Project: Build trailer to haul the GL1200 ASPY

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DaveKamp

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2017
Messages
563
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Location
Argo, Ia
Hi Everybody!

Okay, so, my job is kinda unique, in that most of my work time is between home and my office, but every six-eight weeks or so, I get sent somewhere to do a job. When I do, it could be to either east, west, or gulf coast, to within sight of Mexico, or any of the lower 8 provences of Canada.

My work timeframe can be rather rigorous... but once the site prep, and the hard work is done, I usually have about a day of down-time, then I spend the next day-and-a-half training, then I start my trek home.

There's been many times when I wished I had a motorcycle with me. Back when my service truck was an F450 Diesel, I actually carried a for-purpose motorcycle... a chopped-down Suzi GN400. I stripped it to bare bones, yanked the turn signals, battery, passenger pegs, cut off the tall handlebars, indicator lamps, tach and speedo, fabricated some clip-on bars, cut off all unnecessary bracketry, bodywork, even the centerstand, fitted a fuel tank from an early '70's Honda, made a one-piece cafe-racer seat-pan/tail/brake/light assembly. I yanked the original sprockets, and swapped 'em for a higher ratio, and mounted an electronic bicycle speedometer. I made a 'batteryless' voltage regulator unit that bumped output voltage to 12 (originally six) and swapped the (empty) headlamp shell for something much larger, with a 12v bulb. It was kick-start only, and the 'hot start assist' was worthless, so it went... as did the big megaphone exhaust- I welded on a 'sausage' muffler from JC Whitney... one low-profile rear-view mirror, so I could tell if my fly was unzipped. When all done, it weighed almost a hundred pounds LESS than the stock GN, and I had a little swinging electric hoist to lift it out of the truck, to the ground. Primary purpose was to be there when the Ford Diesel broke down (they broke down extremely frequently)... the GN cafe wasn't comfortable to go long distance, but if I was within a hundred miles, it'd get me to the hotel, and to my jobsite the next day, while my truck was being fixed by a dealership. I DID take it on some nice day-tours, met some great people, even had a couple guys on old Brit thumpers chase me down to see what that little mongrel was... and they took it for a ride, and came back with wide eyes and standing hair.

But I'm driving an F250 now, and would rather have my GL1200A along.

SO I was wandering through the back lot of my farm, and noticed the remains of an old boat trailer that I'd captured a decade ago... and thought about the possibilities. The bow stanchion is long gone, axle had been bent and repaired (poorly), tires gone, lighting all busted up, rollers cracked, bunks rotted away... it was a sad lookin' thing, and I always had to move it around to mow where it was stowed. SHE would be more-than-happy for it to disappear, but to me, well... it's good raw materials for some project someday.

What I'm gonna do, is turn this old boat trailer into a for-purpose machine... it will be specifically to allow me to easily load, lock down, tow, unlock, unload... my '84 GL, on biz trips behind my company truck, such that when I'm somewhere that riding is great, I can enjoy my downtime wandering byways, and not be stuck inside a company pickup truck.

I'm taking pictures, will post them as I go... standby!
 
Okay, so here's the old wreck....
 

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Now stripped of rollers and bracketry... I've snipped it down to segments that I THINK will be about right...
 

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Here's the axle that came off. It obviously had an issue that someone tried to patch up. Good thing it's not on the road, right?

The axle beam is obviously no good, but I CAN fix this... but for this project, I want the deck height low, so I went digging in my stores for a drop-axle...
 

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and I found THIS one... has 5 on 5.5" standard trailer pattern, with brakes. This one came off a trailer that had one damaged axle and spring, this one was in front, the other was in rear, so this one came through unscathed, but we replaced the whole undercarriage as a set... and went to a 6-lug instead.
 

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Now, NO trailer is a proper motorcycle-hauler without a wheel tray.

Look closely, you'll see that this trailer frame is a little on the 'thin' side... that's normal. Boat trailers are special purpose, in that they are intended to distribute the load of a rigid hull, to the weight of axle, and hitch. As a result, it doesn't take a whole lotta metal to make the frame.

Normally, a sensible guy would NOT use a lightweight boat trailer frame as the basis for a utility trailer, but I'm very well aware about the structure and stresses here, so bear with me as I build.

The wheel tray will be a structural member, as will the rest of the metalwork I do. The load of the GL will be directly upon the tray, hence, it will be the 'backbone' to which the draft and braking load of the tongue will be transferred, and the ribbing will transfer the weight to, and shock from... the suspension.
 
So... I need the tray... the backbone. Needs to be about 8ft long. I get that measurement by measuring the wheelbase of the GL, and estimating the center of gravity (slightly forward of the centerstand) of the bike, and then (since I want it to tilt) estimating the position that I'll have the axle... so that when sitting ON the trailer, the bike's CG is AHEAD of the axle (so there's weight on the tongue), but when I back the bike off, the trailer will tilt to the ground in rear, and the bike will roll off gently as I'm sitting on it.

When I reverse the process, I'll have the back down, roll the front wheel up, then the rear wheel comes on, and once the back tire is on the trailer, I drive up, and the CG crosses over the axle, the front of the trailer comes down. The 'gotcha', is that it doesn't matter where the CG is, if the back wheel is still on the ground when the front wheel crosses over the axle... I gotta have the axle far enough forward that the rear wheel is on, before front crosses axle centerline.

To make this work right, the rear tire's placement will be 24" forward of the back of the trailer. The front wheel will be at 88" point. This places the Center of Gravity at 60", so my axle will be somewhere between 24 and 60... that puts midpoint at 36". I'll adjust axle position to make that come out right.
 

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So I need a wheel tray... and notice that the old axle's springs are attached to a piece of steel angle...

The designers of the boat trailer made the axle position ADJUSTABLE... by welding the spring hangers to steel that could be repositioned by just removing two bolts and sliding the assembly forward or rear. Clever, and I'm gonna follow suit, not because I feel I'll need the adjustability, but because this subframe takes over stresses that the main frame steel would otherwise not tolerate.

I looked in my pile, and found a chunk of old sign leg... 8x8x5/16" steel tube, with a pole base attached. I lopped off the big base, now getting ready to 'liberate' my wheel tray and two angle sides from it.
 

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Interesting. I built one from a Harbor Freight 40x48 trailer and their steel loading ramps for the tray. Seen too many dumped bike while loading Youtubes, so there are walk boards on bothe sides that fold down with the ramp. I'm not a skilled welder, so this was a bolt-together project. So far it has gone over 1000 miles and worked great.
a6f758fce311bbe3bdc11ba0b43f2acd.jpg

The main drawbacks are 1) it is very short, therefore twitchy to back, and 2) needs a flag, because without the bike back there to see, it is impossable to back!
 
Nice job, Jones! Yes, short trailers get twitchy, as does high center of gravity. My goal is to eliminate the ramp entirely, and make it so that it's an easy ride-on, walk off affair... and when rolling, the center of gravity is about half as high as yours, and the track width is wider.

There's only two things in life we can depend upon: Gravity, and Triangles. In the case of staying upright, the top of the triangle is the motorcycle's center of gravity, and the bottom of the triangle is the contact patches of the tires, and the hitchpoint of the trailer. The absolute best stability for my trailer will be when the bike's CG is at, or below the level of the hitch ball, and the trailer tires are spread as far as I can... because that makes the triangle very, very low. A low triangle is most stable.

I'll have integrated front wheel chock, and there will be some sort of fixtures on the sides to grab the engine case guards, and possibly the rear crash bars as well. I'll have some sort of lock-down for each tire, so that from loading on, to driving away, is takes less than a minute.

I've also decided to make the trailer a little bit wider for purpose of allowing me to sneak my 63" wide ZTR mower up onto the trailer for transport. I don't have to move my lawn mower often, but when I do, I don't drink Dos Equiis...
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=211846#p211846:2of23hsm said:
DaveKamp » Yesterday, 3:22 pm[/url]":2of23hsm]
... There's only two things in life we can depend upon: Gravity, and Triangles...
I was obviously mislead when I was taught that it was Death & Taxes. :read:
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=211848#p211848:cjuzlxgc said:
D-50Dave » Today, 7:26 am[/url]":cjuzlxgc]
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=211846#p211846:cjuzlxgc said:
DaveKamp » Yesterday, 3:22 pm[/url]":cjuzlxgc]
... There's only two things in life we can depend upon: Gravity, and Triangles...
I was obviously mislead when I was taught that it was Death & Taxes. :read:

No, Dave, just misunderstood: You cannot ESCAPE death and taxes.

Death, however, is ultimately succumbing to the irresistable, invisible force of gravity.

Taxes... is that third entity that is between your work, and your paycheck... where your resources of both types, are mysteriously secreted away, absconded with by faceless, evil shadows, never to be seen again...

:swoon:
 
So umn... there are those who likes laws and having a butt load of them they should make it a law: that they should state how much wage you take home actually is after your done giving all your government their part of your part...

As a sole proprietor I see after expenses and taxes 1/3 of my wages... so if I was making $15.00 per hour I only see $5.00 per hour of it...

anyway end/ of my mini rant/
 
Cool project, wish I had the time and skill to build my own.
I went the relatively expensive($1500) route and bought a purpose built air ride MC trailer. Just turn a air valve and the deck comes down to about 1" off the ground. Ride the Wing on easy as you please, strap and reconnect the power and the onboard air pump brings the deck back up to traveling level. SWEET no more ramps and iffy moments with a heavy bike :)
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=211850#p211850:2ebawble said:
FlipFlop » Yesterday, 10:59 am[/url]":2ebawble]
So umn... there are those who likes laws and having a butt load of them they should make it a law: that they should state how much wage you take home actually is after your done giving all your government their part of your part...

As a sole proprietor I see after expenses and taxes 1/3 of my wages... so if I was making $15.00 per hour I only see $5.00 per hour of it...

anyway end/ of my mini rant/

As an employee, I'm in about the same circumstance... as a sole propietor, it was worse. :head bang:

The one thing that I find depressing is the individual who wakes up in the morning with a logbook that says they can drive for 11 hours, a truck that will cover no more than 65mph, and they get paid by-the-mile... and they start their day knowing that NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, they'll never make more than what they calculated... and they can rest assured that no matter how hard they try, they will NEVER be able to reach that point. For those who devote their lives to the transport of products and materials over our highways, I offer my greatest respect, and unlike most others, I'm watching what's happening in front of you. If you wonder why I'm hanging back off your rear bumper for a bit, it's because I see that vehicle off the road ahead, I'm blinkin' my lights, saving you a space to move over. :salute:
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=211851#p211851:23zvnn81 said:
OldCrow » Yesterday, 1:35 pm[/url]":23zvnn81]
Cool project, wish I had the time and skill to build my own.
I went the relatively expensive($1500) route and bought a purpose built air ride MC trailer. Just turn a air valve and the deck comes down to about 1" off the ground. Ride the Wing on easy as you please, strap and reconnect the power and the onboard air pump brings the deck back up to traveling level. SWEET no more ramps and iffy moments with a heavy bike :)

I've seen a few really cool trailers, but never did find reference to 'em. Where did you find yours, Crow? I'd like to see it!!!
 
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