Pulling a trailer

Some of you may remember a thread a while back where I posed a question about pulling a sport bike on a trailer with the FJR. Well, update time, as I have had my first successful trip doing just that. I finished the trailer a few days before this maiden voyage with just enough time to get some additional lights (hyperlites) and a few other finishing touches.

The trailer worked great getting over to Road America last week. This was about a 850 mile round trip for me across a pretty rural, open Wisconsin. On the return home, I had the balance just about perfect and found myself forgetting at times I had a trailer back there! I may have gotten up to 90 or so a couple times, and it really smoothed out the faster I went. On the other hand, I got a bit lost through a smaller town and stop and go traffic isn't so good. Thats a lot of weight back there in city traffic.

I don't plan on doing a lot of this - maybe two more trips this summer. Next track days are July 1&2 back at Road America. If and when I hang up track days, at least I will end up with a lightweight utility trailer.

Another thumbs up for the FJR - not a missed beat or problem the whole trip! :clapping:

Here's a couple of pics right before I took off:

Nice looking trailer. Is that all homebuilt or did you start with something. Looks like a manufacturer's logo on the first picture but I can't make it out. Pretty cool.

:clapping:

What kinda hitch did you end up with?

Nice Outfit

Da Hitch Da Hitch....

I have a great little Rover Trailer that I want to pull behind my 07 and I am having a real problem finding a hitch.

Seems they all are made for 05's and under as Yamaha moved the bags in closer on the 06 + bikes and the old setups will not work.

Try Bushtec or Dauntless unigo has a hitch which has a converter that converts to a ball.

pmeysemb said:

Some of you may remember a thread a while back where I posed a question about pulling a sport bike on a trailer with the FJR. Well, update time, as I have had my first successful trip doing just that. I finished the trailer a few days before this maiden voyage with just enough time to get some additional lights (hyperlites) and a few other finishing touches.

Click to expand...

Ah! Another trailer puller! Which hitch kit did you install on your FJR? Or was it a custom hitch?

Thanks...

pmeysemb said:

Some of you may remember a thread a while back where I posed a question about pulling a sport bike on a trailer with the FJR. Well, update time, as I have had my first successful trip doing just that.

Click to expand...

Regardless of what anyone else may say about this, I'll just call you "determined..."

Nice looking setup!

Oops! I suppose I could have used a few more details.

Actually, I built this thing from scratch. Well, everything except the tongue lowering adapter, which was machined from billet by the machinist at work. He also gave me some great advice, a aluminum welding primer, and the idea of using the torsion axles. I had never even heard of torsion axles but for this application, they work great. They are rated at 500 pounds for the pair (lightest you can get) and you can really see 'em working smoothly back there going down the road. Independent suspension for the win, I suppose!

I bought all the raw aluminum stock from the handyman metal shop and pop-riveted it together with lots of gusset plates until I could tow it into work to use the MIG wire feed.

Total materials (including lifetime MN registration sticker) was right around $800. The expanded aluminum decking material I used actually went up about $55 dollars in one week! :angry2: $165 for a 4X8 sheet!! I should have gotten it sooner.

The stickers I put on are a bunch of reflector tape and some extra sponsor logos I had laying around from track days.

I used the hitch from Dauntless which is a nice kit - very solid and I noticed no problems on the trip. I could see how it won't work on '06's or later as even on my '05 I had to grind the mounting bolts (under the bags) down to get the bags on easier - a pretty tight fit. I could easily get some better pictures if anyone is interested. A handy sort could probably match the strength and design with the right shop tools although it would take some time. I jokingly commented to my machinist buddy about re-doing the hitch in billet aluminum and he said he could do it fairly easily .

Hope some of that helps. Any other questions?

Ride safe,

Paul

Duluth, MN

I have to say that I am quite impressed with this setup, but dude, your Nucking Futs! How heavy is that load your pulling with your FJR?! I'm not totally surprised that the FJR had enough umph to pull it, but dayum, thats just a little too crazy for me. I'd keep an eye out on that tranny if you end up doing this more often than you think.

I think I'd be nervous about stopping it.

Are you using any type of trailer brake?

pmeysemb said:

The stickers I put on are a bunch of reflector tape and some extra sponsor logos I had laying around from track days.

Click to expand...

We need to find you one that reads: "Tail wagging the dog"

Don't let that thing kill you.

Seriously.

Hell, pulling a trailer with the FJR just isn't as inherently unstable as some of you may think. Sure, things can go wrong, but you just ride a little different right out of the gate. The biggest issue that you deal with is stopping. You need a few more feet to get it done. Otherwise, you generally forget it's back there.

rushes said:

I think I'd be nervous about stopping it.Are you using any type of trailer brake?

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+1 - all is well until the unexpected panic stop happens and then all bets are off.

No trailer brakes on a trailer and load that weighs more than the tow vehicle is........not good.

+1 on not letting that thing kill you.

How many times have you pulled the set-up?

I had a tent trailer that was at the funny nose high angle and it pulled like crap

I lowered the hitch so the nose was down and all my instability went away

Well not all "MY" instability but the trailers

Later

pmeysemb said:

I used the hitch from Dauntless which is a nice kit - very solid and I noticed no problems on the trip. I could see how it won't work on '06's or later as even on my '05 I had to grind the mounting bolts (under the bags) down to get the bags on easier - a pretty tight fit.

Click to expand...

Sounds like you had quite a fun project building the trailer, Paul!

I asked about the hitch, because I just installed the FJR kit from Dauntless Motors on my '05. From what I could gather from their pictures, they developed the kit using an FJR that wasn't wearing saddlebags, as there is just no way for the saddlebags to fit if following the kit installation instructions. I finally swapped the left-side and right-side upper hitch brackets to move its welded nut inboard and used a shorter bolt (8x20mm) where the connecting arm meets the upper bracket so it wouldn't protrude.

The saddlebags now fit, but it's a tight fit...

Duezzer said:

I had a tent trailer that was at the funny nose high angle and it pulled like crap. I lowered the hitch so the nose was down and all my instability went away.

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Interesting, Duezzer. I just got a tent trailer that I've towed about 1,200 miles now, and it also tows with a bit of a nose-high angle. But it's very stable. Instability is almost always caused by a CG that is too rearward. Perhaps lowering the nose down affected the tongue weight by moving the center of gravity a bit forward, or perhaps just prevented the load from sliding backwards...

The trailer was quite nose heavy

I had added an extra battery and propane tank

I also put a 17' canoe on the top and between it and the high nose may have made it less stable

It was not really bad just evey once in a while it would do a little fish tale

Later