls @ L & R).

5 - As others had said at your other Puck towing topic thread, you can add electric brakes to most any trailer, but then you'll need an electric brake controller & a 7-pin hook-up. I'd recco the Tekonsha RF which you mount on the trailer, & can use it with multiple tow vehicles, such as your Vano & Buggy, etc. We have had one on our Avion since we've rented trucks to tow it since we got it in 2012, but we are now on the hunt for a nice used `08-14 Cayenne S V8 as our own TV since we're at the cost break-even point own vs. renting with the number of trips we're doing (I'll also tow my 73 914-2.0 "914-S" to shops for resto & then to show - 2nd owner since `75 on that one), & as an "extra car."

6 - Another option would be the Eriba surge brakes which had a bellows on the coupler tube to actuate the trailer brakes. I have no idea of how hard it would be to find the parts, but they're still making new Pucks etc., nor how hard it would be to retrofit them. I've seen that option on some of their Familia, Puck & Pan & their larger trailers, but mostly in Europe/UK pix.

BTW - To answer your question on your other thread - Yes, they did make a USA Export Puck version back in the 1960-70's, which I found by some googling research on Pucks etc. when we decided to try to get one.

http://www.eribasar.de/touring-oldtimer/eriba-puck-us-version/export-history-and-brochure/

Cheers!
Tom
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1973 914-2.0 - 2nd owner since 12/75
1985 BMW 325e 2dr - OO
1988 Vanagon CamperGL Westy - OO
1970 Eriba Puck & 1960 Avion T20

[Tom_T]

I tried to send you a PM 2x earlier today, but nothing shows up in my sent mailbox, did you get it?

I don't know what's up with TheSamba on that, because a PM to another member in between the 2 tries did go thru.

Tom
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1973 914-2.0 - 2nd owner since 12/75
1985 BMW 325e 2dr - OO
1988 Vanagon CamperGL Westy - OO
1970 Eriba Puck & 1960 Avion T20

[wythac]

PM's received, replies sent.

Puck gets occasional use behind the buggy but the Heilite gets more time because it can store stuff for travel, including firewood that I wouldn't let pummel the interior of the Puck on some of the roads I travel with the buggy.

Puck spends more time behind my Vanagon which tows it like its nothin .

Love em both