Harbor Freight Trailer

[ghostler]

I did notice that the PiggyBacker came with a Cooler Basket, Spare Tire, LED Tail Lights, Folding Tongue Stand, Chrome Bumper, Alloy Wheels and a Swivel Coupler. I don't have a trailer ... yet, but I have been looking at the HF rig. I haven't added up the cost of adding all those other items to the HF rig so I'm wondering if all the extras will add up to the cost of a PiggyBacker? I think the most important item is the swivel coupler. Opinions?

I've seen trailers on other motorcycles. Many it seems don't have the swivel coupler. When towing, how many are going to ride their bike like they stole it? I searched the 'net. Swivel coupler costs anywhere from $140 to $200 US, not including shipping costs.

I bought an HF 12" spare tire, cost around $50; going to use less than $10 in hardware to fasten it to the underside of the HF trailer. Cooler basket, you can fabricate your own platform to hold a cooler. Basic HF LED trailer lighting kit is around $30 after discount. Folding tongue stand, some make their own prop. Trailer is light enough to lift by hand and prop up. Chrome Bumper and Alloy Wheels are bling stuff.

If you are one of those lacking mechanical aptitude or time, or must have a polished item, then by all means buying a pre-made trailer may be the way to go. Occasionally used motorcycle tow behind trailers come up for sale. Sometimes one can get them for a reasonably cheap price.

Anyway, my two cents for what it's worth.

[ghostler]

Got the Calterm PM32 5 wire to 4 converter module with separate battery supply (senses bike's lights and drives trailer lights from separate battery lead) installed. I spliced into the bikes rear wiring to the trunk and saddle bags.

Required a relay, current draw off the battery lead with bike off was 110 mA or 1.1 tenths of an Amp. That is 2.64 Amp-Hours per day. My 24 Amp-Hour AGM sealed battery would theoretically be dead in 9 days. I installed the relay using one of the mounting bolts to the underside of the cruise control throttle servo located behind the upper right fairing, tapping power to energize the relay from the nearby right fairing marker light.

The relay switches power from my new accessory fuse block (lower right yellow fuse) to the trailer converter module.

Last night I connected the trailer to the bike, fired up the engine. Lo and behold, I had functional trailer lights!

[Air Force]

I pulled my trailer without a swivel hitch for a couple of months. I got into a few corners where I live that I could feel the big being pushed. It wasn't a feeling that I wanted to put up with or get used to. My thoughts were riding two up and fully loaded that this is not safe. I installed the swivel hitch myself! . That was big for me! lol. It works great! Ekap 1200 and Lucasind (Gene and Tony) could probably fabricate a swivel hitch with their skills!

[debron]

...That is 2.64 Amp-Hours per day. My 24 Amp-Hour AGM sealed battery would theoretically be dead in 9 days.

...or less. There are other things (clock, radio) drawing current 24/7.

[ghostler]

I pulled my trailer without a swivel hitch for a couple of months. I got into a few corners where I live that I could feel the big being pushed. It wasn't a feeling that I wanted to put up with or get used to. My thoughts were riding two up and fully loaded that this is not safe. I installed the swivel hitch myself! . That was big for me! lol. It works great! Ekap 1200 and Lucasind (Gene and Tony) could probably fabricate a swivel hitch with their skills!

Where did you get your swivel hitch? What are the costs? I would like to know, as that would be definitely a worthwhile upgrade to my trailer.

...That is 2.64 Amp-Hours per day. My 24 Amp-Hour AGM sealed battery would theoretically be dead in 9 days.

...or less. There are other things (clock, radio) drawing current 24/7.

Ron, that is one thing I want to check. I'm thinking that the Clarion radio system draws less current than the Calterm trailer wiring module, but it is good to know exactly how many milliamperes it does draw for reference sake.


Further clarification, 8/3/2014, 10:01pm MDT: Current draw of the Clarion radio system is 5.3 mA or 0.13 AH per day. Current draw of the alarm system is 10 mA or 0.24 AH per day.

[Chris near Kansas City]

That's fine, until you drop your bike.
Not a matter of if, but when. Been riding for 50 years. It's just a matter of when. No disrespect, Chris. Just saying how it ultimately is.

I understand. Our accident in '08 is testament to that.

[ghostler]

I'm deviating a little off topic.

Harbor Freight Trailer is done. Heading to Carlsbad, to CMA NM State Rally tomorrow. Will be carrying a 44 lb. musical instrument amplifier and a bunch of other gear. Decking will keep that from punching a hole through the bottom. It'll be a good chance for me to experience trailer use.

[lonewolf3253]

Beware of your mpg....I dropped 10mpg pulling the HF cargo trailer.

[Bill O]

I'm deviating a little off topic.

Harbor Freight Trailer is done. Heading to Carlsbad, to CMA NM State Rally tomorrow. Will be carrying a 44 lb. musical instrument amplifier and a bunch of other gear. Decking will keep that from punching a hole through the bottom. It'll be a good chance for me to experience trailer use.

Ghostler, Just a suggestion on carrying your amplifier... carry it with the speaker facing down. That way it will still be mounted to the cabinet when you arrive. Don't ask me how I know this.

Bill O

[ghostler]

Ghostler, Just a suggestion on carrying your amplifier... carry it with the speaker facing down. That way it will still be mounted to the cabinet when you arrive. Don't ask me how I know this. Bill O

Missed your message, Bill. I just got back from NM State CMA Rally at Black River Retreat Center (15 miles south of Carlsbad NM, 436 miles R/T). 4 days ago I packed the 44 lb. Behringer 180 Watt amp (denotes bass power) speakers up and a slew of other stuff. The amp arrived and returned home without a problem. In this case, speakers are mounted from the front and weight is supported by the front wooden face of the case. They would not fall inward unless the cabinet collapsed.

I removed the two helper springs on each of the two HF leaf springs, so it would have some spring action.

Shown is the amp tied down in the XCargo box. I added a 3rd tie down (not shown) across to keep the amp from moving sideways.

XCargo as packed on the way back, 20 lbs. stuff in a 10 lbs. bag, but all made it home safely.

[ghostler]

Beware of your mpg....I dropped 10mpg pulling the HF cargo trailer.

On the way back, fueled up at Chisum Travel Center, Roswell, NM. 86 Octane (87 at sea level, NM derates for their higher elevation) was $2.99 per gallon. 129.5 miles : 3.34 gallons = 38.8 MPG.

You're right, normally I get around 48 - 52 MPG. Still, 38.8 is better than a cage.

My 2001 XII pulled the trailer like it was designed for it with no problems in stability, rode smoothly. Only improvement I can think of is a move to the dark side by going to a car tire for the XII's rear.
I'm impressed.

[Bill O]

Ghostler,
Sounds like you already understand the concept for the speaker issue. I had a couple many years ago that were mounted to the rear of the speaker board and I laid it down on it's back. Speakers pulled the screws right out of the board from the jostling.

Congrats on the trailer working out for you.

Bill O

[ghostler]

Ghostler, Sounds like you already understand the concept for the speaker issue. I had a couple many years ago that were mounted to the rear of the speaker board and I laid it down on it's back. Speakers pulled the screws right out of the board from the jostling. Congrats on the trailer working out for you. Bill O

Thanks Bill. Due to the 44 lb. (20kg) weight of the amp, I put a "shim plate" of 7/16" (11mm) OSB plywood with 8 cut outs to match and clear the 8 molded plastic feet in the XCargo. The plastic in the box is thin. This was so the floor wouldn't crack after cyclic fatigue through constant road surface variations.

I drilled two holes into the ply deck below for water drain holes. OSB ply and the 3/4" thick (19mm) plywood deck below didn't flex and held steady. One thing I was impressed with is after priming with Kilz oil based primer, how well the Rust-O-Leum oil based black paint went on smoothly as it covered the decking with only one coat of paint. This is quality paint. I'll report on how well the finish holds up over time.

Improvement I might make is another OSB ply plate for inside with angles underneath to bolt to the inside tie down rails and wood or steel angle stops above outlining the amp so it is positively restrained from movement when tie down strapped. This will be more import when I travel 1,000 miles (1,400km) out of the way. It will also allow me to adjust the amp location fore or aft to maintain the 30 lb. (14 kg) max tongue load.

The Calterm 5 wire to 4 lighting module with battery supply to trailer switched on by marker light wiring through a separate relay I installed, and redundant copper ground wire to all trailer bulbs worked well. Incandescent trailer bulbs shined brightly, did not dim at idle. I did not have to change out the turn signal relay.

One caveat I found is that any cables that rub the exterior painted areas will rub off the paint due to vibration. I'm redoing restraint locations of the wired headset cables (rider and passenger) and 18" (460mm) extension cable from 5 - 4 module to trailer.
I'm loving this bike and trailer set up.

[ghostler]

Yesterday, I headed out from Clovis, NM to Amarillo, TX, distance of 100 miles to pick up my repaired Roland GW7 keyboard. Since my wife had the car, I used my trailer to pick it up. On the way, I noticed at speeds above 70 mph, the motorcycle front wheel would start to sway in oscillation similar to a car towing some trailers at high speed. Worst was when I was passing another vehicle, at 78 mph, it was so pronounced I quickly rolled off the throttle and dropped back to the right lane. If I hadn't, I could have been another statistic. Trailer was empty, I securely tied down the spare tire to the inside front of the trailer, to put additional weight on the hitch.
(That swaying was really spooky.)

After that episode, I limited my speed to 65 mph to there. With the additional weight of the keyboard, I returned at 70 mph. Fully loaded with weight properly distributed, it did not display this sway tendency. Since this learning lesson, my open speed on the highway will be no more than 70 mph. The fuel mileage tends to decrease proportionally with higher speed. This will maintain safe travel and reasonable fuel economy.

(Edit - corrected grammatical error.)

[ghostler]

Harbor Freight does have their own knock-off of the PiggyBacker. http://www.harborfreight.com/600-lb-cap ... 66771.html

http://piggybacker.com/Piggybacker/Pigg ... ailer.html PiggyBacker does try to protect their name and investment and product line as much as possible. Last I had heard, you generally cannot purchase the HF version of the PBacker and then order the cooler rack or other accessories from PBacker. They'll ask for the ID number off the trailer to verify you actually own a PiggyBacker. Can't say that I blame them.

(Image of Harbor Freight #66771 Tag Along Trailer)

(Photobucket account deleted, photo no longer available.)

I don't know what happened, but got the following message when I clicked your piggybacker link. Update 10/12/2015 - Resolved, their website is now working (replaced old screen capture with new):

(Photobucket account deleted, photo no longer available.)

2017-07-22, 11:15am PS - Harbor Freight currently sells the 1090 lb. Capacity, 40-1/2 in x 48 in Utility Trailer with 12 inch dia. wheels only. The slightly cheaper chassis with 8 inch dia. wheels and their "Piggy Backer" style trailers are currently not listed on their site (i.e., not available).

[trikebldr]

I'm a little late to this discussion, but would like to add my experiences here. Back in the early '80's I bought a trailer almost identical to the HF trailers with the smaller 8" tires. I used an X-Cargo carrier and also carried a cooler on the front with lawn chairs strapped on top of the cooler. i pulled this trailer more than 150,000 miles behind two sidecar rigs during the '80's and '90's. Once I loaded the Gold Wing/sidecar rig cross-wise onto the bare trailer and hauled it to Texas from California behind our car for a month-long tour of Texas. That bike/sidecar rig more than maxed out the load rating of the trailer, but there were no issues during the whole trip. After getting to Texas I remove the rig from the trailer and set it back up with the carrier and cooler as seen in the first pic below. That trailer also made a few month-long trips and a couple of three month cross-country trips carrying heavy loads behind another sidecar rig I had after the Gold Wing. That trailer now serves to carry my Onan emergency generator.
Those little 8" wheels never gave any issues and never seemed to lose air, and, this is the hard part for even me to believe, they are still doing great, with over 150,000 miles on them now, although they do lose some air over the winters now. I always carried a spare, but never had to use it. I really don't understand why I read about blowouts so often with these little tires!
The larger 12" wheel are better for highway use, but never thumb your nose at those little 8' wheels when they are cared for. I also have one of the bigger, 4' X 8' HF trailers with the 12" wheels that I have had for about 20 years now and it's never given me any issues either. Of course, I grossly overload it from time to time!

FWIW, I towed that trailer centered between the bike and sidecar with the Gold Wing rig(first pic), but centered on the bike only with the Voyager rig(second pic). Made no difference in handling or tire wear

I'm getting ready to build a new trailer to pull behind my new sidecar rig, using another HF trailer as the base and building my own box on it. it will be the one with 12" wheels.

The first pic is from that Texas trip in 1981. The second pic is from a 3-month-long trip in 1988. I even carried a boat in that trailer! (Inflatable four man, that is!)

[ghostler]

Nice trailer, trikebldr. I gather that your trailer floor space is a little longer than Harbor Freight's 4 foot length. Also your trailer tongue length is longer. The HF I have could use a longer tongue. I found at speeds above 65 and lightly loaded, it would start to sway, which is dangerous. Fully loaded balanced with 30 lbs. tongue weight it would handle 70 mph comfortably. I don't have any room for a tongue box or cooler at the front.

An added plus, since I lack a swiveling trailer coupler, I found and just purchased this on E-Bay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/361121464608

I'll give a report after I get a chance to use it.

[doug of so fla]

I would suggest strongly you do not use that ball set up I think it is called a "Freedom Hitch"!! I do not know what it was designed for, but certainly not for pulling a M/C trailer. The whole idea of pulling a M/C trailer is to make sure everything is tight & straight & strong so there is no (movement) wag in the trailer at speed.

Every time you make a slight motion with that set up the trailer will "Go Offline" & you will have the trailer wagging the dog!! I have read the info on it & unless someone can show physical tests I would not expect it to work in "ALL" situations that it has to work in. Once the set-up starts to wear what will it do????

I think it may have been better designed for slow moving trailers as for "off road" or garden tractors, farm equipment or ATV.

Do not even experiment with it. do some serious research on towing with M/C.

I have towed M/C's trailers for 50 yrs, designed & built hitches and cargo & camper trailers. Been in numerous situations and just by looking at that set-up it is exactly what you do not want. A standard trailer coupler works fine & if you are worried about the tip over angle you can shave the ears off of the coupler or get a 360 degree made for M/C rotating coupler. imho!!
Go to Motocampers .com or Gl1800riders.com and ask many who have pulled trailers for many years. pm me if you need any info. RIDE SAFE!!

[ghostler]

Thanks for the heads up, doug of so fla. I'll definitely keep your advice in mind. I did a search and found the following mixed bag of comments on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Pivot-Bal ... B0053H9088

Also used several search engines to discern comments. Haven't found much yet, but that may be the product is relatively new and there isn't much experience with it yet. I do see one necessity and that is to make sure there is no play in the swivel assembly, that it is well lubricated along with the ball assembly.

New Mexico and Texas Panhandle has their share of rough roads, many rural, which will allow me to test at various speeds without seriously impeding traffic.

Also I'm thinking of lengthening my trailer hitch beam as it is relatively short, which should help on better stability, too.

I still have the standard ball as a fall back, and so far it seems there are quite a few motorcyclists who still use a rigid trailer tongue instead of a swivel one.

[trikebldr]

I don't mean to rain on your parade, Ghostler, but I do agree with Doug whole heartedly! I have no idea what that style of ball hitch was designed for but certainly not for highway use.
pivoting hitches are not all that hard to make up if you have a chop-saw (or a hack-saw and a really strong arm!), a small grinder, a welder and a strong drill press. i can't believe what the big boys are getting for the commercial ones! Maybe I should go into the business! I believe they are using ball bearings in theirs, but that's not necessary!
I pulled my little trailer all those miles with a standard 2" coupler/ball, and I did lay my bike over on it's side once, in soft grass, but all it did was lift one trailer wheel. I don't recommend that, though. On my new trailer I will be making up a rotating coupler. I my make a few if you are interested.
I will be experimenting with a VERY simple design for a bolt-on coupler pivot, too. I will post pics if it works out as expected.

As for my old trailer in the pics, I bought the basic trailer from a place in California called Builder's Emporium. I believe they were the forerunner of Home Depot. Yes, the bed of the trailer is 54" long. I have no idea what the original width was since I cut it down to fit the carrier, and I also narrowed the axle to match.
I can attest to the fact that a longer tongue will eliminate any wagging of the trailer. I may add a longer one to my new trailer from HF to be able to add the cooler pad. Maybe my pivoting coupler will add enough length.

Something else that helps make a smaller, bolt-together trailer feel more solid is to weld up all the joints, or at least the four corners. I got a lot of twist out of mine before I did. The whole bed would twist easily, and I can't help but think that this would slowly contribute to loose bolts, so I welded all of the joints on mine and it was solid as a rock after that. My frame was black, so it was easy to do a quick spot sand-blast of the welded area then shoot some black Rustoleum paint on it.

Another feature I am planning for mine is to cut the axle stubs off of the u-tube beam and weld in some 1/2" plates and gussets to lower the whole trailer about 4". That way I can build the box on top a lot taller and not stick up any higher into the air draft. I'll have to see how low the axle beam will let me lower it. A slight advantage will also be to lower the CG, not that that's ever seemed to be a problem.