HItch questions

[spd2918]

Hi all-

I am putting together a HarborFreight / Cartop trailer and I had two questions:

1: I see most people narrow the width by a few inches. Why do they do this? The improved areadynamics don't seem worth the hassle and there is no weight savings once the axle is reinforced.

2: I have not yet bought a coupler swivel, but I am leaning this way: http://www.openroadoutfitters.com/cart/shop_detail.cfm?Cat=10&Sub_Cat=5&ProductID=129 Any thoughts?

[Trailace]

Welcome to the sit spd2918. I'm no help with trailers but someone else here will give you some info.

[Gene McCall]

Spd..., I have to agree, making the trailer more narrow does not make sense to me. Of course to me wide is wonderful, I drive an ST1100 hack and pull a Lil B camper so when traveling I am very wide! I would suggest you rethink the swivel hitch, I don't think you really need it. I have seen several discussions on other boards and they are very expensive without a great deal of benefit. Maybe someone with more relevant experience will post.

Gene:cool:

[Bipeflier]

I built a HF trailer with the 8" wheels, about 3 years ago with a Sears carrier.

I assembled the trailer as it came except I removed the 2nd spring and moved the tongue forward (longer) to the next available set of holes for the crossmember. No drilling.

I put a sheet of aluminum diamond plate on to mount the box. Added a cooler rack to the front.

Pulled it to and all over Colorado and to Davis Rally in Iowa with a GL1800 Goldwing. Loaded with all the camping gear for 2 couples and clothes. Pulled great, had no issue with width and it was very stable.

I don't think the work would be worth the benefit to do further modifications.

[Ironheadziggy76]

Welcome to the site spd2918! I have to agree with the others on not narrowing the trailer. I have pulled a trailer with a friends bike, but not my own, so most of my experience is pulling one with an ATV. I have put the trailers I have built in some seriously odd angles with an ATV and never had a need for a swivel. Of course if you plan to be scraping pegs while pulling one you might want to consider it!

G Wizz, is there a company out there that makes a decent TIG machine that doesn't cost a fortune? I have an old Lincoln stick, and a Hobart MIG, but I would love to have a TIG machine.

[spd2918]

Thanks for all the responses.

I have a decent shade tree mechanic that welds. I will tell him about cutting an axle end instead of in the center. Is there a chance the axle end would end up crooked?

[greybeard]

I have been pulling a H F trailer for several years now have a plywood deck mounted on it and have that drilled so that a car top carrier mounts to it also can take it off as I sometimes use it with a ramp to carry my electric wheel chair if I am going somewhere where I will have to do a lot of walking as I don't do that very well anymore but have never used a swivel I make and mount my own hitches have 2 bikes with them on and have pulled the trailer all over the south with no problems yet didn't narrow it and have found it quite stable as for the springs left them like they came control bounce with tire pressure works quite well

[rbolton@satnow.net]

Sorry to disagree with everyone about swivel hitches, but here goes. I have pulled a Bunkhouse for about 30K miles. 24K of them without a swivel hitch. The difference in handling was amazing! The main reason that I put the hitch on was because I started thinking about how I was getting older and might accidentally drop the bike and either twist the hitch or frame or both. I am very pleased with my swivel.
Robert

[bvail]

1. You do not need a swivel hitch on a motorcycle trailer works just fine. I have dumped a couple of bikes with trailer on (actually same bike 2 times) and no damage to coupler or hitch or tongue.

2. You do not need to make the H/F trailer narrower. I built 3 of the and I did narrow one by six inches, just to see if I could do it. I just used a chop saw (grind wheel) and took out 6 inches. I put the two ends together using square tubing that had holes cut into it. I used 4 S/S bolts to keep everything together + S/S rivets about every six inches. That axle was hell for stought and straight as an arrow. The tubing is like the stuff they use for sign posts and can be found at Big Box stores. They have holes every few inches. Two sizes. One fits into the other and can be adjusted. I found that the smaller tubing fit perfectly inside the U-Channel axle of the H/F. I might have photos of this on my picturetrail photo site. I wouldn't bother with narrowing the H/F again - just did it for the heck of it. Wider wheelbase will make the trailer more stable anyways.

3. Ditto on removing the helper springs to reduce bounce to almost nothing. Also run around 25 PSI.

4. Recommend mounting the center cross piece of frame to the holes forward of the ones shown in the assembly instructions. This will move the tongue about 10" forward for much better geometry. Result = less chance of a wiggly trailer.

Go here for all your questions:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/MCTrailertowing/start (http://http://forums.delphiforums.com/MCTrailertowing/start)

[rbolton@satnow.net]

rbolton:
Just wondering ... How could adding a swivel to your hitch make the rig handle any better? In essence, the only thing you are doing is adding about four inches to the tongue length, and maybe a pound to the end of the tongue.
As for dropping your bike and doing damage to either the hitch or trailer, well I guess it's a possability.
I had a swivel too, but after running with it for a season, I took it off.
Found it to have too much, for no better word, "slop" at the hitch. Didn't like the loose feeling I was getting back there.
Maybe I've been lucky as I've dragged a trailer behind a motorcycle for over 100,000 miles and (knock on wood) haven't dropped it with the trailer tied to it yet.


G wizz


The only reason for better handling that I can think of is the lack of friction between the ball and coupler. I pull my Bunkhouse with a 1994 BMW K1100LT which is fairly light for it's size and might be more noticeable than on a heavier bike.
Robert

[CoachA]

I have a Northern Tool trailer, 12" wheels that I built exactly as directions called for, with plywood deck and car top carrier. It works great. We use it when we are going to be staying in motels on long trips instead of camping. I installed two pieces of aluminum angle to the tongue and carry a 48qt. cooler bungeed to it...doesn't move an inch.

I thought about putting the swivel on both trailers but decided after reading many threads on different boards that it wouldn't make too much difference.