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Covering bike when hauling it on a trailer question.

Albertastar

By Albertastar
in Watering Hole

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slowrollwv

slowrollwv

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I have a 5'x8' trailer that I can pull a clevis pin and tilt the bed of the trailer off the tong. I used it to haul my RSV home when I bought it. I have thought about doing to my trailer just like the U Haul and put a wheel chuck on the front as my bike did set over the axel and did not give me enough tong weight. As I had a severe tail wag at speed.

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tz89

tz89

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I pulled it at interstate highway speeds for 300 miles with no issues, even with my Highlander which is basically a Camry.

 

I used to have a side-on photo from when I stopped at The Prodigal Son in Pendleton, OR. Highly recommend that as a scooter stop if you are traveling by. Anyway, haven't found the photo yet.

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tz89

tz89

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The rule of thumb is aprox 10% of the GTW (trailer plus the bike) should be used as a guide line for proper tongue weight. So let's say the trailer weigh's 600# and the bike is 775# for a total of 1375#. 10% of that would be 137.5, +/-10-15# 400# is way too much towing weight. I don't care what old ARCHY sez.... :-)

 

 

To make that math work the distance from the axel to the hitch would have to be approx 5.6 times the distance from the axel to the center of gravity of the load (trailer and bike). Call it 6. Not all the weight is ahead of the axel. If the COG is 2 ft ahead of the axel the span has to be 12 ft.

 

math3.jpg

 

beer.jpg

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Flyinfool

Flyinfool

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To little tongue weight will cause a dangerous sway. I have never heard of to much tongue weight causing any issue other than exceeding the weight limits of the hitch and/or suspension of the tow vehicle or of the tongue itself.

 

I have had a load shift once when the tie down chain broke and 3650 lbs moved 5 feet forward and went from a 500 lb tongue to well over 1000 lbs on the tongue, all it did was to squat the back of the truck but it still handled fine at freeway speed. I can see where it probably took some weight off the front wheels when that happened. But I was not needing to make any sudden steering inputs so I did not notice an issue there either. I am sure I would have broke something in the rear of the truck before the front wheels would have lost enough traction to become an issue. But the math does say that there was less weight on the front wheels.

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videoarizona

videoarizona

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Oh ohhh... that foto supposedly showing the bulk weight is "near the axle" IS misleading, even to these 75 yr old eyes.

 

For our money, most of the engine and bulkier weight stuff is STILL well ahead of that axle.

 

We're betting that tongue is supporting a LOT more weight than it should. Be VERY careful assuming otherwise. A load imbalance like that could produce significant issues at speed on the highways, INCLUDING the potential for a side-to-side weave action. (Anybody who missed that should go back and take another look at the foto.) If you've never experienced one, you have no idea how frightening - and disastrous it can get. The only recommended way to come out of it safely is to hang on to the wheel tight, and... speed up. That takes a lot of intestinal fortitude, along with a large dose of good luck.

 

Rgds, WRIDR

 

 

Got it right!

 

I had that experience towing the boat through Pennsylvania when an 18 wheeler went by me going downhill like I was standing still. Started oscillating. Floored the Yukon and she straightened right up. I pulled over and threw more weight in the bow of the boat's Vberth. That stopped that. Since then, I lengthened the tongue, and moved the boat a few inches so I'm running about 12% on the tongue weight. Around 450 pounds. Solid as a rock.

 

The only disadvantage of surge brakes is you have to do what is hard to do...accelerate when the trailer starts to sway. Hit the brakes and you will roll the trailer...and maybe your truck.

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Flyinfool

Flyinfool

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I had a bad sway experience before I even knew that there was a proper way to load a trailer. I had a big all steel trailer for hauling my 69 Pontiac Catalina around. That is not a small car. I was pulling it with a Dodge full size 11 passenger van. I was worried about the tongue weight, so I loaded the car to give me about 50 lbs of tongue weight. I could easily lift the tongue of the loaded trailer onto the ball with one hand. You can guess what happened the first time I got up to around 40 mph...... It swayed so hard that the trailer and the van were both going up on 2 wheels each, real close to the point of going over. I had no clue what the proper response was so I just took my foot off the gas and hung on tight to the steering wheel until it slowed down enough to track straight again. then I had to stop and clean my shorts........

 

All that tongue weight and proper geometry stuff really does matter when towing.

 

That original pic at first glace does look like the bike is way to far forward. But looking closer the bike is not as far forward as it looks. If you hold a straight edge up to the picture to show where the axle really is, the Axel is just behind the center of the bike, about right where it should be. This is probably why the trailer towed just fine.

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