vikingdave

I finished installing a Westfalia detachable vertical trailer hitch on my 2010 A4. The reason why I didn't go with a traditional hitch was that I just wanted a hitch that you couldn't see when you weren't using it. With this hitch, nobody will ever even know that I have it unless they get their face on the ground to look under my car. I am extremely happy with how it turned out. Absolutely no part of this hitch hangs below the bottom of the bupber.

I also installed the Westfalia wiring kit which is really nice. It ties into the computer system and will tell you right on the dash if you ever have a blown out bulb. I ordered the European 7 pin electrical connector, but spliced it into a US style flat 4. Also the car knows when a trailer is hooked up and alters the ESP behavior and engine cooling for the trailer.

This kit is also really nice because you don't have to do any splicing on factory wiring.

A few specifics of what I had to do:

1) Immediately after wiring in the Westfalia electrical kit I started receiving ESP errors on my dash. To overcome this you need to alter the "Trailer Installed" bit with VagCom within the ABS area.

2) By default the Westfalia box outputs the brake signal on it's own wire rather than adding it to the left and right wires. Adapters that are meant to combine distinct turn and brake signals will not function with this kit because of the bulb detection that it is doing. What you have to do to get around this is alter the "Trailer" setting from "Rest of World" to "North America". Much thanks to another board member here for that pointer, sorry I can't remember who it was. Once you do that you can just splice on the flat 4 and it works perfectly with burned out bulb detection. A wiring diagram comes with the electrical kit.

3) I also activated the "Trailer Installed" bit within the Engine and Central Electrical areas.

4) The towbar has no hooks for chains. What I did was wrap a braided steel rope that was coated in plastic around the structural towbar. The loops on each end of this rope are just barely accessible from under the car. It is extremely strong, and the loops do not show at all.

5) You do have to trim the black portion of the bumper under the car, but it's just the part that faces down, rather than the part that faces towards the back. You absolutely cannot see this unless you get your face down by the ground. I cut a much smaller hole than the drawing said to and did not use the huge round trailer connector. I just ran the flat 4 connector out on its own.

I am extremely happy with how it turned out. The total cost (much of which was for shipping) was $550 USD. Yes that's a lot but I believe I have a much better setup than anything I could possibly buy over here. This thing is amazingly stout, and is inserted right into the body of the car rather than being bolted on from underneath. The ball size is 50mm, versus our 2" ball over here which is 50.8mm, this is a non issue.

Here are the pics:

elocutionist

Thanks for the great summary and pictures. Can you post the link where you ordered it from?

betacar

Yeah, dying to know who you ordered through. Any hints?

Thanks!

J

vikingdave

I ordered it from a place called PF Jones in the UK. They gave me a quote including shipping via email and then I called in my credit card number and had it a week later. You can find them on Google really easily.

They were great to deal with.

I had my JetSki out Friday night and it was the first time I have ever pulled it where I couldn't hear the sound of the hitch receiver tube clanking around every time I went over a bump. The design is so much better than what we have in the states.

It's just crazy how solid this thing is.

BananSWE

Did you get the arm with the cover for the hole in this kit? That cover stops debris and crap from entering the tube from below. First thing I do with mine is to fold down that arm that also holds the elec. connector. After that I can mount the tow.

It's a really nice tow, all the locks and stuff that holds the tow is safely stored in the boot out of harms way when not in use. Earlier versions had the locks on the tow bar where they got beaten with salt and dust all the time making it hard to keep them working.

betacar

Ditto That! I too ordered from PF jones after a few PMs to Viking Dave to understand the details.

I ordered on the morning of the 7th east coast time and had it the afternoon of the 14th! I am amazed that they shipped so quickly.

Next step is to get a handle on installing it this weekend!

Thanks for sharing the info Dave!

Jay
(near Boston)

betacar

Well, I fits! I spent this evening installing the tow bar and what a nice piece of engineering!

Only PIA difficulty I had was attaching the reinforcement plate above the muffler. After dropping the muffler down some I could squeek in and install the rivets.

I also had didn't love pulling the cover to get the side clips to disengage but it came right off.

I ended up using a hole saw on the rear valance, a little bigger than the main vertical member of the hitch and centered a little more than 4" from the screw in the center of the valance.

I think it came out pretty slick!

Thanks for getting the ball rolling by providing the info VikingDave.

efett

does anyone know if there is a vertical receiver for the A4 that is not the euro style. I want to get a hitch mount bike rack but there doesnt seem to be an adaptor from the euro style to the north american hitches.

any suggestions?

Thanks

Davisjl

I'm looking to do the same thing and need it for Bike rack... interested to know if you've found any adapters.

efett

nothing as of yet was hoping to hear from someone on here. i bike with a guy that had a custom vertical receiver made for his A5 hopefully he gets me the shops name and ill see what i can do about getting some made.