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Old 07-23-2018, 11:20 AM   #11
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Do you have to get TUEV certified every year? My front hitch is pretty easy to take on and off. Four bolts, maybe 10 minutes. Remove it for inspection if needed. I usually leave mine off because of the extra weight. If I need to put a bike rack up front in addition to the rear, then I’ll reinstall it for a while during MTB season (I’m a coach for my son’s NICA youth MTB team in the fall).

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Old 07-24-2018, 01:09 AM   #12
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@Brian,
luckily I have TUEV every two years.
But I do not want to take of that peace of steel every two years.
And if you just take it off, I assume you leave the bolts right there, in the frame?
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Old 07-24-2018, 07:44 AM   #13
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I feel a lot safer in my E-van SMB than I did in my 1988 VW Vanagon Westy at least :-) That was like death waiting to happen on a front-end accident!

I'll second that! I missed a moose by that much >< in my 1965 VW easycamper conversion, in Yellowstone park in the 1980's. I was going 50mph, my bride and niece in the front seat with me, the thing came outta know where, crossed the road in front of me. I don't scare easily, but this got my attention. You don't realize how tall they are until you are eye to eye with one, then you look at the sheetmetal, 8" steel dash, and you. Very sobering.



I've done a fair amount of fab work under my e350, and have a pretty good idea of shapes and strengths. IMO those crumple zones on the frame rails are not going to move until they see a LOT of force, like a major catastrophic, hitting a concrete abutment at 50mph kind of event. My guess is Ford added them to 'check the box' that they did something to absorb energy in what most automotive engineers consider and outdated body on frame design (still very strong, but not as safe as modern designs). In my view, the formed ripples in the frame rails are to be ignored when thinking about any towing, winching, attaching a snow plow, etc. "Your mileage may vary"
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Old 07-24-2018, 08:06 AM   #14
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@Brian,
luckily I have TUEV every two years.
But I do not want to take of that peace of steel every two years.
And if you just take it off, I assume you leave the bolts right there, in the frame?
Mine uses existing holes in the frame, and nuts that actually go inside the frame channel. The nuts have a piece of metal attached to them that's like a handle (hard to describe) and allows you to insert the nut and hold it while threading the bolt from the outside. Look at post #5 in this similar thread that I started a while ago and you can see the way my hitch mounts. I assume most would be the same. http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...ord-15736.html



Honestly, it's pretty easy to do and doesn't take that long to remove/replace.
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Old 07-24-2018, 09:19 AM   #15
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Ahhhhhhhhhhh, another aspect.
At least in Germany, there could be an issue with your insurance in case you have a serious accident.
That means usually if you make modifications to your car which are relevant to be homologated and you don't do it, you loose the allowance to run the car and the insurance will not be valid any longer.


Just some more 2 cents ;-(


But I'm going to like the idea of just putting that hitch thing on if needed.
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