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What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)


Tue, 22 Nov 2022 07:51:26 GMT
Hello, I've been researching about making a hitch for my motorcycle to tow a small trailer. Many of them are a through the axle bolt set up for a one wheeled trailer. I didn't want that as I wanted to use a two wheeled trailer to tow my kayak.I've created a hitch, but I've been getting feedback from guys who ride that suggest I mount the hitch to the frame, but to me...the frame is very thin metal and tubing.I instead went with the through the axle bolt design but created a u bolt type deal on the right swingarm the will hold the trailer hitch stationary rather than flop up and down.I also have a heim joint that I bought that is for motorcycle towing that can also rotate 360 so the trailer will be no issue when I turn or go up and down.I did overbuilt this hitch but I need your help to see if this will be safe enough and won't hurt the swingarm. I figured the swingarm is the most durable part on the bike.I will attach pictures of my hitch as well as what the frame looks like in bare form.
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
What do yall think? Should I keep the design or move to a frame style hitch?
Reply:Seems to me you over built the frame and then under built the tab the heim joint is attached to. That tab looks like a quick failure point to me. And why no provision for safety chains?Miller Multimatic 255
Reply:Without really examining/considering the details such as the strength of the replacement axle (vs the original), the bracing of the U-piece to the frame, the slot where the hitch attaches, etc., I'd say safety depends more on the size and weight of the trailer compared to the bike, and where you intend to take it. The tires look to be for off-road use, so will this be for miles on narrow rough trails, on short well-graded logging roads, or on any improved highways with much traffic? What kind of speeds will you be running at?As a general rule, I'd think an axle attachment would be stronger and more controllable than one using the frame, if only because the wheel provides the motive force, the axle has a lower center of gravity, and it should provide better flexibility, meaning the trailer won't produce as much sideways forces. I could be wrong.
Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by Louie1961
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Seems to me you over built the frame and then under built the tab the heim joint is attached to. That tab looks like a quick failure point to me. And why no provision for safety chains?
Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by Oldiron2
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Without really examining/considering the details such as the strength of the replacement axle (vs the original), the bracing of the U-piece to the frame, the slot where the hitch attaches, etc., I'd say safety depends more on the size and weight of the trailer compared to the bike, and where you intend to take it. The tires look to be for off-road use, so will this be for miles on narrow rough trails, on short well-graded logging roads, or on any improved highways with much traffic? What kind of speeds will you be running at?As a general rule, I'd think an axle attachment would be stronger and more controllable than one using the frame, if only because the wheel provides the motive force, the axle has a lower center of gravity, and it should provide better flexibility, meaning the trailer won't produce as much sideways forces. I could be wrong.
Reply:You should get some design help with this.  The idea that grade 8 bolts help here says ,,,, well,,,, the steel here is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too heavy.  Tube should have been 14 ga and 1 1/2 and maybe even 1 1/4 and plates 10 gawww.urkafarms.com
Reply:There wont be a lot of fuel savings considering what it cost to run an ambulance.www.urkafarms.com
Reply:sberry is right on help with design. 1/4” wall tube - all thread rod for axle bolt- grade 8 fasteners- plus the wimpy right angle tab you welded to the tube?  no offence but you are all over the place on this. using overkill on some components and sub par in other areas is a recipe for a disaster involving not only yourself but the motoring publicgood for you for coming here to ask advice. please consider the comments. Sent from my iPad using TapatalkLast edited by Lis2323; 12 Hours Ago at 03:41 PM.:
Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by Firefighter6070
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
The trailer is a 4x8 foldable harbor freight trailer. It weighs around 250-300lbs. My bike weighs around 450+ lbs wet weight.The 2x2 square tubing is around 1/4" thick I think.I used a 5/8" threaded rod to go through the axle tube.I used grade 8 bolts for the u bolt framing with the flat stock which is around 10 gauge or so. It's mostly highways I will carry it on. Dirt roads at times. Any major offroad I wouldn't have it on at all. Mainly I just got it for hauling my jack and some tools for my side job I do at times with how much diesel prices are right now as well as towing my kayak or getting groceries, etc. I guess I just wanted to do it too.Speeds I think I'll go around 55-65mph. I don't intend to go any faster nor want to when towing a trailer on a motorcycle.
Reply:I think the factory type models have brakes.  I know a couple just "got to ride" that got enuf trouble on 4 wheels, 8 months in hospital, another year on crutches or in bed, never will be right,,, but its so much fun.  You would have to be paying me operator scale to ride one.www.urkafarms.com
Reply:One of the MAIN tricks to making a vehicle ride nice is reducing the weight of what the springs of the vehicle is carrying.Entry level cars have steel wheels, as soon as the model becomes more "plush", the first thing they do is switch to alloy wheels.That change is not for looks, that is to improve the ride.Look under a Corvette, or any such typical sports car. The drive axle is not one piece,, the center "pumpkin" is mounted to the frame.Axle halves go to the wheels, to transmit power,, all to reduce the sprung weight.All front wheel drive cars have the same mounted differential, with shafts driving the wheels.This is ALL to simply improve the ride.Even my 3/4 ton trucks both have front axles designed this way, to reduce the sprung weight,, to improve the ride.Chevy has been discussing doing the same mounted pumpkin to the rear of pickups, to improve the ride.Go for a ride in a 1987 or earlier 4WD Chevy truck,, then ride the same model, except 1989, or newer.The newer truck will have a MUCH nicer ride,, there is no magic, they simply eliminated 150 pounds of sprung weight from the front axle.If 150 pounds can dramatically change the ride of a 5,000 pound truck, imagine what that steel in your hitch will do to the ride of the motorcycle.Why all this "SPRUNG WEIGHT DISCUSSION"?  I hope that you see that you are adding a TREMENDOUS amount of weight to the spring supported part of the rear of the motorcycle.This will not only destroy the ride quality, it will also make the bike much less safe to ride.When you hit some minor bump, the added weight will through inertia, cause the rear wheel to lift off the ground.That normally happens, but, typically, the rear wheel is so light, the spring can push the tire back into contact with the ground quickly.By adding the weight of all that steel, the wheel, once driven up off the road, will simply stay up in the air.I would imagine it will be something like riding a unicycle,, or something you are not expecting.Either redesign the hitch to near-zero weight,, or connect the hitch to the un-sprung part of the frame.If you look at bicycle trailer hitches, they connect to the shaft that supports the seat.That is the spot on a bicycle where ride will be degraded the least.Beyond all that discussion above,, an ultra-light hitch will look way cooler,, everyone that looks at it will know that you can make a safe, well designed hitch!!
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)

Reply:Wait, this is a joke, right? Right...?Because I can't think of much funnier than the idea of that fugly abortion going down the road at "55-65 mph," nor of a 450# bike pulling a 300# trailer. This has got to be in the top five contenders for The Darwin Awards. Be sure to get video of the train wreck!
Reply:I appreciate the opinions and advice. I may just ditch this and come up with a round stock and flat plate mount, if that would be lighter...as I don't have an aluminum welder nor have welded aluminum before..The motorcycle is a KTM Adventure bike that has around 105 HP at 8000 RPMs. The knobby tires on it are safe for highway usage as these are rate for around 100 MPH or so. I've seen many motorcycles pull trailers and that's where I have gotten my idea from. I will post pictures below of these bikes to give you an idea.I've been back and forth for away trying to get designs up and one group says mount it to the frame while another group says that's bad and to mount it to the axle and swingarm. Then I get people saying pulling a trailer on a motorcycle is crazy, yet people do it. So, I really don't know which way to go other than I know I want to do a hitch on my bike. Nothing crazy heavy will be hauled.In the below picture you see one of the trailers are design to use a through bolt design through the hollow rear axle tube. The blue hitch one is on a BMW adventure bike, but I've heard people say that it was dangerous. The other bike pulling the other motorcycle on a small trailer is a KTM 990, and it is using a round stock design mounted to various points on the subframe, such as the passenger peg mounts, etc. It doesn't have a hollow rear axle tube like my KTM bike does.So this is where I am at, I've spent a lot of time trying to figure something out and working on building this BUT I want to do it right but right now I don't know which way to go with all the various opinions I've been getting off Facebook and motorcycle forums.
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)

Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by StandarDyne
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Wait, this is a joke, right? Right...?Because I can't think of much funnier than the idea of that fugly abortion going down the road at "55-65 mph," nor of a 450# bike pulling a 300# trailer. This has got to be in the top five contenders for The Darwin Awards. Be sure to get video of the train wreck!
Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by Firefighter6070
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Nothing crazy heavy will be hauled.
Reply:Motorcycles really dont have the brakes to slow down the extra weight of a trailer.  If your trailer and kayak was under 250lbs you might be okay but this is not a good idea.We've done so much, for so long, with so little. Were now qualified to do anything with nothing !
Reply:The motorcycle with tag #hm-826 has an un-sprung hitch, just like I discussed.The hitch is not connected to the swingarm in any way.Hmmmmmmmmmm,,,
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Yes, you can find pics on the internet that support your view,, that does not make them more right than all the major car/truck/motorcycle companies,,
Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by Firefighter6070
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Hell, I drive a semi pulling heavy bulldozers that weigh more than the semi itself..and we all know that it is dangerous and you have to make sure your brakes are adjusted and everything is maintained or else you're just a flying bullet ready to explode.
Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by StandarDyne
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
What, you mean like a D12 bulldozer?You don't think that a 300# trailer without brakes on a 450# bike -- this effectively increases the vehicle weight by 67%, and also introduces all kinds of crazy dynamic variables on braking, steering, tank slapping, jack-knifing, pitch-poling, etc etc etc -- you don't think all this, at "55-65 mph," isn't going to be a freaking DEATH TRAP?Have you ever RIDDEN a bike? I run a DR650, and I wouldn't steer a disaster like this at 55mph on a bet. Yeah, semis haul bulldozers and yada yada yada but they have things like air brakes and 18 wheels and are designed for this sort of thing, and don't depend on things like countersteering and precession to keep the shiny side up. KTMs...not so much. Pulling a 70# kayak on a 50# trailer half a mile at 15 mph through your neighborhood is one thing...a 300# trailer without brakes at 55-65mph is something else entirely. I mean, just as one example, what happens if you have to apply the brakes if and when the bike and trailer are not in an exact straight line on a perfectly flat, straight road? What happens if the rear wheel locks and you have to keep it locked until you stop to avoid high-siding? What does the trailer (and load) do when you have to brake suddenly, turn suddenly, or anything-suddenly? I could go on for hours here...bikes are sensitive and squirrelly enough as it is, without adding a trailer hooked to some home-brewed abortion of a trailer hitch and the 15 additional layers of untested variable squirrelyness that go along with that whole mess. Even under IDEAL conditions, I doubt the brakes on the KTM are going to be sufficient to stop a rolling mass that's going to be double or more the weight of the engineered load. Those brakes are gonna get hot, and then they're not gonna do anything. SMH...I can't wait to see the look on the cop's face when he sees you piloting this rolling train wreck. Talk about a textbook example of a "Manifestly Unsafe Voyage." And if and when you do wreck, don't count on your insurance carrier to protect you from lawsuit city, because this is waaaaaaaaay beyond negligence. Like I said, please get video. I wanna see you hauling a Harley and a couple half-kegs on the Dragon!
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)

Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by SweetMK
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
The motorcycle with tag #hm-826 has an un-sprung hitch, just like I discussed.The hitch is not connected to the swingarm in any way.Hmmmmmmmmmm,,,
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Yes, you can find pics on the internet that support your view,, that does not make them more right than all the major car/truck/motorcycle companies,,
Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by Lis2323
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Maybe it’s just the way you pick your words but I have a difficult time believing you are qualified to drive a semi legally……Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Reply:Sorry Firefighter, I didn't mean to be insulting, it's just that once I started thinking about it, I just started thinking of more and more reasons why it's a bad idea (the 300# trailer without brakes on a 450# bike).I actually plan to make a simple VERY LIGHT trailer and hitch for my DR650 to haul my 12' canoe about a mile from my house to my launch point, but I plan to make the trailer (and hitch) out of VERY LIGHT steel or aluminum tubing and will keep it below 25 mph (and if any cars or people are nearby, below 15 mph)...(When I say "light," I'm talking bicycle-wheels and lawn-chair tubing "light"...I figure the trailer should probably weigh less than the 60# canoe...and the hitch that attaches to the bike could probably be made of bamboo or fiberglass and epoxy, with tongue weight just high enough to stabilize the tow...I've actually been toying with the idea of fire-hose straps to support the canoe, with some kind of long tension coil springs to allow the canoe to go up and down over the bumps which would allow the trailer to be constructed even lighter... still thinking it over...remember how those old baby buggies from years and years ago had lots of suspension throw? Something like that...I mean, it should be so lightly built that you're worried about it falling apart if you go too fast... and if it does fall apart, it shouldn't be too hard to fix when it's that lightly built...the added "plus" being that if the sheriff or local lawman stops you to give you a hard time, you can reasonably say, "Well, obviously, I wasn't going to take this off this residential street...it's obviously not fit to go on the road" and maybe Johnny Law won't give you a ticket...)Last edited by StandarDyne; 5 Hours Ago at 09:59 PM.
Reply:I have been riding bikes for over 50 years and have built and pulled several trailers. I still have a 3' x 4' bed trailer that I built in 1994 to haul my camping gear when the wife and I used to camp. My suggestion to you is to consult with a few of the companies that actually build trailers for motorcycle use. They do it for a living and can explain a lot of the do's and don'ts of motorcycle trailers. One word of caution is that trailers designed for use behind motorcycles are not the same as trailers that are designed to be hauled by 4 wheel vehicles. If you have ever seen a car hauling a trailer that was wandering from side to side while being pulled, THINK what that would be like if it was being hauled by a bike. And yes I have been there with a trailer I built in 1975 and after finally getting it stopped with out crashing I took the advice I just gave you and re-designed the hitch and especially the trailer. Good luck.
Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by StandarDyne
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Sorry Firefighter, I didn't mean to be insulting, it's just that once I started thinking about it, I just started thinking of more and more reasons why it's a bad idea (the 300# trailer without brakes on a 450# bike).I actually plan to make a simple VERY LIGHT trailer and hitch for my DR650 to haul my 12' canoe about a mile from my house to my launch point, but I plan to make the trailer (and hitch) out of VERY LIGHT steel or aluminum tubing and will keep it below 25 mph (and if any cars or people are nearby, below 15 mph)...(I'm talking bicycle-wheels and lawn-chair tubing light...I figure the trailer should weigh less than the 60# canoe...)
Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by J. D.
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
I have been riding bikes for over 50 years and have built and pulled several trailers. I still have a 3' x 4' bed trailer that I built in 1994 to haul my camping gear when the wife and I used to camp. My suggestion to you is to consult with a few of the companies that actually build trailers for motorcycle use. They do it for a living and can explain a lot of the do's and don'ts of motorcycle trailers. One word of caution is that trailers designed for use behind motorcycles are not the same as trailers that are designed to be hauled by 4 wheel vehicles. If you have ever seen a car hauling a trailer that was wandering from side to side while being pulled, THINK what that would be like if it was being hauled by a bike. And yes I have been there with a trailer I built in 1975 and after finally getting it stopped with out crashing I took the advice I just gave you and re-designed the hitch and especially the trailer. Good luck.
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by Firefighter6070
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Thank you. I'll do that. One guy wanted to charge me $900+ to make me a hitch...but I didn't want to do that when I could do it myself. But I don't know now..
Reply:LOL. I agree...that's why I said screw that and started on my Frankenstein ****.
Reply:I'd look at ways to use real light materials and then "honeycomb" them into "monocoque" assemblies that would be both light and strong...think "Unibody" construction...got a wire-feed welder?I'm kinda liking the "one-wheel trailer" idea, at least then you wouldn't be quite so tempted to overload it with 19 tons of tractor parts and run it down the turnpike at a buck o'five...Last edited by StandarDyne; 5 Hours Ago at 10:16 PM.
Reply:
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
Originally Posted by StandarDyne
What do you think? (Motorcycle hitch)
I'd look at ways to use real light materials and then "honeycomb" them into "monocoque" assemblies that would be both light and strong...think "Unibody" construction...got a wire-feed welder?I'm kinda liking the "one-wheel trailer" idea, at least then you wouldn't be quite so tempted to overload it with 19 tons of tractor parts and run it down the turnpike at a buck o'five...

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