Dual Sport Trailer assembly thread

[jesusgatos]

Was just thinking that a steering stabilizer of some sort might be a pretty nice addition to a trailer. Might help tame the wag...

[thatboatguy]

Originally Posted by DakarNick

Good work, George. I'll have to PM you about your wing!

Any time Nick,

BTW Here is the back deck and cargo pod hack I did on the KLR. I'm going to narrow the box to something reasonable and put a hinge and latch on it. I re-purposed an old life raft pod for that one. Also makes a handy place to bolt down a... er hmm... .

There are some flying photos on our blog at The Further We Go. Still somewhat on topic as there's some early bike loading attempts. And slightly embarrassing that I was a mechanic on an expedition motorcycle without the means to deal with a flat tire... Never again!

George

[oPAULo]

Well what's the latest? Anyone putting miles on their trailers?


I just did a 360 mile weekend of back roads, gravel roads, dirt roads and trails.
It did awesome on the trails. No complaints there.
Around town and back roads. Awesome.
Overall it passed and I'm happy with it but,
This was the first time on fresh gravel roads with a loaded trailer. It was quite a
handfull at times. MX tires with 25psi didn't help matters but I could really feel
that 110 lbs. back there swaying behind. Straight line was ok up to 50 mph but
cornering was sketchy. 30 mph and below was manageable. If I could get in the
tracks with no loose gravel I could cook along pretty good.
On the highway sometimes it would fishtail between 55 and 60. Not all the time
but once it started I couldn't stop it. Kinda like a VERY slow headshake. It was
not at all scary but annoying.
I'm going to replace the 35 year old bearings and bushings. Upgrade to taper
bearings in the head tube. Get some shocks with some damping and change the
angle of the shocks to make it softer as I think the bouncing is a lot of my
problem in the loose gravel. Maybe even a steering stabilizer.

When I would rock the trailer I noticed the right mount was rocking where it
seats against the small end of the axle allowing some flex. I made a bushing
that slips over the axle nut and seats against the axle washer. I added a plastic
washer for the trailer to pivot on. This added some stiffness but I think I still
need to triangulate the forward mounts with longer gussets.


A few from the weekend. We hauled a boat load of stuff in and on the trailer.
It was awesome.

[DakarNick]

I haven't done much on mine lately. The coil spring I bought (only $25) is way too heavy duty for my trailer so back to the drawing board on that.

I have some gas shocks that I may be able to use but not sure yet... They're strong but I don't know if they'll hold up to the constant cycling.

I bought some angle and more tubing so hopefully I'll make some progress in the next few days.

[Eddieb]

Originally Posted by DakarNick

I've made a bit more progress. Here are some pics.

Whats the length and width of the bed area?

[theWolfTamer]

Originally Posted by oPAULo

On the highway sometimes it would fishtail between 55 and 60. Not all the time
but once it started I couldn't stop it. Kinda like a VERY slow headshake. It was
not at all scary but annoying.

I read on singlewheel.com some one else built a swt and had to lengthen the tongue to stabilize their trailer at speed. Of course it's a street trailer but still here's what he said:

Getting my trailer to handle involved a fair bit of trial and error. I found that as a bare rolling chassis, it handled quite OK, but I think that was due to the fact that it was so light, the bike just dragged the chassis along regardless of where it wanted to go. When I installed the fibreglass "box" and loaded it with 35kg of ballast, the trailer would "tail wag" at about 100kmh (approx. 60mph). After upgrading to an L rated tyre and exchanging the standard (and very worn) Honda shock absorbers for new Ikon units, the problem was reduced, but not cured. I talked to a few trailer builders and began to wonder if the problem could be the drawbar length. Sure enough, after adding about 10" to the drawbar, the tail wagging problem disappeared. I have now towed it at over 180kmh (a little over 110mph) with a 40kg load and it tracks really well. While I'm not in the habit of travelling at 110mph, I felt that it was important to over-engineer and test at extreme speed if I was to have confidence that it wouldn't do anything unexpected at the most inappropriate time! The only time you really even notice that it's behind the bike now is when doing really slow turns, or quick changes of direction such as a winding mountain road. Even then, as long as you change direction smoothly, it leaves the other guys towing normal trailers for dead...

[oPAULo]

Originally Posted by theWolfTamer

I read on singlewheel.com some one else built a swt and had to lengthen the tongue to stabilize their trailer at speed. Of course it's a street trailer but still here's what he said:

Hey thanks for the info and the link!
I was already considering a longer tongue because the box will just barely touch the license plate in the deep ditches. Now I have two reasons.

[ben2go]

Another thing that causes wag is slack in the hitch joints and flex in the hitch mount.

[DakarNick]

The coil spring I bought was way overkill so I decided to buy a cheap mountain bike at a pawn shop and use the coil from that. I also added two gas shocks. Not sure if it will all work but it's worth a try.







My bed is removable in case I decide to change it. Two pieces of angle create a channel that slips over the "backbone" tube.

On


Off


Eddie, the upper bed is 45.25"x25".

Overall length from vertical (side to side) pivot to rear of tire is 97".

Axle of bike to axle of trailer is 101".

[TouringDave]

Brilliant efforts guys!

[lonewolf97]

Here is my trailer project. It was a jet ski trailer I had converted to carry my 97 dr650. Now I'm going to pull it with the same dr. I'm already pulling it with my roadking. All I need is to build a hitch for the dr. I'm looking at the subframe under the rear fender. It looks strong enough for an aluminum plate to be bolted to it in the same mounting holes the plastic mud guard was. That would allow the hitch to be installed/removed in just a few minutes. My game plan is to pull the trailer, set up base camp then remove the hitch for trail riding.










Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[MrBracket]

Who's makin good use of the cold weather to build new trailers???

Check out what I've done to the Moto-Mule trailers.....



See more here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showp...&postcount=426

[griffo1962]

Originally Posted by MrBracket

Who's makin good use of the cold weather to build new trailers???

Check out what I've done to the Moto-Mule trailers.....



See more here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showp...&postcount=426

Does this mean it will be a much smaller package to ship ie cheaper?? and do you have plans for fitment to a KLX250?

thanks

g

[blacktruck]

I used to have a trailer for my Venture Royale. It was a pretty good sized trailer and the extra space meant it was usually too full. It pulled very well but that was a big bike with lots of power. I'm in the market for a KLR and think that a small trailer would be better than some of the overloaded bikes I've seen in their RR. I'm looking for ideas or input. Is this a feasible idea for a KLR? I would plan to travel light and one up but this would allow me to keep the weight off the bike and give me a few cubic feet of storage. Does anybody make a hitch or small trailers like that? I'm overseas so still in the planning stages at thhis point. Just looking for ideas here and hoping to pull the trigger on it when I'm done here.

[jgas]

I've been thinking about doing this for years but my fabrication skills are in the infancy stage. I've taught myself to weld steel fairly well and sometimes I can even use a tape measure without mistakes. Gotta have the right amount of beer. Fabrication and waterskiing requires beer for me. 2 beers, I get better. 3 beers makes me reliable. Fewer mistakes than sober that is. 4 beers and I start quickly going downhill. The trick is after 3 beers, to drink at the exact rate that keeps me working better, not worse. It's an art in itself.

If I did this, the trailer would have to be built for me to lay down on, stable, narrow, and tough. It would need to be close to the bike so I could turn around without unhooking on roads and wide trails. My goal would be to pull it behind my DRZ in all but the hardest singletrack. I would need to be able to pull it into some really tough spots without crashes or breaking it. My dream trailer would be long enough for me to use it for a camper after I unloaded it. Maybe have a small lightweight rack that I could drape a tarp over and lay inside of for camping, then take it apart or fold it all up for riding. It would need to have a lightweight detachable frame that could be put together to lay on for sleeping and stay off the ground. The frame could theoretically be mounted lengthwise or crosswise to the trailer. My ideas far outstrip my ability! I would like to have a brake on the trailer, and I think that one wheel would be better than two, maybe with outrigger tires like training wheels that only touched the ground when going slow or turning around.

If someone could build this and market it cheaply it would make a fortune! Or sell easy to use plans for the do it yourselfer. Some of the ones I've seen here look great but I'd want to somehow try various ones before copying one to make sure it worked for my uses. I'm probably the only idiot that would even try to ride singletrack with a trailer, but it sure would be cool! I have seen bicycle trailers that hardcore off road guys pull with Mtn bikes. One guy has ridden all over Colorado pulling a trailer with a bicycle.

Has anyone tried pulling the trailers from the top of the bike, attached to the subframe or rear rack area? This would put the trailer at an upward angle so that it wouldn't drag, give it cornering clearance, and bring the trailer tire/tires closer to the bike. It would also keep the trailer from being affected by the swingarm moving up and down. On most bikes the subframe/rack area would have to be modified to hold up to the stress, but that would be pretty easy compared to designing the trailer I'd think?

Anyone thought of making the trailer tire, (the singletired ones), so that the tire/wheel actually leans with the bike? It would keep the trailer tire's contact patch constant and the trailer should follow the bike better.