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I just bought a new trailer to haul my trike to Florida this winter. Its a 7ftx 14ft V-nose with dual axles and brakes. Is there a set way to locate the trike in it for the best handling. Like centered over the axles or to the front a bit? I dont think my truck can handle a whole bunch of tounge wieght. Its a Dodge 1500 short wheel base.
[quote=lzski326;19488]I just bought a new trailer to haul my trike to Florida this winter. Its a 7ftx 14ft V-nose with dual axles and brakes. Is there a set way to locate the trike in it for the best handling. Like centered over the axles or to the front a bit? I dont think my truck can handle a whole bunch of tongue weight. Its a Dodge 1500 short wheel base.[/quote]
Izski-
I always try to center the trike's rear wheels over the rear trailer axle. This will put the majority of the load on the two axles with just enough tongue weight to make it pull properly.
izki326
i tow my trike on a 10x5 open trailer i find it's best to have the trike wheels over the trailer wheels.
[QUOTE=lzski326;19488]I just bought a new trailer to haul my trike to Florida this winter. Its a 7ftx 14ft V-nose with dual axles and brakes. Is there a set way to locate the trike in it for the best handling. Like centered over the axles or to the front a bit? I dont think my truck can handle a whole bunch of tounge wieght. Its a Dodge 1500 short wheel base.[/QUOTE]
When I pulled my 6.5' X 12' single axle with a half ton chev, I had to do some experimenting. When I loaded it all the way to the front, the truck hitch sank about 3.5 inches. It pulled ok but to much weight on the hitch.
I moved it back about 4' and tried it.
The truck sat level but the trailer would sway a little.
I moved the trike forward about a foot. Each time I tired it, I would measure the distance from the ground to my hitch.
I finally decided about 1.5" drop on the hitch would work the best for me.
After all the trial and error, I recommend doing what Zook says. My engine was in front of the axle and my rear wheels were behind it. Pulled great.
I know yours is a double axle so things may be a little different. Good luck.
On the other hand IL to FL sure would be a nice trike ride.Hummm
I finally dared see if my Tri-Glide would fit on my open 5x10 trailer. Forget perfect placement. I only had inches of room on any side. I did think the trailer pulled fine behind my 1500 Silverado. Also had no choice but to try. With 3600 miles on the trike, the Stator shorted out and fried (the morning after an 8 1/2 hr. late night ride). Nope just kept it running and rode it to H-D. Picked it up with trailer. They put it back together wrong and needed to trailer it back to them a couple of days later.
Sorry for your pain. Nothing worse than when a dealer puts something together wrong.
[QUOTE=lzski326;19488]I just bought a new trailer to haul my trike to Florida this winter. Its a 7ftx 14ft V-nose with dual axles and brakes. Is there a set way to locate the trike in it for the best handling. Like centered over the axles or to the front a bit? I dont think my truck can handle a whole bunch of tounge wieght. Its a Dodge 1500 short wheel base.[/QUOTE]
Fear not !!!! those dodge 1/2 ton short boxes are built like Ford/Chevy one ton's !!
[IMG]http://www.buggy.com/Images/0653.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Bikerbozo;42345]I finally dared see if my Tri-Glide would fit on my open 5x10 trailer. Forget perfect placement. I only had inches of room on any side. I did think the trailer pulled fine behind my 1500 Silverado. Also had no choice but to try. With 3600 miles on the trike, the Stator shorted out and fried (the morning after an 8 1/2 hr. late night ride). Nope just kept it running and rode it to H-D. Picked it up with trailer. They put it back together wrong and needed to trailer it back to them a couple of days later.[/QUOTE]
Sure glad that Stator did not go out on you at night. That really would of been a bummer. Sorry about the repair, that makes for a trying day, but we all make mistakes, as long as they fixed it right. Not a tough job but it does require tearing most of the left side of the motor off. Good luck.