I guess I;m really lucky the rest of the car has done 60,000 trouble free
miles with all the stress of the 2.8 V6, the beefed C4 automatic and Tiger
rear end. Actually , the plate bolted to the floor of the car is about
12X18 inches with 4 half inch bolts....and before I asked the rear bumper to
hold the tongue weight I stood on it in the center and it didn't move so
since I am 185 lbs and tongue weight is 65 lbs I figured correctly that it
would take the stress... The other amazing thing about this "weak hitch"
setup is the fact that since originally mounting it it has never worked
loose, required tightening or anything else so I guess we have a winner!
Towing my harley coast to coast was the real test of tongue weight and
towing other sunbeams on a towbar back and forth to Smittys (22 miles)
proves the floor is exceptionally strong too.. I'm sure some engineer could
build a better mouse trap but this one works great for 1000lb load/ 65 lb
tongue weight or a quick towbar haul of 2200 lbs.
-----Original Message-----
From: Alwezthnkn(at)aol.com <Alwezthnkn(at)aol.com>
To: herbeam(at)cari.net <herbeam(at)cari.net>
Cc: alpines(at)autox.team.net <alpines(at)autox.team.net>
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 1998 6:33 PM
Subject: Re: Trailer hitch
>Bob,
>
>Though I obviously haven't seen your trailer hitch set up....It does sound
>"Fearless". Frightening might be a better description. I would not tow
>anything behind my Alpine with a plate bolted to the floor of my trunk and
>tied into my bumper vertically at the center.
>
>If... you're plate is wide enough that it spans from the formed section
along
>both fuel tanks I might buy on to this concept a little. I highly doubt
that
>the formed rib trunk floor was designed for load dynamics induced by a
>trailer. The bumper is also a non-structural member!
>
>If this has worked for you great....Who can argue with success, but I would
>caution other Alpine owners to think about running some static strength and
>basic fatigue calculations prior to making this modification
>
>I am in no way attacking your idea Bob...I just think that one needs to be
>very careful when dealing with an attachment point to a car that is
directly
>supporting a trailer with mass and velocity.
>
>Happy trailering,
>
>Bob
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Sep 05 2000 - 10:16:45 CDT