[Vanilla]

Got mine today. Looks like a fairly amount of installation if you want to have the trailer brake signal active. I was hoping for a little more pre-fab in the car to make the install cleaner...But at least it's finally here....

 

[300c Ryder]

WhY??? Would you do this???

 

[Vanilla]

So I don't have to own a stupid pickup truck. What's the big deal with towing with a 4200lbs car that has 400ft/lbs of torque? Not too far off a pickup specs....

I bought a standup trailer that I can tow my Harley and 1 other bike if necessary. Also the trailer is a flat bed that measures 5x8, so I can haul just about anything... The trailer stands up and goes against the wall of the garage.

All the messy stuff stays far away from my car...

 

[smitty]

Vanilla do you have an update on your trailer and wiring? I just bought a 2003 Kendon 2 up trailer and want to pull it with my 300C. I noticed your beutiful 100th Anniv. Deuce on the trailer. You mentioned welding and the wiring not going to be easy.

 

[Vanilla]

Vanilla do you have an update on your trailer and wiring? I just bought a 2003 Kendon 2 up trailer and want to pull it with my 300C. I noticed your beutiful 100th Anniv. Deuce on the trailer. You mentioned welding and the wiring not going to be easy.

Pulled the trailer from Houston to the Grand Canyon just a couple of months ago. Everything went really well considering what an effort it was to get everything tuned on the trailer.

First, make sure you buy Chryslers hitch, and not the 3 party ones out there. Chryslers is very strong, and is completely hidden. Buy the ball mount adapter, but you probably won't have much use for the ball mount from Chyrsler.

The hitch is fairly easy to install, and can be done in your garage with regular jacks. I did all the work myself. It's a chinese puzzle to get it in there and torqued properly, but it can be done. The exhaust has to be dropped.

The wiring kit for the brakes is not hard to install, but I just felt that a little more forethought by DC would have made it a non-issue. As it stands, you have to drill a 2" hole in the trunk floor and run wires to the battery and the turn signals. The hole could easily have been pre-drilled and capped like the other holes in the trunk floor and it would have been great if a single connector was already there for the wiring (like you often see orphan connectors under car dashes).

Your biggest issue will be getting the right ball height. You need around 22" which is no small feat for a car hitch! You will not be able to use the normal ball mount which gives you like 16 or 17" because you won't be able to load the bikes on the trailer, and you will probably have handling problems anyway.

I bought a 2" ball mount from Kurt with a huge rise, something like 8 or 10". Can't remember off hand the rise.

Your next biggest issue will be slop in the ball mount because you have two 2" shank connections (one for the ball mount adapter from Chrysler, and one for the ball mount adapter itself). With that incredible height of the ball mount, you will have about 4" of slop at the ball itself -- i.e. not good.

For that, I had the trailer shop weld the ball mount and ball mount adapter together. I had them pre-stress it in the up position to get the most ball height.

And then I went to my local airplane hobby shop and bought .025" sheets of copper. I shaped the copper around the shank of the now 1 piece ball mount to effectively make it thicker, and cut out holes for the pin to go through.

Now, I have less than 1/2" of play at the ball....

Your next problem will be the trailer bucking the car as it goes down the road. Probably because of this whole hitch setup, you have more springiness than the regular truck hitch.

Your solution there will be to tighten down the bike to the point where either the suspension is completely bottomed out or the bike frame is bottomed out on some large wood shims. If you fully compress the suspension, make sure the bike is not rubbing on the guide rails for the tires (or you will be sorry later).

Your next problem will be with those super fantastic wheel choks that come with the trailer. I had to remove them. It is such a bear to get the bike out of those choks, that they are not worth it. I use wood shims on the frame to hold the bike up while I strap it down.

You last problem will probably be strapping the bike down. The tie down points on the trailer are not very convenient for many bikes. Just be creative here since I don't know your bike. Make sure you don't stratch or rub off paint on your bike from the straps...

Oh, and you might want to make sure all the screws on the trailer are torqued down properly. I bought mine new, and about 1/4 of the screws were not tightened from the factory...

I put little plastic furniture cushions under the contact points for the diamond plate to stop it from rattling down the road.

And instead of spending $250 for Kendons tool box, I bought a perfectly matching diamond plate tool box from Home Depot for $40 and screwed it to the front of the trailer. Now I can store all my trailer stuff there instead of in the trunk.

I bought locks for the pin, the coupler, the tool box, and also a coupler locker and a wheel boot to deter any thieves that prowl hotel parking lots looking for easy trailer prey. My bike also has a motion detector alarm with pager which is comforting...

Hope that helps...

p.s. My bike is an Anniversary VRod, not Deuce. My brother has a Deuce, and it's a nice bike too...

 

[smitty]

Vanilla thanks for all of the info! I'am starting to think this may be more trouble than its worth. I have an old P/U truck to pull with but I thought it would be nice to pull my nice 2003 Big Dog Chopper with my new Kendon trailer and nice 05 300C blk sound grp II, protct grp down the road. Lets do the math $35k bike $2k trailer $600. old truck...I asked my local 5 star dlr today and asked how much to instal hitch his reply was " I don't know". Boy is'nt that re assuring. I already know I'm going to have problems, my bike is long and low. I found a site with good prices on kendon acc.

www.sturgissswapmeet.com/options



P.S. Sorry about the bike mix up I saw the solid wheel and my brain rulled out fat boy and thought Deuce.

 

[Vanilla]

Smitty, I can tell you that the end result with my 300C, shinny trailer, and shinny bike is visually stunning. On my trip, every gas station had someone coming up to look at the car, the bike, or both.... A lot of thumbs up from fellow cars on the road too!

The install in all is easy (especially since I gave you all the secrets). Dealers don't install to many of these things, but they can figure it out pretty easily. You can also do the work very easily yourself. I didn't have any help. It's probably a 2 on a scale of 5 in difficulty...

 

[Vanilla]

p.s. that link didn't work. can you re-post it?

 

[smitty]

Sorry I'am an internet moron. try this site http://www.sturgisswapmeet.com/options.cfm?prodid=5393

 

[smitty]

That works! let me know if you have seen better prices?

 

[Vanilla]

That's a very good price on the trailer. But unless you can pick it up in person, you'll loose any savings on shipping...

The spare wheel I bought from my local Yamaha dealership for 20% less ($99 vs $125), but that's the only other thing I bought.

What is that trailer winch? Is it to stand up the trailer, or to pull a bike on to the trailer?

With the spare wheel in place, and especially if I have stuff in my tool box at the time, it's a major effort for me to stand up the trailer...(probably not a $266 problem though).

Thanks for the info.

 

[Vanilla]

Found the details on the winch kit:

http://www.steelthundercc.com/trailer.html

That site is also a great place to get robbed on Kendon prices!

 

[Vanilla]

Smitty, I have a big favor:

I was told that they changed the ramp design on this trailer mid-year. And I suspect I may have the not so good old design...

Can you do me a big favor and post a pick of your ramp and also post the length in inches of it so I can compare it.

A new ramp is only about $60, so if there's a better one, I'll buy it...

 

[smitty]

When I get back from work I will measure and describe but I don't have a digital camera for photos. My trailer was manu. in June of 04.......

 

[smitty]

Vanilla the ramp length is 46 inch-ish long and 10 in. wide. Long oval with 2 center tubes.
________
_________
_________
________

 

[Vanilla]

Thanks Smitty! Those are the same dimensions of my ramp.

Do you have 1 or 2 of the "spoon-like" pieces of metal that holds the ramp on to the back of the trailer?

Mine has one that is centered on the end of the ramp, but unfortunately the design of the tubes on back of the trailer prohibits the ramp from being centered with the tire guides.... Makes for more nervous unloading of the bike...

 

[smitty]

I have the same ramp. I am starting to wonder how good this very expensive trailer really is. I am a little worried about using it period. When I first bought the bike my starter went out and was towed by a company that showed up with a (told by the tow guy) a $400. garden trailer. I was concerned with the bike bottoming out. The drop gate was 4 ft long and the trailer was low too the ground and worked just fine.

 

[Vanilla]

Honestly, the only good thing about this trailer is that it folds up and stands next to your garage wall. Otherwise, I would have sold it by now...

I just don't have anywhere to put a conventional trailer...