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[Dan_Lockwood]

Okay guys, a Bushtec it's not, but I think it has some possibilities.

This picture is before I did the cooler mount.  The original tongue was a bit short based on what I've read.  I lengthened the tongue about 14" and this should help to cut down on tongue weight too.



Obviously the hitch etc.  I decided, at least for now, to go with the stock solid ball hitch, not the swivel tongue hitch.  I did a couple "U" turns in my street at full lock on the steering without any binding.  I had my neighbor watching the hitch to see if I hit and he said it looked good.  I know that I've seen guys like JC carving turns with the trailer attached and I know in my case doing the "U" turn, I was not close to dragging my running board, so actual road speed turns may allow a bit more of a bank on the bike, but for what I'm intending to do with the trailer over the next couple weeks, I feel save in leaving it alone for now.



Here's the rear and the spare tire mounted.



A better shot of the spare tire mounted to the rear cross frame of the trailer.  I was going to mount it under the front on the tongue, but it added more tongue weight.  So to the rear it went.  I can check the air pressure without removing it too.  A by product of the rear spare tire is that if the trailer is empty and I lift the tongue and walk the trailer up in front, it will hit on the spare tire and then tip back until the back edge of the cargo box hits the floor.  At that point the trailer is balanced and is quite stabile.  So storage in my shed should be a bit easier than I thought it would be. 



I made up a little kick stand out of a couple pieces of aluminium extrusions to keep it light.  It turned out okay and seems to be strong enough.



Other than not having any bungee cords tying down the cooler, here's the trailer finished ready for the road.



The trailer is designed with about 1/3 of the cargo box rear of the axle and 2/3 in front of the axle.  I figured that it may be a bit of a packing issue to keep the tongue from getting too heavy.

I've read that tongue weight is anywhere between 7% to 15% of the total gross trailer weight.  So I think I'll be shooting for around 40# max tongue weight.

What do you guys do to calculate the tongue weight?  Or do you just fill up the trailer and say good enough?  I plan on having the cooler empty, or maybe just light stuff in it, not ice and beer/soda etc.

For now with the spare tire, I have about $350 invested into the trailer plus many hours of my tinkering, like extending the tongue 14", the spare tire mount, kick stand and cooler mount.  On the bike I have the Bushtec hitch I bought off eBay and wiring harness etc.  In that I have around $350 as well.  Of course plus my labor.  I think labor is free.  At least that's what I've learned over the year of marriage.  She always tells me I'm worthless, so my labor has to be free...

I'll be leaving for ES mid Saturday morning, so three days and I'm on my way.

Any advice on tongue weight and loading etc would be a BIG help.

[Twolanerider]

Put your kickstand addition on a bathroom scale.  Voila, tongue weight measured (or at least close enough to as make no difference).

I wasn't going to pull my little trailer to ES with it being so close to home.  But now I feel the urge.  Who knows what souvenirs one might want to haul home.

[iski]

Nice rig Dan.  Have seen similar.  Should work well.   

Do you think Twolane would fit in your trailer?    For scientific purposes only, of course.

[Twolanerider]

Nice rig Dan.  Have seen similar.  Should work well.   

Do you think Twolane would fit in your trailer?    For scientific purposes only, of course.

Put Apple Pie inside and I'll follow it in.

[Twolanerider]

Put Apple Pie inside and I'll follow it in.

Huh, it never occurred to me until this moment that "Apple Pie" is probably a common stripper name.... 

[iski]

Huh, it never occurred to me until this moment that "Apple Pie" is probably a common stripper name.... 

Cherry Pie no doubt!

[iski]

Put Apple Pie inside and I'll follow it in.

Had some nonsense about weighing your tongue. then you posted about pie and lost my whole train of thought....

[MIKEYTEE]

Looking good Dan! As Don said, load the trailer and weigh the tongue using bathroom scales. Also balance your load side to side, this makes for good towing.
I'm heading out Saturday morning and 99.999% sure that I will be towing my bike due to the bad weather in SC,NC,TN and all over the damn place between Saturday and Monday.
I hate riding long distance in the rain! Especially starting out in the rain.
I'll be there on Monday afternoon. 

Mike
 

[Dan_Lockwood]

Have a safe drive.

Linda and I will be there before 5:00 pm on Saturday.  The weather looks good for Monday and I think we're going to be heading to Hot Springs to get our $10 National Park life passes.  You can mail in for them at $20 each, but we're cheap and she's always wanted to go stick here body in the hot springs anyway.

I'll be checking the hubs at each gas/pee stop on the way down.  I'll also only be cruising in the 70 mph range, so that should help keep the heat on the tires and hubs down a bit too.

Look forward to seeing you again.

See ya Monday evening... 

[RGlideKid]

I like it a lot, Dan, and I think you did an outstanding job with it, with plenty of attention to detail like I knew you would do.
Start out with 20-25 lbs of tongue weight and see how it behaves/feels.  I think 40 lbs is overkill and think you will feel the trailer less and impact handling less with less weight on the hitch.  Once you get it dialed in, I think you'll be shocked at how little you will feel of it while towing.  If it fishtails, that is probably your weight distribution forward/aft of the trailer axle more than tongue weight.  The production manager at Bushtec told me the biggest complaint his new customers had was that the trailer pulled so well and unobtrusively that the drivers kept checking behind them to make sure the trailer was still attached to the bike.  My guess is that you will feel the same way with your trailer.  Best of luck, buddy!

[Twolanerider]

Have a safe drive.

Linda and I will be there before 5:00 pm on Saturday.  The weather looks good for Monday and I think we're going to be heading to Hot Springs to get our $10 National Park life passes.  You can mail in for them at $20 each, but we're cheap and she's always wanted to go stick here body in the hot springs anyway.

I'll be checking the hubs at each gas/pee stop on the way down.  I'll also only be cruising in the 70 mph range, so that should help keep the heat on the tires and hubs down a bit too.

Look forward to seeing you again.

See ya Monday evening... 

If time allows go over to Harrison and take 7 all the way down.  It's slower but it's a really pretty ride.

[Twolanerider]

And Dan.... you got me all trailerexcited.  Just came in from making sure my little trailer is all ready for a road trip too.  It may not go to Eureka but it might make the ball of string run.  No matter what it and the Road Glide are ready to pull it though.  You're an inspiration!

[Dan_Lockwood]

And Dan.... you got me all trailerexcited.  Just came in from making sure my little trailer is all ready for a road trip too.  It may not go to Eureka but it might make the ball of string run.  No matter what it and the Road Glide are ready to pull it though.  You're an inspiration!

You are SO very welcome my friend...

Harry had also suggested 7 as a route either down or back or both.

[DCFIREMANN]

Dan I saw a lot of those home built trailers in Alaska last year on my trip. You can do a lot with it.

Be Safe

THE DAWG

[Dan_Lockwood]

Dan I saw a lot of those home built trailers in Alaska last year on my trip. You can do a lot with it.

Be Safe

THE DAWG

Dawg, I took it to the NMITM in June and it pulled great.

This came with the cargo box, welded frame, dual spring leafs, axle with 8" wheels/tire, tongue and hitch.  It was prewired with all the wires run through the frame to each corner include the front side markers.  it also came with Harbor Freight's trailer wiring kit.  This has LED rears and incandescent front side markers.

I thought that I wanted to do some thin foam around the underside of the lid for an added bit of waterproofing, but after riding in very hard rains for over 100 miles on the way down there June 3rd, when I arrived and started to unload the trailer, there was no water to be had inside the cargo area.  So at this point I don't think I'll spend the time to put the foam tape in the lip.

I kept my speed to 70 mph because of the 8" wheels/tires.  The more I read about other trailers, specifically some of the pop up camper tow behinds that use only 8" wheels/tires, I think that I'm being overly cautious.  Yes 12' would be ideal, but for the limited amount of traveling I'll be doing with the bike/trailer, I may just keep below 70 and be happy at that.  I think the tires are rated at around 86 mph sustained.  I may find a better tire that has a higher speed rating.  The load rating for the trailer is 600# when towed behind a car and 200# towed behind a bike.  I doubt that I had more than 100# of load in the cargo area.  I kept the front mounted cooler empty except for rags and cleaning materials.

I was VERY worried about loading and weight distribution, but in the end it ended up I could throw just about anything anywhere in the cargo area and not change the tongue weight very much at all.

I extended the tongue about 14" so I feel that may have added to the relaxed load organizing.

Would it be cooler to have a color paint matched Bushtec, yes it would, but what I have, other than quite a few hours of making it mine, the total cash outlay was less than $350.00.  So it's generic black, I can live with that for now...

Since I bought mine, I've seen many Goldwing riders pulling the same trailer still retaining the 8" wheels/tires.  For the money it's hard to beat.