DIY Toad

[peterbylt]

I have not seen very much on this topic, so I thought I would post my findings.

When I originally decided to tow the PT Cruiser, I researched the rules for towing 4 down in Florida.

What I translated the law as saying, there is no difference between a car being towed and a trailer.

Once the car is hooked up as a trailer it is a trailer, any trailer over 3,000 lbs. requires trailer brakes.

The laws vary state to state, be sure to review the requirements in your area.

The PT Cruiser comes in at 2,900 pounds, for the first few tows I will not have auxiliary brakes, I would like to add them when I venture out of Florida, would be nice in the mountains, not needed as much in the Flat lands.

I have not noticed any difference in acceleration, braking or handling with the PT Cruiser being towed.

When I first decided to tow, I priced out commercially available packages installed, and decided that I would build my own when I was getting quotes of $2000 to $4000.

I started tracking Craig's list and EBay, used PT Cruiser Base Plates are nonexistent, you can buy used Jeep Base Plates every day.

Harbor Freight has what looks like a decent Tow Bar for not much Money, I considered that one.
 
After a couple of weeks of monitoring, I found a Falcon 2 Tow Bar in good condition with all the attachments on Craig's List, 30 miles from me for $100.

Included with the Falcon 2, a Quick disconnect crossbar and two different sets of mounting brackets for unknown vehicles, all the attachment pins and safety cables.
     
The first major task I had to do before I could do anything else was install the trailer hitch on the MCI 96A3.

Every time I see any topics about installing a trailer hitch on an MCI, there are always the naysayers that say, MCI's were not meant to tow anything, don't do it, and yet everyone does, we all need our Toads.

After removing the MCI Bumper and much measuring, I gave my design to a local fabricator and he gave me back the granddaddy of all trailer hitches, bolted to the triangles that form the end of what passes for a back frame on the MCI, the hitch was sandwiched between the Frame ends and the bumper with 10 grade 8 bolts.

Much to my surprise, when I took the bumper off I found the bumper attached with two bolts that were only hand tight.







With a trailer hitch on the Bus it was time to address the Base Plate on the cruiser.

First I removed the Plastic Bumper cover, which was ridiculously easy.

4 - 10 MM bolts.



This exposed a boxed inner metal bumper, after much deliberation and mocking it up several different ways, I determined the best solution would be to bolt angle brackets to the car frame where the inner bumper bolts to the frame, Four bolts to each side, These brackets would extend down and out through preexisting holes in the bumper cover where fog lights could be mounted, trimming the bumper cover a small amount.

These brackets were mostly fabricated out of the same 2" square tubing as would be used in a receiver hitch with some gussets added for strength.







Next I needed to fabricate a way to connect the new base plate brackets to the tow bar, hopefully utilizing the Quick disconnect function built into the tow bar.
When I purchased the Tow Bar it came with two sets of base plate brackets for unknown vehicles.

I mocked these brackets up multiple ways expecting to fabricate these out of Square tubing using the bolt on fixtures from the brackets, eventually discovering that if I welded them end to end and trimmed the piece of steel bar off each one they would fit perfectly, sliding into the Base plate brackets like a receiver hitch using a 5/8 pin to secure them in place, attaching to the tow bar Crossbar with the quick release pins.







The next issue to address, tail lights, as a temporary solution, I took a set of magnetic LED trailer lights that I had bought from Harbor Freight some time ago, after tapping into the MCI rear connection panel and wiring a trailer light plug I plugged the lights into the 24 volt connection, worked perfectly, Unsure how long these 12 volt LEDs will continue to work.
 
With everything painted and reassembled I took it for a test run, everything worked as designed, if it weren't for the Backup cam you would never know anything was back there.







The PT Cruiser has a manual transmission so you just leave it in Neutral and unlock the steering and off you go, tracks perfectly.

The quick disconnect is nice, pull two pins and lift the tow bar and pin it, Less than 5 minutes to disconnect.

On a side note the car is less likely to rust now, those Detroit 2 strokes do tend to spew.

Projects remaining to be done,

I want to shorten the Base Plate bars that stick out of the bumper, looks like I can take at least 4 inches out ( the wife has smacked her shins a few times) she also wants to either mount fog lights on them or flag holders for that Presidential Limo look....

I am still monitoring Craigs List and Ebay, looking for an auxiliary brake setup, I like the Air Force one setup.

I have bought the Relays and started the wiring process to build a 24 to 12 volt trailer light setup, I will wire into the Cruisers Taillights so all I have to do when connecting or disconnecting is a plug in.

I need to redesign the safety cable attachment method, this is the one part that takes the most time when hooking and unhooking the car.

I also want to add a Breakaway Cable in the unlikely event the car becomes disattached the brakes will apply.

So far we have only towed the car a few times on shorter trips, I am happy with the operation and do not see any Issues with the parts or setup.

Thank You for reading, any constructive comments or questions would be appreciated.

Peter 

[DoubleEagle]

The hitch for the bus looks very substantial and could probably carry some weight, but it might be overkill for just towing a car with little hitch weight. You should have no problems, but you better eliminate the shin hazard to keep relations friendly. 

[chessie4905]

In our state, those stubs sticking out would be illegal and wouldn't  pass our annual vehicle inspection.
I tow a Suzulki Vitara 4x4 2 door with a Roadmaster 5000. Took a year and a half to find the base plates on Craigslist. Just have to be patient.
Your hitch looks plenty beefy enough and should do the job. Nice work!

[Fred Mc]

I just did the same on my mini. I looked at the base plate that they want 4-500 for and made my own.Simple to do if you can weld although it took some time to get it to fit.(with covid I have SOME time) Being a woodworker I made a mockup out of wood first.Its a lot easier to hot glue some wood together than grind a weld off. The baseplate is barely noticeable. I then constructed the tow bar our of some scrap 2 1/2 heavy wall tubing. Today I was working on the electrical connection for the rear lightbar. I want to run the electrical connections THRU the car or under it instead of over the hood or roof. Should have that done tommorrow.
The bus already has a hitch that i made 30 years ago to tow a racing trailer.
My attitude often is that if someone else made an item I probably can too.

[Fred Mc]

What is the second receiver tube to the left on the hitch on the bus?

[somewhereinusa]

I have one of these for braking and am really pleased with it.
 
https://www.readybrake.com/store/c3/Supplemental_Braking_Systems.html

Easy to install initially, easy hookup, works well, lowest overall price.

[peterbylt]

Thank You for the comments,

Yes, I definitely plan on reducing the length of the Base Plate brackets, I can easily take at least 4 possibly 5 inches out and the crossbar will not hit the bumper, alternatively I have been thinking I could make those pieces removable when not in use just cutting them close and using another piece of Square tubing and 5/8 trailer hitch pins.

Question, Being lazy I have been leaving all the pieces in place on the car when camping for the weekend, a longer stay and I would remove them, do you remove everything just for a weekend?

Certain things I have a Friend of mine who is an artist of a fabricator build for me, he was the one who built the hitch, he takes certain liberties with the designs I give and totally over engineers most everything, I was not expecting 3 inch 3/8 wall Square tubing and ½ inch mounting plates, I was quite happy with the hitch, He still has the plans if anyone is interested.

Fred,

I also plan on hiding the wiring and using the cars taillights, the Magnetic lights, or as my Wife calls them the Mouse Ears are just temporary until I get the 24 to 12 volt trailer light module wired. I plan on a simple plugin on the car side probably under the Hood.

The second receiver is to stabilize a receiver hitch Rack that can hold bicycles or a small motorcycle that I have, I kept it from a Class C Motorhome that I had before the bus, you can see the rack in the bed of the pickup truck in the top picture with the Trailer hitch. It was a little too wobbly with the single receiver in the middle.
 
Somewhereinusa,

I looked up the Ready Brake, interesting design, very much like the Brakeaway cable I am considering, I would still like the Air Force one, I will see what becomes available, Thank you for the suggestion.
 
Peter 

[Utahclaimjumper]

 Every place you can shorten the length of the tow equipment total,,will help prevent the car from "hunting" with every small movement of your steering wheel.. Particularly from the from the apex of the triangle that is formed by the tow bar ,, to the rear axle,, all length at that point should be minimal..>>>DAN