Wow, Larry! That looks great. If I was interested in pulling a trailer, that is the hitch and trailer I'd pull.
Trailer Hitch Anyone?
- Thread starter larrylarry75
- Start date
OP
OP
Hi People,
This series of pics illustrates the installation of the hitch. When it comes to stating what the load rating is I?m clueless, I think common sense and reason should be used as a guide for that.
Curiosity this morning caused me to go out to the garage and step up onto the hitch. The bike tilted back on its center stand and that was it, the hitch didn?t snap off or do anything scary. Moments before I weighed in at 151 lbs counting my seedy old bathrobe and slippers so I know the hitch will handle at least that much tongue weight. This isn?t something I?d recommend doing, OK?
Take a look at the pics; they?ll give you an idea of what?s involved in the installation routine. Time-wise it took less than half an hour to do mine so that?s probably going to be average for most people to do. I spent more time posting these pics than on the installation....need to work on my Internet skills I guess. :wink:
LL75
This series of pics illustrates the installation of the hitch. When it comes to stating what the load rating is I?m clueless, I think common sense and reason should be used as a guide for that.
Curiosity this morning caused me to go out to the garage and step up onto the hitch. The bike tilted back on its center stand and that was it, the hitch didn?t snap off or do anything scary. Moments before I weighed in at 151 lbs counting my seedy old bathrobe and slippers so I know the hitch will handle at least that much tongue weight. This isn?t something I?d recommend doing, OK?
Take a look at the pics; they?ll give you an idea of what?s involved in the installation routine. Time-wise it took less than half an hour to do mine so that?s probably going to be average for most people to do. I spent more time posting these pics than on the installation....need to work on my Internet skills I guess. :wink:
LL75
OP
OP
Good enough, I'll start keeping a list on this thread but I won't be able to place any orders until I get home after Spearfish plus a few days. Once I get back I can give my hitch to the fabrication shop to use as a pattern. You're #1, think Eldon is going to order also so I'll put him down.
1) BobAgain
2) Ex Winger - Eldon
3) MadMax - Kenny
4) Jim Moore
LL75
Last edited:
Madmax
Guest
Put me on the list...I want one.
Larry, just got home and seen your hitch pictures looks great. I'm definitly in for one. will pm contact info. See you in Spearfish. jimMadmax
Guest
Any updates yet???
OP
OP
Nope, nada, nyet, nothing exciting to report but I'll fill in with the following:
Yesterday I purposely overloaded the Uni-Go to the point I could barely get the lid closed just to see the results, then went for a brief ride and scared the crap out of myself. Today it's raining but I may have another run at it with a lighter load to see how it handles. The overweight problem caused the bike to wobble, (not trailer fishtail) a common issue when the tongue weight is too heavy. I had to deal with a slight amount of that when I pulled the same trailer with my MP3-500 scooter but it has a much heavier front end so that helped counter balance things.
As a point of comparison I took the same amount of gear and stuffed it into my medium sized MotoFizz camp bag and went for a similar ride. I placed the bag in front of the empty top box so I was really squeezed forward but the bike handled pretty normal so total weight isn't the issue, it's weight placement. Today I'll try a couple of different things, one will be to lighten the load in the Uni-Go considerably, maybe put some of the stuff in a smaller MotoFizz pack in front of the top box to see how that affects things, and two, remove the top box and try the medium MotoFizz on the soft pack rack with some of the gear still distributed in the small MotoFizz. Then maybe I'll go somewhere quiet and drink a whole lot of G&T's.... Nah, I gave that up, just sayin...
I'll get back after awhile with updates.
LL75 :smile:
Yesterday I purposely overloaded the Uni-Go to the point I could barely get the lid closed just to see the results, then went for a brief ride and scared the crap out of myself. Today it's raining but I may have another run at it with a lighter load to see how it handles. The overweight problem caused the bike to wobble, (not trailer fishtail) a common issue when the tongue weight is too heavy. I had to deal with a slight amount of that when I pulled the same trailer with my MP3-500 scooter but it has a much heavier front end so that helped counter balance things.
As a point of comparison I took the same amount of gear and stuffed it into my medium sized MotoFizz camp bag and went for a similar ride. I placed the bag in front of the empty top box so I was really squeezed forward but the bike handled pretty normal so total weight isn't the issue, it's weight placement. Today I'll try a couple of different things, one will be to lighten the load in the Uni-Go considerably, maybe put some of the stuff in a smaller MotoFizz pack in front of the top box to see how that affects things, and two, remove the top box and try the medium MotoFizz on the soft pack rack with some of the gear still distributed in the small MotoFizz. Then maybe I'll go somewhere quiet and drink a whole lot of G&T's.... Nah, I gave that up, just sayin...
I'll get back after awhile with updates.
LL75 :smile:
Larry,
Did you change the preload when you had the trailer connected?
Did you change the preload when you had the trailer connected?
Madmax
Guest
The first time I pulled my Bunkhouse Camper, I pulled it with my BMW R1100RT. The bike just didn't feel right, and would try to wobble when around large trucks on the interstate. When I got to the Rally I was going to I complained about how it pulled. I was told I didn't have enough tongue weight. For the trip home I loaded the trailer with more weight in the front, and it pulled fine. I've pulled the same trailer with my BMW K1100LT and with my Harley Electra Glide with no problems. I've been told to keep my tongue weight between 30 to 50 lbs for best results.
OP
OP
Yup I did. The thing is, since I've installed the lowering link gizmo I'm thinking that effectively places the preload down the same amount. Then when the preload is adjusted for the heaviest setting it most likely goes back to the equivalent stock setting, ie. no net gain. That's from the wisdom lips of a friend who chases such remote things down for publication. I'm going for a different tack next, going to raise the height of the hitch receiver to see if that has an effect. Also the tires are getting changed out Friday and that may have a positive effect on things. Hope hope hope.
Gotta go feed Toby, he's getting antsy as it's past his dinner time. Later, and thanks for the idea.
LL
Mellow
Admin
Larry,
I figured I'd answer here as PM is not as fast.
I had a unigo on my ST1300.
It would wobble with aftermarket Delkevic pipes installed. The pipes are 2-pcs and have a band whereas the oem pipes are all one piece and use a welded tab to connect to the exhaust hangers on both sides of the bike.
The hitch you show, has 2 vertical support bars. I'm thinking they are not stiff enough to handle the tendency the trailer has to wobble.
When I had the hitch on the ST and the aftermarket pipes, I could stand on the hitch and push and wiggle it as much as I wanted to and it didn't budge, it felt as solid as it needed to be. But, at speed it would start wobbling, didn't matter if it was empty or full or what the tongue height was doing, I was afraid to ride it 10 miles. But, once I put the oem exhausts back I rode it to California without a single issue.
I figured I'd answer here as PM is not as fast.
I had a unigo on my ST1300.
It would wobble with aftermarket Delkevic pipes installed. The pipes are 2-pcs and have a band whereas the oem pipes are all one piece and use a welded tab to connect to the exhaust hangers on both sides of the bike.
The hitch you show, has 2 vertical support bars. I'm thinking they are not stiff enough to handle the tendency the trailer has to wobble.
When I had the hitch on the ST and the aftermarket pipes, I could stand on the hitch and push and wiggle it as much as I wanted to and it didn't budge, it felt as solid as it needed to be. But, at speed it would start wobbling, didn't matter if it was empty or full or what the tongue height was doing, I was afraid to ride it 10 miles. But, once I put the oem exhausts back I rode it to California without a single issue.
OP
OP
Wowee, now that's an interesting piece of information, thanks! It's funny to hear that as the fabrication guy commented he'd like to have a heavier vertical rod but chose the one's he used to stay within the openings that are already present. I'm going to take it back to him and see what all would be entailed to widen them out and use heavier stock all around. It can't cost a lot and shouldn't require much shop time.
LL75
Mellow
Admin
Larry,
A friend in CA made a dampener for me. It helped him on his ST1100 and helped a little on the ST1300 but it wasn't the cure. Not sure how badly yours is wobbling, sounds pretty bad... here's a video of the wobble on the ST1300 w/dampener installed - the wobble doesn't look bad in the video but it's pretty bad. The dampener helped but not enough for me to take the trailer on a real ride, only installing the oem exhausts back cured 98% of the trailer wobbling.
[video=youtube;gMWWhfbNuLI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMWWhfbNuLI&feature=plcp[/video]
A friend in CA made a dampener for me. It helped him on his ST1100 and helped a little on the ST1300 but it wasn't the cure. Not sure how badly yours is wobbling, sounds pretty bad... here's a video of the wobble on the ST1300 w/dampener installed - the wobble doesn't look bad in the video but it's pretty bad. The dampener helped but not enough for me to take the trailer on a real ride, only installing the oem exhausts back cured 98% of the trailer wobbling.
[video=youtube;gMWWhfbNuLI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMWWhfbNuLI&feature=plcp[/video]
Mellow
Admin
OP
OP
Hi Joe,
That dampener is an interesting concept for sure. Frankly I've come to believe the Uni-Go is better suited to some bikes than others. For instance I can tow it with my scooter and there's no wobble yet the NT doesn't seem to like it. So what's the difference? I've given that a lot of thought and haven't come up with a good answer yet. Maybe it's partially due to the hitch design, the one on my scooter is welded to the frame whereas the one for the NT is a bolt-on design. It's also made of lighter gage steel so maybe that allows more trailer flex to transmit back to the bike resulting in wobble? The same guy built both hitches for me.
I met with him today and asked about changing the vertical support rods to heavier material. He said it could be done but we'd have to remove a couple of plastic tabs from beneath the saddle which would open things up a bit more. Before doing that what I'd really like to do is tow a two-wheel trailer to see how one acts; whether or not there is any wobble. I'm fine using my Uni-Go with the scooter but if a two-wheel model would work with the bike maybe I'd trade it in on one. Unfortunately there are no bike trailer dealers even remotely close to where I live so I'll have to go to Portland to look at one. That's going to take awhile, got a lot on my plate at the moment but I'm interested in doing it.
Thanks for posting the video and for sharing your experiences.
LL75 :smile:
Mellow
Admin
Yes, the difference sound like it's in the hitch. The one welded to the scooter frame sounds beefier and much more solid.
The issue with the unigo is that you aren't just pulling a trailer, you're supporting it. The tongue weight on a unigo is many times 2 or 3 times that of a 2-wheel trailer... so, that will magnify any trailer issues as well as transmit them to the bike itself.
On a 2-wheel trailer you are supporting the tongue but you balance out the load over the trailer wheels so it's at a minimum... you actually just pull that trailer and support it just enough.
Compare a wheel barrel w/heavy load to a push cart w/same load... any imbalance or weak point while using a wheel barrel is apparent immediately but you can do just about anything with a push cart.
http://www.thirdwheeltrailers.com/index.php/home has a very interesting design which creates a good solid point of mounting... I don't have any experience with them though or know how easily something like that could be fabricated to get your unigo to pull better.
The issue with the unigo is that you aren't just pulling a trailer, you're supporting it. The tongue weight on a unigo is many times 2 or 3 times that of a 2-wheel trailer... so, that will magnify any trailer issues as well as transmit them to the bike itself.
On a 2-wheel trailer you are supporting the tongue but you balance out the load over the trailer wheels so it's at a minimum... you actually just pull that trailer and support it just enough.
Compare a wheel barrel w/heavy load to a push cart w/same load... any imbalance or weak point while using a wheel barrel is apparent immediately but you can do just about anything with a push cart.
http://www.thirdwheeltrailers.com/index.php/home has a very interesting design which creates a good solid point of mounting... I don't have any experience with them though or know how easily something like that could be fabricated to get your unigo to pull better.
OP
OP
The Sporting version hitch looks like it would do the trick but making something like that up to work on the NT is more than I want to get involved in. I'm going to pursue the two-wheel versions and see what can be used with my hitch as-is. Thanks again for sharing this info.
LL75
I'm pretty sure this old beatnik wouldn't want to pull a trailer Mellow, but I do applaud your choice in music!