Single rail trailer for behind the family car.
- Thread starter Hurco550
- Start date
Certainly not necessary, but often desirable. (I don't think I have seen a fold up that didn't also crank) For one, often you can leave the height near the height needed for hooking up and don't need to crank any more than that needed to clear the hitch. Plus, folding it up gets you a LOT more ground clearance. Not always needed, but very handy. My trailer for my 12,000 lb. boat obviously has a fixed nose gear, and while it may be a small chore to re-pin it high for ground clearance (and again to lower it to disconnect), it is comparatively a trivial task to simply fold up the gear on smaller trailers. Plus, there is far less ground clearance. I have scraped mine several times when there has been dips or humps in the road like turning into a parking lot or gas station where there are big elevation changes. On a trailer this small, you could just do without, but it is super convenient to always have the hitch at the right height to just drive under it and go.irk miller said:
Keep in mind that 15% front weight bias is the absolute minimum for stability. As the total weight here is so small, there is no reason not to put a great deal of it on the tow vehicle. If the weight is very high, that 15% number becomes more meaningful because many vehicles are quite limited as to how much they can support on a hitch. Most heavy trailers are also pretty long which impacts how stable it is and makes that 15% figure more reasonable.
pidjones
Over 1,000 Posts
Notes from my HF trailer experience: the longer the tongue, the easier to back. You probably won't be able to see the trailer with nothing on it - unless you have the BU camera and are VERY good using it, backing this short wheelbase sucks. I see everyone tying down forward., when you slam on brakes in an emergency, you'd better havemit secured towards the back, too - or your bike joins you in the car. My tire were a little out of balance. 1/2 oz beads each smoothed them out nice. Get GOOD quality straps. I balanced mine by putting one of the rails over a one inch pipe on the drive, then moving the bike over it until I had the balance point, then moving the pivot 10% aft (giving 60% forward bias). I was once in a 1957 Pontiac pulling a race car on a trailer. They had loaded the car very far forward on the trailer. Going into a 90 degree turn, the driver used brakes which through the race car weight forward on the trailer. This lifted almost all weight from the front wheels of the old Pontiac, and luckily there was a Y in the road there and a lot of run-off/correction room. We unloaded the race car right there and reloaded with 60/40 distribution. I was a kid of about 14 and didn't understand how serious it was. The adults about dirtied themselves. We had loaded that way because the previous week they had backed the car on the trailer and almost lost it when it unloaded the rear wheels of the car pulling it. That was our home track, so they just unloaded the race car (1/4 mile dirt) and drove it the five miles to the track (I got to ride in it, fun!) That trailer sucked, we hauled on a flat bed from then on.
Maritime
Over 10,000 Posts
Getting weight wrong on a small trailer/load is inconvenient, getting it wrong on a big trailer/load is deadly. I remember we went 3.5 hours away to pick up 10,000 lbs of 16' ceder siding for a house we were building. We borrowed an 12' flatbed trailer. we had to let 4' of siding hang off the back, we were towing with a GMC suburban which we loaded to the roof in back with other building supplies. We got on the highway and the minute we went past 35 mph the back end of the truck got light and started bouncing, back off to 30 and it was ok. Took us 9.5 hours to do the return trip and 3 of us took turns trying to keep the truck and trailer on the road, I was 17 and it was white knuckle the whole way, we couldn't re-distribute the weight at all and it was the worst trip with a trailer I've ever done. My dad and Uncle did most of the driving but when we hit the border they handed me the keys and cracked open beers to calm their nerves for the rest of the drive. All that to save $16K in cost vs buying the CAD cut siding in USA vs home.
also, regarding height, the rail will be right at 13" off the ground unloaded. will sag some with the bike on it. That's as low as I can get it without fabricating a drop type axle to mount the half axles above the bottom edge of the rail. Im Guessing with sag, ill be right around 11 inches off the ground at the rail, which I can live with. That's also with 4.80 x 12 trailer wheels.
I decided to go that route, because I could buy 3 trailer wheels and tires (two for the trailer and 1 spare) for less than the price of 3 light truck tires for the ranger wheels. I read extensively and the ones that I bought review really well, and there multiple reports of people using them on boats/jet ski trailers that pull them hundreds of interstate miles.
I decided to go that route, because I could buy 3 trailer wheels and tires (two for the trailer and 1 spare) for less than the price of 3 light truck tires for the ranger wheels. I read extensively and the ones that I bought review really well, and there multiple reports of people using them on boats/jet ski trailers that pull them hundreds of interstate miles.
Re: Single rail trailer for behind the family car.
I got the last of the parts that I am not fabricating myself today. I ordered the wheels, a set of plastic fenders and a wiring kit for the car from etrailer.com. I have ordered from them before and cannot say enough good about them. Their website has a lot of helpful Q&A, their shipping is super fast and I have never seen anything that they don't have in stock there. I ordered these Tuesday evening and they were on my doorstep when I got home today. On another note, I may be taking a slight break from the fabrication on this project. Gotten a little bit of an accident today and tried real hard to remove the end of my left index finger from my hand, but its still hanging on, though it was smashed pretty flat (picture a hot dog left in the microwave to long) lol gonna give it a bit to heal up as every little bump is pretty painful.
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I got the last of the parts that I am not fabricating myself today. I ordered the wheels, a set of plastic fenders and a wiring kit for the car from etrailer.com. I have ordered from them before and cannot say enough good about them. Their website has a lot of helpful Q&A, their shipping is super fast and I have never seen anything that they don't have in stock there. I ordered these Tuesday evening and they were on my doorstep when I got home today. On another note, I may be taking a slight break from the fabrication on this project. Gotten a little bit of an accident today and tried real hard to remove the end of my left index finger from my hand, but its still hanging on, though it was smashed pretty flat (picture a hot dog left in the microwave to long) lol gonna give it a bit to heal up as every little bump is pretty painful.
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pidjones
Over 1,000 Posts
Heal that finger quick! While resting it, better check your state's trailer codes. Some are pretty lax (here in TN we don't even tag small trailers). Some are fairly strict. Make sure you tag it in the state the pulling vehicle is tagged. And don't load the 'Nox too heavily - you have a lot of hills to go up and down on that trip!
You gotta protect those hot dogs Levi. Heal up bud.
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This.Hurco550 said:
Also keep in mind that your tongue weight, no matter what it calculates out to, will add to the tow vehicles total GVWR. Something to keep in mind when loading up for a trip.
And, backing a longer trailer is "easier" only because it reacts slower to steering input from the tow vehicle. A short trailer can be backed up effectively in tighter areas, and requires less off tracking compensation. It really boils down to "what you're used to". It's your trailer, you'll get familiar with how it tows and backs up.
Heal up quick dude
Re: Single rail trailer for behind the family car.
Thanks for all the well wishes everyone. The finger is healing up better than expected, though it looks a bit gory still on the side that the "guts" blew out of.
I got a bit done today. I fabbed up the frame assembly that will hold the half torsion axle stubs. Since I don't know exactly where the axle "needs" to be for optimum tongue weight ect, I am going to make it adjustable with several different mounting locations, probably in 6" increments. That way I can load up, take a bike for a test jaunt down the highway, come back, move the axle and try again till I find the sweet spot.
also, the small strips that are tacked on were just there to keep the tubes from twisting while welding and will be removed.
Thanks for all the well wishes everyone. The finger is healing up better than expected, though it looks a bit gory still on the side that the "guts" blew out of.
I got a bit done today. I fabbed up the frame assembly that will hold the half torsion axle stubs. Since I don't know exactly where the axle "needs" to be for optimum tongue weight ect, I am going to make it adjustable with several different mounting locations, probably in 6" increments. That way I can load up, take a bike for a test jaunt down the highway, come back, move the axle and try again till I find the sweet spot.
also, the small strips that are tacked on were just there to keep the tubes from twisting while welding and will be removed.
pidjones
Over 1,000 Posts
A warning: Having a trailer will take away the "I wouldn't have a way to get it home" block from buying wretched wrecks.
BTW, if you have a strong rail or even a 2X10, put it over a piece of pipe, run the bike up on it until it teeters, mark the center point of each wheel and where the pipe is, and you have the balance point. calculating axle offset from that should be simple. I've seen several trailers that handle the balance by moving the front wheel stop fore-aft to place the bike at the correct spot instead of moving the axle. Seems easier to me, but might add some small amount of weight.
BTW, if you have a strong rail or even a 2X10, put it over a piece of pipe, run the bike up on it until it teeters, mark the center point of each wheel and where the pipe is, and you have the balance point. calculating axle offset from that should be simple. I've seen several trailers that handle the balance by moving the front wheel stop fore-aft to place the bike at the correct spot instead of moving the axle. Seems easier to me, but might add some small amount of weight.
pidjones said:
haha I already have a pickup that has been the reason for far to many bad decisions when buying bikes, but this one will be a way of possibly bringing them back with me from Chattanooga, so that could be dangerous...
I may give that a shot with the tube as a roller, and see if I can get pretty close to the sweet spot before welding, though a little adjustability could help, as the wheel base of my bikes all very a bit and I'm guessing the center of mass fore and aft does as well.
The one time I had tongue weight trouble I was out west, probably somewhere on I-70, (can't even remember the state.) and was going down a hill. Something felt strange and I looked in the mirror to see the trailer starting to whip back and forth. I just KNEW that the Pacific Coast and the GB500 were both going to end up in a twisted pile The only thing I could think to do was put the go peddle tight to the floor, but an S10 w/ a four-banger just doesn't have much in the top speed department. Once things settled down I pulled over to check the tie-downs (and slow my heart rate) and then made my way to the next exit, that fortunately had a Lowe's.
The point of this story is that it only took a single bag of "tube sand" draped over the tongue behind the hitch (and held in place w/ a bungie) to settle everything down for the rest of the trip. A small amount of weight made a big difference.
The point of this story is that it only took a single bag of "tube sand" draped over the tongue behind the hitch (and held in place w/ a bungie) to settle everything down for the rest of the trip. A small amount of weight made a big difference.
Re: Single rail trailer for behind the family car.
So since there has been a bit of conflicting advice here on tongue weight and what's the proper amount (and I appreciate all the advice none the less), I made some mounting plates that will allow the axle to be moved forward and back in increments of 5". The farthest forward position will be roughly 15-20% tongue weight and the farthest back should put the axle roughly directly under the rear wheel of the dr650. The angle iron mounts only add about 12 lbs to the over all weight vs welding it solid to the frame, and to me that is a small "price" to pay to have the adjustability. The other up-side is that I will be able to take this thing apart in order to store it, possibly even hanging on a wall in the shop. The axle frame will be held on with (6) 3/8" grade 8 bolts which should be more than sufficient for the task, especially considering that they will be under no real shear or tensile force.
The smaller diameter holes will be the mounting holes and the bigger ones are lightning holes haha. I figured why not, they look cool and it didn't cost me anything to punch them in there #kustom
So since there has been a bit of conflicting advice here on tongue weight and what's the proper amount (and I appreciate all the advice none the less), I made some mounting plates that will allow the axle to be moved forward and back in increments of 5". The farthest forward position will be roughly 15-20% tongue weight and the farthest back should put the axle roughly directly under the rear wheel of the dr650. The angle iron mounts only add about 12 lbs to the over all weight vs welding it solid to the frame, and to me that is a small "price" to pay to have the adjustability. The other up-side is that I will be able to take this thing apart in order to store it, possibly even hanging on a wall in the shop. The axle frame will be held on with (6) 3/8" grade 8 bolts which should be more than sufficient for the task, especially considering that they will be under no real shear or tensile force.
The smaller diameter holes will be the mounting holes and the bigger ones are lightning holes haha. I figured why not, they look cool and it didn't cost me anything to punch them in there
#kustom
I'm thinking on tongue weight, it should be no less than 14psi and no more than 25psi.
