My trailer is almost done!!

[TheDjost]

Hey guys! I've been offline for a couple of days. You know how it works.... Buy a house, renovate house, move to house.

Anyway, in between doing the renovations, I finally had time to (almost) complete the trailer I had started. I took it for it's first test run today and I can say that it tracks fine behind the bike, allthough a little bouncy on the larger bumps. I'll test it with some weight to see if it smooths out. I don't have any pics yet of the trailer on the bike, as my camera won't take decent pics in the dark. I'll have some tomorrow. Here goes some of what I have:

This is the hitch


The U-joint that will keep everything lined up:


This is the bare frame:


Here I started planking the sides:


This is after completing the planking:


Another angle on that:




As you can see, the receiver is vertical. It's just more practical that way on this application.

Like I said... More pics tomorrow.

-Justin

[TheDjost]

Here are the pics of the completed trailer :







-Justin

[mitch]

Cool

Nice trailer, can we use it to fish outta in the river nice little boat lol.But it looks real nice Justin, should handle well ,see you soon....................MITCH

[chevy45412001]

what model bike

What year or model bike is that Justin? Looks like an XJ but with drum brake on rear? By the way nice looking trailer you got there,should work well on the long HAUL..

[deo]

Justin,

Nice looking trailer. What kind of suspension was that? A single spring? Why did you go with one wheel and not two? Just curious. Looks like it would float if necessary. Did you fiberglass it?

Did you make it moose proof? Lived in Chicoutimi for a year, attended the University of Quebec, and discovered there are plenty of them in the Laurentines. That park is an awesome place to cross but I personally wouldn't want to try it at night. Still I would love to take my XJ from Old town Quebec to La Baye.

deo

[TheDjost]

Thanks for the compliments. The bike is an '82 XJ750. Those came with a drum at the back.

I designed the whole trailer, including the suspension. Well... designed may be too strong a word.... I just built it as I went along. The wheel came off a 50cc scooter. I built the single-sided swingarm out of 1" x 2" square steel. The single spring is on the opposite side to counterbalance the weight. The spring itself is from the backrest of an office chair. The frame is 1" x 1" square steel and the ribs are 1/2" x 1/2" steel. The planking is 1/8" plywood and is glued to the ribs. No fiberglassing, as this is the prototype and is meant to last for this sumer only, so I just coated it inside and out with some sealer, topped with a couple coats of spraycan tremclad. I have the canvas for the top, and will be adding that in the near future. It could probably float, but I think that there are too many defects in my botched glue job to make it "that" waterproof. So far, I have about 175$ cdn invested in this trailer, not counting my time and the electricity for the welder.

The single wheel design is interesting and has been along for quite a while. The u-joint keeps the trailer at the same lean angle as the bike, so when you corner, the trailer leans with the bike, making for a trailer that pulls like it isn't there. Much more stable in the twisties. The drawback is that about 40% of the weight of the load is on the bike, as the wheel on the trailer is at the very back. You get less loading capacity, but you get a trailer that pulls easier.

-Justin

[TheDjost]

Here are a couple of pics of that rear suspension before I put the planking on.





-Justin