I have a new Harbor Freight Tag-Along 16 cubic foot trailer. As it stands right now for the trailer alone, I have invested about $320.00. The bike hitch and wiring is more than the trailer...
First of all, the two harnesses from Kuryakyn came in yesterday. I had purchased the "T" harness from Bushtec to plug into my '09 SERG wiring rear harness. It has a small square 4-wire plug. In those 4 wires are tail, LT, RT and brake. Both the universal power isolator harness and the 5 to 4 converter harness has the same 4-wire plug. The wire colors in the "T" harness from Bushtec do not match the Kuryakyn universal harness, but the pin out was identical after testing. The Kuryakyn wiring harnesses both had what I always known as the GM or automotive wiring code, yellow LT, green RT and brown Tail, plus there's a separate blue wire for brakes.
My new 5 to 4 converter plugged into the "T" harness and then I did a test of the output of the converter with power from the bike. All tail and turn worked great. When I had the LT on and then hit the brakes, the RT came on very low and the LT kept blinking. I hoped that the "low" voltage signal would be enough to trigger the relays in the power isolator harness.
I then plugged the vehicle side universal power isolator harness into the output side of the converter harness. It was all plug and play for these to my "T" harness. I then ran temporary power/ground jumpers to the power isolator harness and did a bike power test. Amazing, I now have LT/Brake, RT/Brake and tail plus ground. So tonight I will splice in my flat 4-wire harness that matches my trailer flat 4.
On the trailer, I've read many reviews, mostly from the Goldwing forums, about the Harbor Freight Tag Along trailers. And honestly they were all pretty good. Some had just pumped grease into the zerk on the wheel hubs, others changed bearings and packed them before running and other did that plus upgraded to 12" wheels/tires.
I was going to swap out bearings, but the ones that were recommended would not fit my hubs. So I decided to use my ole Quaker State H/D wheel bearing grease and repack the original bearings after a complete cleaning and inspection. I drove out all of the races and while cleaning the hubs, I found quite a bit of "glitter" type metal shavings in the hub bearing areas. I cleaned the hubs and inspected/cleaned the races and pressed them back into the hubs. I then degreased the bearings and did a quick inspection for roller finish. I found the metric bearings to look quite nice with a good micro polish on the rollers. I hand packed all four bearings and reinstalled the seals with a bit of grease on them as well.
All back together and the hubs felt really good. The 8" wheels/tires I have are of a brand that seems to have a good rep on the Internet. They rated at almost 90 mph and have a load rating of high 500's per tire. The weight of the trailer is about 150# and I'll not load more than 200#, chairs, cooler speaker etc. So for now I'll ride the speed limits with the trailer and monitor the tires/hubs for heat.
I'm also lengthening the tongue about 16". I will be using a couple pieces of threaded rod welded to the underside of the tongue in the new short section under the front side of the trailer. I'll bolt on the spare there as it's almost over the axle and will add very little tongue weight. I'm also welding up a front cooler mount so I can keep the inside for gear etc. For now I'm going to go with just the plain 1-7/8" ball and non-swivel stock hitch. When I have more time and review what some of you guys have for hitches, I plan to make up a swivel hitch extension for the tongue. We have all the bar stock, angle, and rods here along with lathes that I can use to make it up.
The trailer seems to be well built and came with LED lights and pre-wired, or close to it. Later I'll probably add a couple more lights to the upper portion of the enclosure and remount the plate higher as well. But for this trip I'll keep is simple.
According to many posts in forums, the going tongue length to wheel track is: Tongue is 1.5 / 2 times the length of the track width. With the extension, I'll be in that range. They also say that the preferred tongue weight is 7.5% to 15% of the gross trailer weight. So I think I'll be shooting for a ball weight of around 30# to 40#.
I've added stainless tie down eyelets, 4 on the bottom and 4 side eyes. I also have an unused cargo net from an older SUV that we've never used. It's adjustable so we can tighten it up to hold things more steady inside the cargo box. The cargo box has two over-center side latches and a lock latch to secure the lid. It has two gas struts and they seem to work well. I bought a couple LED lights from Northern Tool that look like house wall switches and I'll double stick tape them to the inside of the lid for lights when needed.
So for now guys, it looks like this newbie has a plan. Probably not a good plan, but at least a plan.
I'll probably be reselling the Bushtec power isolator with its flat 6-wire weather pack connector. It will also have the later rectangular "T" harness. The harness came off a '12 Ultra so I'm not sure how many years it fits.
I really appreciate all the effort everyone has put forth in getting me up to speed on the trailer and wiring questions.
So for Linda and I, we will be leaving for ES on the 3rd. Should be there in the early afternoon, depending on how many places she wants to stop.
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Topic: Bushtec 6 Wire To 4 Wire (Read 8655 times)