I was totally thinking the same thing but unfortunately I had a receiver custom made for the motorcycle. So the trailer sits level. But the removal of 1-2 spring on each side I’ve definitely given a thought to. Especially since I only carry maybe 200-250 lbs of cargo. And the majority of that being my wife’s stuff! 😜 May I ask have you done the same and if so do you have any info on spring removal? I also was thinking of upgrading the suspension but I don’t want to blow up the bank doing it either. Any help is much appreciated.
Did almost the same thing , .Removed all but one leaf spring each side , used a swing set top member tube to get a longer tongue (42 inches from the main frame ) ,& it also saves a ton of weight .An old car top carrier reinforced on the bottom with some dry wall ceiling spacers, & cooler up front ,( which I realized would help me get a easily adjustable tongue weight).. Tongue weight about %10 of the total trailer weight., & a grade 8 bolt through some aluminum round stock cut in half & drilled lengthwise, for the swivel joint . Also tossed the ball tongue socket for the lightest one I could find. That joint is never going to move hardly at all until you really need it!.A maximum" total" weight loaded of no more than half your bike (without you on it).& 12 inch wheels .
Right on Zach. Sound like you put a lot of work, thought, time and effort into it. Do you have photos of it? I dig checking out ideas from other builders.
Very cool, your spare looks like the axle will hit it when springs flex. I built one for my R1150GSA for the same reason. Heim joints work great. I made my base trailer from steel, 500lb torsion axle, then added an aluminum tread plate deck with a few SS Eye bolts. I like the flat bed for certain things like my pit bike or paramotor. Then I have a water proof composite military trunk, kinda like a foot locker I can mount for camping and 2 up travel. I added a cooler rack for my REI and have a power station similar to yours. I just need to iron out the wiring, particularly on my bike side. Great video, like minds.
@@techi3075 I forgot to add yes you’re correct the spare tire could have in fact hit the suspension. Luckily during our 8,000 mile trip a couple of years back it did not. I don’t think I had enough weight in it for that to happen but I went ahead and changed out the location towards the rear of the trailer. I would dig a video of your trailer if ya could. I’m always amazed at what other people build. It’s sorta like an inspiration of sorts for me. ✌🏽
Right on. I’m glad I could be of service. I received pointers, tips, and advice from guys Doo the exact same thing. My wife and I just got back from a 30 day, 11 state, 8,000 mile motorcycle trip through the Pacific North & Southwest. Trailer held up ok. A fender broke off in Oregon so I took the other side off & luckily I did because the tabs were cracking on that side as well. Had a host and a bed & breakfast in South Dakota not only did he offer to fix the tabs & weld a backing plate behind each fender but he painted them and installed them while we were inside packing for our next leg to Colorado. Good people still exist!!
I’m looking to build a simple trailer to pull behind my GoldWing. For the same exact reasons you state. Your charging solution is quite savvy. I’m saving this video and I subscribed. Nice job! Love it!
Thanks and I thank you for your compliments. Although I owe a lot of gratitude to others online as well. I took ideas I liked from there videos or online posts and went from there. Are you going to post a video on your build? If so I’d love to watch so I’ve subscribed to you!
@@Knuckledragnation …. You’re welcome and yes I will. I’m thinking this will be a nice fall/winter garage project. I’m the meantime I will look for a used car carrier
I appreciate your comment. Thanks for watching! It actually did quite well on our 30-day, 11-state, 8,000 mile trip my wife, myself and our puppy went on a couple months ago. We only ran into 3 problems on the trip. Almost lost a fender in Oregon. Almost lost a taillight in Utah and lost the receiver lock in Colorado.
I totally appreciate the comment. Especially coming from a person who digs the outdoors and who’s adventurous like yourself. I really appreciate it. I totally got a lot of my ideas from channels similar to yours. Peoples who love getting out there and aren’t afraid to go on an adventure and have stuff fail on them. Funny because my wife and I took an 8,000 mile, 11 State, 30 Day motorcycle ride through the Pacific North & Southwest towing this trailer behind my Harley-Davidson and picking up and hauling a mini dachshund puppy half way through. No matter how much I prepared for or how many plans A, B & C I came up with Stuff Still Happened!!! Anyways again thanks for the compliment.
Tell me about it!!! That was the direction I was leaning into. Still have ideas. I need to give an update because I’ve done a few more mods to it. Thanks for the comment and idea. It definitely helps keep me motivated. ✌🏽
Man, I wish I had seen this before I built my trailer. I will be incorporating some of your ideas into my next trailer build. Is it ok to ad a like of your video to my video? BTW, totally digging the Flying Machine Factory hat.
By all means sir. I would love to check out your trailer as well. Also I must admit I incorporated ideas from others into my own but I appreciate the gesture of goodwill. Also I recently relocated the spare tire to the rear of the trailer. Someone a lot smarter than me mentioned that it could get in the way of the suspension. Luckily on an 8,000 mile, 11 state trip last year it did just fine. Thanks for your comment.
Your absolutely correct sir. I believe this was brought up by another viewer which actually got me to make some improvements. Funny because my wife and I traveled 8,000 miles and 11 states last summer and did not have a single issue with suspension. I’m sure it had a lot to do with the fact that I was only hauling about 150 pounds. Meaning suspension didn’t have the need to travel to much. Thanks for the insight though.
Frank thanks for the reply/question. You bring up a great question . Thanks for making me realize that placing my spare tire there will get in the way of suspension travel. 😳 I have a new project.
A sure way to generate comments is to put the spare tire in the way of the suspension moving , (I'll have to remember that when I make a video)., but then I doubt it will move with such a necessary light overall weight. .2 bathroom scales will also confirm the trailer weighs more than you estimate., How do I know ? I've got the same one.. I like your's better !
I know right? Hilarious because after traveling 11 states over 30 days and traveling 8,000 miles I didn’t notice any problems. Well that’s not true. I did almost lose both fenders in Oregon and Washington and almost lost a taillight in New Mexico. After all that I read a comment asking me how the spare tire and suspension work together? Yes I believe you are correct. I didn’t have a whole lot of weight overall in the trailer for the leaf springs or suspension to travel that far. The trailer fully loaded ended up weighing around 325 lbs and tongue weight was approximately 33 lbs which included a fully packed cooler. Let me know if or when you make a video. I’d love to check it out.
Well I picked this up from a neighbor down the street but if ya go to Northern Tool’s website and lookup Ultra Tow Tag-Along Trailer, scroll down to the Product Manual and look up the cooler rack part number and you can order it directly from Northern Tool. I have also provided a link below for you here if you you can’t find it. Let me know if this helps ya or not. ✌🏽 assets.northerntool.com//products/577/documents/manuals/57762.pdf
I know right!?! I realize it was overboard on my part especially looking back. Without getting to far in the weeds just know that I spent many years recovering from an injury I sustained overseas in the line of duty. On top of that I had built up a lot of anxiety while sorta losing faith in many things. One of those was my ability to trust anyone. But after traveling with my wife and our dog almost 8,000 miles through 11 states and meeting some of the most incredible people along the way it restored some of my faith in humanity. Im living and learning and will hopefully continue to learn as a I live! ✌🏽
I’m interested in how you mounted that cooler rack. Did you just use you bolts as well? Do you get any movement or jiggle or ever worry about it not being secure?
Yes I used the U-bolts that came with the cooler rack itself. That along with the straps and Its extremely secure. My wife and I went on an 11 state, 8,000 mile trip on some of the bumpiest roads. Not one issue with the cooler or the cooler rack at all.
@@2SlickNick I sure do. Just so you know it’s from Northern Tool. Northern Tool makes a small Cargo Trailer. The Cooler Rack is located in the parts breakdown of the trailer. Reason I know all this is because the guy I purchased the Cooler Rack and other parts from had ordered them from Northern Tool. Here’s the link for the product manual. I believe you can call Northern Tool and order parts separately if needed. Let me know if it doesn’t work. m.northerntool.com/images/downloads/manuals/57762.pdf Here’s a link to the Cargo Trailer itself. m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200692633_200692633 Phone number. 1-800-222-5381 Good luck my friend. Let me know if you got any other questions.
@@Knuckledragnation awesome thank you! I actually have the small harbor freight trailer that’s equivalent to this. So that cooler rack would be another area for me to store gas cans or other items.
@@2SlickNick Oh right on. Are you doing anything else to the trailer? I just visited and subscribed to your Channel. I watched the video on the Manco. The video took me down memory lane so thanks for that and sharing.
Hello Harry, So from the trailer cross member to the end of the tongue where the beginning of the hyme joint base starts is 34 1/2 inches. I can’t remember if I mentioned I extended the tongue out more to allow for a cooler rack but that’s what I did. Unfortunately I threw my back out this morning and am unable to get up right now but if ya need any more information please let me know. I don’t mind helping out any way I can. ✌🏽
It depends on which state your traveling in. California it’s 55 but others it’s 65 or at times 10 mph slower than the posted speed limit. Where you from?
Quick, question. Why do Harley Davidson tell people don’t pull a trailer. I have a tri glide and I want to pull a bush tec trailer next year for our long trips. What’s your opinion on this.
You know that’s a great question and one I’ve heard before. I actually do not have an official answer but I look at it this way. If Harley-Davidson were making trailers, road testing them, etc….. I bet they then would back them. My thoughts are since they have no data to support how safe or unsafe it is and they are not making money on them why support it? That’s just my personal opinion of course. I believe Harley-Davidson at one point had a sidecar so it’s not that a motorcycle couldn’t handle the extra weight. With that said the one thing I would consider if I was to add a trailer to my Trike would be how much the combined weight would be. Keep in mind an H-D Tri Glide Ultra comes in weighing around 1,200 pounds. Then you add a loaded trailer to that and your talking 1,500-1,700 pounds. And that’s not adding in you or your passenger or any luggage. To me that seems like a lot of weight even for a motor in the 103ci or up category. My 2016 Ultra & fully loaded trailer weighed about 1,200 pounds on this 11 state trip I took a couple months back with my wife. I have a 103 motor and although at times I didn’t realize it was back there I did notice during braking and going up hills. Also fuel mileage suffered a lot in a head wind or anything over 70 mph. I would suggest that you ask those who have Tri Glide Ultra’s with trailers to see what if any issues they deal with on the road. Maybe the newer 117 motor has enough power to deal with the weight. I couldn’t imagine my bike with another 300 lbs added to it. It could probably tow it on the flat freeway but I would think it would struggle with everything else. Again I’m not saying that I wouldn’t tow behind an Tri Glide Ultra. My concern would again be the weight of the trailer, luggage and of course myself and passenger. I hope I answered your question. Feel free to hit me up whenever. Funny you mentioned Tri Glide Ultra because my wife is interested in the H-D Freewheeler and I’ve been eyeballing the Tri Glide Ultra as well.
Last time I was up in Skagway Alaska, we met three couples on tri-glides. All three were pulling small trailers with camping gear. I asked them about the performance. Not one voiced a concern. I think they were pulling Bushtec’s
@@wingandhog That’s good to hear. Unless they were so overwhelmed with worry that became speechless! 😜 Did you catch what year or size motor they had in their TriGlides? Bushtec trailers are extremely well built and light coming in at around 150lbs. Loaded they can weigh up to 350lbs. My trailer fully loaded weighs the same & I’m running a 103ci motor or 1700cc’s. The newer H-D’s are running even bigger motors and that’s why I asked about the year or motor size. Alaska is definitely a trip I’d definitely like to ride from California. Did you ride up to Alaska from the Continental US too?
I used a the Rivco Trailer Hitch HD0074 on my 2016 Ultra Limited. I then had the stock receiver that came with the hitch modified and fabricated in a way so that the trailer would sit level. The Motorcycle Swivel Hitch Heim Coupler I purchased from Kompact Kamp. Let me know if this answers your question.
Sorry I just now noticed your comment and for some reason my notifications were off. Crime isn’t as bad as one would think. I’m a bit security conscious I guess and at times it goes overboard and shows. My wife and I have traveled all through the Pacific North & Southwest and have never had an issue with security. Thanks for the comment.✌🏽
I am building myself a trailer pretty much like this...40" x 50" but I need a measurement please. Would you measure the distance from your Heim centerline to the front (first crossover beam) or the trailer please. The only real difference with what I am going to do compared to yours is have torque axles instead of leaf springs. My trailer frame will be 1/2" x 40" x 50". Thank you for the measurement...Paul.
Hello Paul, My apologies. I believe you had asked me this before and I could’ve sworn I sent it to you. I’m definitely slipping and forgetful these days sir. Just don’t tell my wife cuz she’s liable to send me to the doctor or have me committed! JK 🤣 I will take another measurement and get back to ya today. My apologies Paul.
@@HondaGoldwingGL1800 Ok so it measures 39” from the center hole to the first cross member or front of trailer. Let me know if you need any other measurements or have any questions. ✌🏽
@@Knuckledragnation Kool beans...that is perfect. I was guessing (again) at about 42" ...so I was close. I have all the other dimensions I needed except this tongue length, but now I can start to fab it up. Thank you very much...ride safe.
