Harbor Freight Trailer

[justbrian]

My harbor freight trailer arived today. Assembled it and took it for a test ride. I got the 40x48 with 10" wheels. I have never towed a trailer on a bike before and was quite suprised at how it good handled. I did not have any cargo on it. My main concern was tight turns. i hit the local parking lots and put it into some tight turns (scraped the floorboards) and did not even feel the trailer bind up. I then hit the interstate and had no problems. pretty sweet little rig. next weekend will be the first camping trip that i can take so much stuff that my wife might be excited. ha who am i kidding. still a good investment and easy to build rig. paid 144.00 at the store.

[dui546]

Got any pictures?

[lonewolf]

just remember to keep enuf weight on the tongue! i hav a modified harbor freight trailer. I chopped it a bit to make it narrower. and hav and old style car top carrier bolted to it. if you pack it without enuf tongue weight, you will get wobble going down the hwy. I also put on a longer tongue. i ride with some guys who hav been building and pulling trailers for a long time. the thing they hav come up with over the years, is that your tongue should be 1 1/2 times the length of your axel. this will greatly reduce any swaying or wobbling. good luck with the trailer and hav a blast camping !!!!

[lonewolf]

wow ! just read my post! really need to spell check ! lol

[misunderstood]

Originally Posted by lonewolf

wow ! just read my post! really need to spell check ! lol

Whut doo ya meen ???

[ponch]

Originally Posted by lonewolf

wow ! just read my post! really need to spell check ! lol

you can go back and modify it.

[justbrian]

Originally Posted by lonewolf

just remember to keep enuf weight on the tongue! i hav a modified harbor freight trailer. I chopped it a bit to make it narrower. and hav and old style car top carrier bolted to it. if you pack it without enuf tongue weight, you will get wobble going down the hwy. I also put on a longer tongue. i rise with some guys who hav been building and pukking trailers for a long time. the thing they hav come up with over the years, is that your tongue should be 1 1/2 times the length of your axel. this will greatly reduce any swaying or wobbling. good luck with and trailer and hav a blast camping !!!!

thanks for the advice. swaying trailer behind a motorcycle sounds horrible! Something to remeber

[lonewolf]

thanks ponch!

[macmac]

Just a few thingds to keep in mind..

The grease in the bearings from the box isn't lube grease, and is just packing grease for shipping.

The tongue should go lever to down hill towards the bike when it is on the hitch. If it is up hill, the trailer will have a mind of it's own.

25 to 35 pounds at the trailer hitch is about right.

A loaded trailer will make stopping longer.

Check and re check the latch. Mine came off with no warning, and still after it did I don't know why. It wasn't pretty.

It is probably a good idea to remove the smaller leaf, to reduce stiff bouncing.

Cross the safety chains under the tongue. (Pray you never use them)

[skeeter]

macmac- I understand that to be 'level to downhill towards the bike'. Good advice.
Q- would shocks help reduce the bounce? or not worth the effort of installation?

[lonewolf]

you can reduce some of the bounce, by not filling tires to mfg. specs on tire. i only run about 20 pounds of air in mine. what i do is when my trailer is fully loaded, i roll it over a soft spot in the gravel/sand. i try ti make sure i get an imprint of most of my tread in the sand. over filling and you will get just a narrow strip of tread .

[justbrian]

A pic of the trailer attached to the bike, I foud a used cargo carrier for 75 on craigslist that will be the rest.

[skeeter]

Looks wide. Don't forget to ride in the center of the lane.

[chuckster131]

Darn, I wish you were closer to me!! I have one to give away

Originally Posted by justbrian

A pic of the trailer attached to the bike, I foud a used cargo carrier for 75 on craigslist that will be the rest.

[jrd]

Originally Posted by justbrian

A pic of the trailer attached to the bike, I foud a used cargo carrier for 75 on craigslist that will be the rest.

Brian,

I have the same trailer. Did all your lights work on the first try? My trailer would not ground properly. I finally figured it out, I hope it went better for you Congratulations on the trailer!

John