trailer set up

[Guest]

Anyone ever build or pull a trailer set up? I was wondering where to start with the fabricating. I was thinking maybe I'd start with a "U" joint set up. Thoughts?

[phydeauxmutt]

Plan what you want, but there is no sense in re-inventing the wheel. A well-braced standard ball setup works very well. There are even swivel assemblies available, but I have not found the need for them. Just a little bit of experience behind that, I have been pulling a trailer since 1978.

[tkent02]

Mobile home axles used to be easy to find and cheap.

[shameless]

Mobile home axles used to be easy to find and cheap.

wouldn't that be a little heavy behind a bike? lol

[tkent02]

Oh I thought you meant to carry bikes.

[bonanzadave]

Anyone ever build or pull a trailer set up?

Every time I see one I think bad idea. Straight and flat at 55 maybe OK. Rough road, twisty. or accident avoidance cant be good.

[76_Mike_82]

I custom built a trailer and hitch (if you call it that) for my Hayabusa. This year I am hoping to convert it over to my 850. My plan will be to extend the muffler mounts as a lower mounting point for the hitch. Then I am planning on using the upper shock mount or possibly the vetter luggage rack as the upper mount to support the tongue weight of the trailer.
I decided to build it to save some money but by the time it was finished (for now) it did not save me near as much as I thought. One huge advantage mine does have is empty weight is only 55 lbs.
Steve, another member here has a lot of good advice on trailers too. I'm sure he'll have some good information for you.

[76_Mike_82]

I should add during the "testing" stages I overloaded the trailer to almost twice what I think it should hold and (with less weight) did some higher speeds just to make sure there were no adverse effects. Only thing I see with my trailer on the hayabusa is increased stopping distance. I have had it on twisties and longer hauls. It even has some gravel road time (although gravel is not extremly fun on a busa)

[phydeauxmutt]

I have never been one to intentionally drag hardware while cornering, and have never found a trailer to slow me down in the curves.
You DO have to be a bit more careful that you don't ride the white line on the inside of a curve.
You DO have to pull out a bit farther from a fuel pump before starting to turn away.
You DO have to allow a bit more room for stopping.
You DO have to allow a bit more in the fuel budget.
You DO have to scan the roadway for what THREE tire tracks are going to hit.

Basically, what it amounts to, is that if you are a 8/10 rider (face it, not everybody rides at 10/10 all the time), back it down to about 6/10 with the trailer and you will be fine.

[76_Mike_82]

Some of those are exactly why I choose the single tire route with my trailer. It follows in the same track. It leans with the bike. It is narrower than the bike. Unless fully loaded the busa doesn't see drastic fuel economy change. It does add stopping distance.

[tkent02]

Yeah, I have had trailers do stupid things towing with a truck, and with a large car. No way in Hell I'd tow one behind a motorcycle, especially on a road with cars.
But it's not my thread.

[76_Mike_82]

Shameless, if you're still looking at a trailer setup, I am a little over half way on my hitch assembly for my 850. I can post some pictures if you're interested in ideas. When finished it will handle both my single wheel and a traditional ball mount hitch.

[Grimly]

Every time I see one I think bad idea. Straight and flat at 55 maybe OK. Rough road, twisty. or accident avoidance cant be good.

I found the trick of that. I don't ride like my normal loon self when I've got the trailer on.
It's amazing how that works out.

My normal self-built trailer is a 4ft long x 2ft high x 2ft wide box frame, lined with ply. Dead simple, but utility is what it was built for, not touring or camping, although it could be used for that if I wanted. I pulled that at up to 80mph just to see if there was any instability - but there was none. Fully loaded, it tended to wag the tail at low speed, but as I lengthened the drawbar that went away. Loading distribution is crucially important.
The hitch was entirely DIY too - two horizontals come back from the rear hanger loops and two angled verticals go up to the rear of the frame pickup points. A standard 50mm towball is bolted on. This has been on that bike for nearly 20 years and never given the slightest trouble. At first, I experimented with differing drawbar lengths and eventually realised, the longer the better, up to a point.
I've since discovered that the drawbar length in front of the axle line should fall between 1.5 to 2 times the width of the trailer axle.

I had to collect some steel last week, so left the small trailer at home and used this larger bike transporter that I'd built ten years ago when I picked up the XS. It's not something I'd care to use much, but for a short local hop it was no problem and it's so well balanced I didn't know it was there. This trailer towed like a champ when I built it - it was a dash to get to the ferry and it sat behind the car at 90mph, rock solid and steady, with the Yamaha strapped on.



Anyone who wants to follow up on more info, should visit the Delphi trailer site / message board.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.asp?webtag=MCTrailertowing&ctx=128&cacheTag=x49-41