NQ, My recommendation is to go even more simple and keep that awesome shape of the beetle, find the plans for the class III type hitch for a beetle or buy one off the Samba. Add some air adjustable shocks in the rear for the extra tongue weight and off you go.
Then buy a $300 Harbor Freight trailer kit, buy 4 sheets of plywood, 3 2x4's and make your hauling vehicle. VW Beetle hitches http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1081086 $65 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=971769 $75 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=804033 $85 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=599398 $55 trailer http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/trailer-trailer-accessori es/1720-lb-capacity-super-duty-48-inch-x-96-inch-utility-trailer-with-12-inc h-five-lug-wheels-and-tires-94564.html Brien -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of No Quarter Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 10:44 AM To: [email protected]; Air-Cooled Volkswagen Discussion List Subject: [vintagvw] Making a Beetle truck? I've been doing a lot of thinking about making a light duty truck that wouldn't cost as much as a good used single cab. Beetles are still relatively easy to find and cheap to get parts for so I'm thinking of making a light duty beetle pick up. I posted about this idea several months ago and Tim Osburn sent me a 2d drawing of what mating a double cab rear to a beetle would look like. It's doable but that might be a bit more than I can chew. I've looked at dozens of beetle truck conversion and one thing most of them have in common is that the box is too darn short and hangs over the engine farther than it does in front. It puts too much weight behind the axle and is not aesthetically pleasing. So what I think would solve the problem would be to lengthen the pan about 12". When people do fiberglass buggy conversions, they chop out 16 to 18" if I recall properly. To get the strength back, I'd weld on rails like the convertibles have. Along with the lengthening, you'd have to lengthen the shift rod, brake line, throttle cable, clutch cable, fuel line tube, and clutch carrying tube. I don't know how you'd go about lengthening the tube other than welding a new one in or get a small version of a boiler roller and flare out the end of one tube so it would slip over the other tube as an extension. It's a lot of work but I've been doing a bit of welding in the shop lately and my welding skills are getting to the point where I feel more comfortable tackling something like this....to the point I can see it in my head. And yes, I own a crew cab but you don't just beat 'em up. I'm talking about a beater beetle you could haul a few sheets of plywood in, or another engine, or lumber, etc. Put in a low geared transmission and smaller tires and you would have some stump pulling torque - even from a small engine. If a person wanted to do something with a pancake style Type 4, that would get that box down nice and low too. I've seen a nice stepside conversion and full width conversions. They really look neat if done correctly. NQ _______________________________________________ vintagvw site list [email protected] http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5918 (20110301) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5918 (20110301) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com _______________________________________________ vintagvw site list [email protected] http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw
