Trailer advice

rk97

Member
now that the OP got his question answered, I'm wondering if my trailer is leaning too nose-heavy.

It rides a few degrees forward, rather than perfectly level. with a 200 lbs. max tongue weight, I am not overly concerned, because I can move the trailer around with teh bike still loaded and not kill my back, so I'm thinking it's maybe 100-150 lbs max. Should I still buy a bigger riser hitch to level it out more?

I'd like to be able to put a second bike on there in a pinch...
 

Otto Man

John
Control Rider
Have a picture? It would depend on how long your trailer is. With the trailer properly support by jacks and a bathroom scale on the tongue, you can see your tongue weight with one bike. After the second one is on, providing you have enough trailer length, you can move it front/back until you get just about all the weight over the axle. With that, you won't need a different riser hitch. Don't forget you can also flip the ball on a regular, no drop hitch. That alone can make several inches of difference, which may be just what you need.

Personally, I prefer to have the trailer a few degrees forward than back. It helps prevent the hitch/ball from rattling like a mofo, especially when it's empty.
 

rk97

Member
Derick;196930 wrote: if you plan on folding the harbor freight trailer and moving it around, change the casters.
there is great wisdom in this statement, and yet I have not been able to find a set that is larger, but still fits!

It's a single-bolt caster, so options are a bit limited.

this would work:
casters-wheels.jpg


but the larger options seem to be only this style:
challengerXL-universal-casters.jpg
 

Derick

New Member
rk97;196935 wrote: there is great wisdom in this statement, and yet I have not been able to find a set that is larger, but still fits!

It's a single-bolt caster, so options are a bit limited.

this would work:
casters-wheels.jpg


but the larger options seem to be only this style:
challengerXL-universal-casters.jpg
i got some 3" casters from harbor freight, part # 90997. these are a fine thread bolt, so go to ace to get the nuts, HD does not have them.
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-inch-x-3-4-quarter-inch-stem-swivel-caster-90997.html
 

Rydell

New Member
Just my 2 cents, stay clear of lowes / home depot trailers, they are grossly overpriced. It's rediculous. With your price range, just go used with a good condition trailer. Craigs is your friend good sir...
 

physicistkev

Control Rider
rk97;196670 wrote: now that the OP got his question answered, I'm wondering if my trailer is leaning too nose-heavy.

It rides a few degrees forward, rather than perfectly level. with a 200 lbs. max tongue weight, I am not overly concerned, because I can move the trailer around with teh bike still loaded and not kill my back, so I'm thinking it's maybe 100-150 lbs max. Should I still buy a bigger riser hitch to level it out more?

I'd like to be able to put a second bike on there in a pinch...
You want the trailer to be level when you have it loaded. This means with the trailer loaded, you need to get the correct height hitch.

The reason for this is you want the force the trailer exerts on the tow vehicle and hitch mechanism to be as linear as possible. This keeps the trailer from affecting ride quality and stability of the tow vehicle. 1500#'s doesn't sound like much, and a tongue weight of 150#-200#'s certainly doesn't sound like much, but when you try to stop that in a hurry, the inertia is tremendous. If the trailer is pointing nose down, and you panic stop, that pushes down on the rear of the tow vehicle with a mountain of force, and can affect the steering. If the opposite is true, nose up, then in a panic stop it will lighten the rear end of the tow vehicle and promote fishtailing. Obviously, the tow vehicle needs to be taken into account, so if you use a 1500/150 to tow a single bike, this doesn't really matter. However, if you are towing with a smaller truck or smaller SUV/station wagon then you're asking for trouble with a non-level trailer.

What you are aiming for, is a tow vehicle that drives almost the exact same when towing or not towing, except for the longer distance needed to start and stop. It's amazing how well a tow vehicle will ride, even when towing close to max, when it is setup properly.

Kevin
 

rk97

Member
so what I'm hearing is that I need to buy another riser hitch to level things out so I'm not riding 1-2" nose-heavy. That's kind of what I thought, but when I brought this up to someone else, they said nose-heavy was ideal because it would keep the hitch from jumping off the ball.

I can't PULL my hitch off the ball, and I always run safety chains, but it was still a concern I thought was valid. New riser it is though.

thanks.
 

Gorecki

Member
Kevin's post got me thinking, before changing my wheels out I had a minor nose down attitude with a 4" drop but using a 2" would put it nose up. Now with the slightly larger wheels that attitude is bigger. Guessing I should go pickup a 2" drop hitch.

Thanks for pointing that out Kev..
 

rk97

Member
wanna trade?

I will have to check, but I'm pretty sure I have a 2" "drop" that is currently flipped to raise the hitch height. I would be looking to go 2" higher.
 

physicistkev

Control Rider
rk97;197173 wrote: nose-heavy was ideal
You want the recommended tongue weight, which should be 10-15% of total trailer weight. Technically, this means nose heavy, by 10-15%. Anything beyond that is unnecessary. This weight is what should keep the trailer on the ball. If you have a trailer that is constantly lifting on the hitch, you don't have enough tongue weight. Road conditions are always going to cause the trailer to lift occasionally, due to large bumps and uneven roads. It shouldn't be happening a lot though if your setup is correct.

If you are getting lots of noise from the ball, it may not be due to lifting. It is most likely due to an improperly adjusted ball capture on the trailer. There should be some type of adjustment to tighten or loosen the ball capture/lock mechanism. Usually a nut that is accessed from below the trailer tongue. When the trailer is set on the ball and you lock down onto the ball, there should be a little play but not much. You want enough room for the trailer to move freely for turning and angle changes due to going over bumps.

These recommendations are for loads under 3000#'s. Above that the rules change a little and they really change above 6000#'s.

Kevin
 

Gorecki

Member
rk97;197183 wrote: wanna trade?

I will have to check, but I'm pretty sure I have a 2" "drop" that is currently flipped to raise the hitch height. I would be looking to go 2" higher.
That's a good idea, but once I started thinking about what it would cost us to ship those slightly heavy chunks of metal and that I can stop on the way home and pick up a 2" from HF for ~$15? Also, I'm in the market for a new truck (whole other thread coming soon to a forum near you) where I wouldn't be shocked if I'll be needing that 4" again. :rolleyes:

I've been using da wife's H3 to tow (really don't like the thing) and need to get back into a truck. So again, a good idea but not so sure it would benefit either of us. :dunno:
 

noobinacan

Member
physicistkev;197165 wrote: You want the trailer to be level when you have it loaded. This means with the trailer loaded, you need to get the correct height hitch.

The reason for this is you want the force the trailer exerts on the tow vehicle and hitch mechanism to be as linear as possible. This keeps the trailer from affecting ride quality and stability of the tow vehicle. 1500#'s doesn't sound like much, and a tongue weight of 150#-200#'s certainly doesn't sound like much, but when you try to stop that in a hurry, the inertia is tremendous. If the trailer is pointing nose down, and you panic stop, that pushes down on the rear of the tow vehicle with a mountain of force, and can affect the steering. If the opposite is true, nose up, then in a panic stop it will lighten the rear end of the tow vehicle and promote fishtailing. Obviously, the tow vehicle needs to be taken into account, so if you use a 1500/150 to tow a single bike, this doesn't really matter. However, if you are towing with a smaller truck or smaller SUV/station wagon then you're asking for trouble with a non-level trailer.

What you are aiming for, is a tow vehicle that drives almost the exact same when towing or not towing, except for the longer distance needed to start and stop. It's amazing how well a tow vehicle will ride, even when towing close to max, when it is setup properly.

Kevin

very informative...thank you
I was thinking along the same lines, but for a while have been running a little noose heavy vs linear.
going to fix that soon...
 

dbarufaldi

Member
noobinacan;197219 wrote: very informative...thank you
I was thinking along the same lines, but for a while have been running a little noose heavy vs linear.
going to fix that soon...
There's a difference between running nose-heavy, and ride height/trailer attitude. You have to get the trailer balanced properly (10-15% on the tongue), then connect to your tow vehicle, see how much it settles, and adjust the hitch/ball mount accordingly. Kinda like preload vs. ride height....they are related, but they are separate.

On my vehicle, I have added air bags in the rear, so I set the tongue weight, connect the trailer, add air to the bags to bring the tow vehicle ride height back up to its unladen position (with a tape measure). Then I moved the ball mount (mine is adjustable) to level the trailer. This way, truck is level, trailer is level. Pulls like a dream.

If your tow vehicle settles a lot (like 1/2 the suspension travel), you need to either double check your tongue weight, or modify the tow vehicle (assuming you are still within the capacities/parameters). I would figure that out before buying a new ball mount.

Dan B
 

noobinacan

Member
dbarufaldi;197251 wrote: There's a difference between running nose-heavy, and ride height/trailer attitude. You have to get the trailer balanced properly (10-15% on the tongue), then connect to your tow vehicle, see how much it settles, and adjust the hitch/ball mount accordingly. Kinda like preload vs. ride height....they are related, but they are separate.

On my vehicle, I have added air bags in the rear, so I set the tongue weight, connect the trailer, add air to the bags to bring the tow vehicle ride height back up to its unladen position (with a tape measure). Then I moved the ball mount (mine is adjustable) to level the trailer. This way, truck is level, trailer is level. Pulls like a dream.

If your tow vehicle settles a lot (like 1/2 the suspension travel), you need to either double check your tongue weight, or modify the tow vehicle (assuming you are still within the capacities/parameters). I would figure that out before buying a new ball mount.

Dan B
^ makes sense. thanks.
 
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