interesting
I just installed a hitch last night and the wholes were a bit loose (not sure if it was 1/2" more like 1/4) but I just tightened it down and it feels solid.
I hope I dont have any issues because of that.

 

Hi Mike,

Yes, half an inch may have been an over exaggeration but it's definitely enough to concern me. There really shouldn't be any room positioning the hitch. Perhaps the earlier touareg uses an M14 bolt instead of the M12. That would eliminate the movement we are allowed when positioning the hitch.

-Randy

 

hmm, I sure hope its fine that way.

and I just noticed I cant even spell "holes". nice

 

Early Tregs used 14mm, after about '05 or so they moved to 12mm...you need the sleve kit (available at any vw dealer).

 

Thanks a whole bunch Nick, I'm glad to hear that the spacer exists. You made my day.

The question is why doesn't VW include the spacers in the hitch kit and why hasn't anyone posted anything about the spacers before, that is as far as I can tell from my recent search on clubtouareg. The concern is there are many Treg owners out there running M12 bolts without spacers and the bolts holding the hitch to the body are under additional load.

Will post the part number once I find out what it is.

-Randy

 

The question is why doesn't VW include the spacers in the hitch kit and why hasn't anyone posted anything about the spacers before

Thats a great question. I bought mine from a VW dealership and they never mentioned it. are they not aware of it?
better yet, dont manufacture it that way. make those holes fit the bolts supplied.

 

Anyone have the part number? We actaully had the same issue on an install on an 05 last night.. but i don't understand has this has anything to do with the Touareg model... the bolts came with the hitch.. and it's the hitch that has the bigger holes. Maybe its "by design".. it just seems wrong with you do the installl. We had to carefully line things up.

 

Turns out the sleeve does not exist. There is an adapter available from VW that allows you to use the supplied M12 bolts on earlier Tuareg's which use thicker M14 bolts. These adapters (8, one for each bolt) are used to increase the bolt thickness from M12 to M14. But this only applies to earlier vehicles.

So what this means is you should spend an extra moment centering the hitch as there is a bit of play available when mounting the hitch and if your not paying attention could have your hitch skewed in relationship to the chassis which is probably not a good thing.

FYI - VW designed the hitch to use the M14 bolt. At some point, VW decided to go with a smaller M12 bolt but did not redesign the hitch to accommodate the smaller bolt. Considering the hitch is designed to tow up to 7700 lbs, I would feel better if VW either kept using the M14 bolt used to secure the hitch to the chassis or update the hitch to use the smaller M12 bolt. A third option would have been to supply a sleeve.

The question I have...

Is the hitch still rated at 7700 lbs when used with the smaller M12 bolts?

 

I am sure the hitch assb'y is still rated at 7700 lbs... I doubt the hitch itself is the limiting factor in the 7700 lbs.

 

As per the sticker on my 2010 Touareg as placed on the hitch as installed by VW - 7716 lbs and 770 lbs tongue weight - both with and without weight distribution - which means if your tongue is over 770 lbs you need to adjust your load hitch to move some of the weight either forward to the axels and back onto the trailer...

 

I did mine a few weeks ago and also noticed the holes were large enough to accommodate the 14mm bolts but it didn't concern me since I simply installed the bolts and let the hitch rest on the bolts at its bottom most position which is roughly 1/32" (.039mm) lower than if I used 14mm bolts. When you add the foam top and slide the bumper cover back on there isn't any gap, it rests on the Styrofoam just as it should and all the mounting holes line up so its no big deal.

BTW, a 12mm grade 10.9 (based on the torque settings) has a tensile strength of ~26,000 lb and a sheer strength of ~16,000 lbs TIMES 4! I think we're OK

 

Actually it's times 8, not times 4....... If you take a look around for the Touareg pulling a 747 you'll see that the bolts and the bumper/hitch are not the limiting factor on weight. Also remember that you slide a SINGLE 3/4" stamped steel pin into the receiver to secure the entire trailer you are pulling and that same pin is rated up to 16,000 lbs so the 12mm bolts x 8 are a none issue.