Answer: Those are the same dimensions as the Piggybacker unit on my site. You didn’t say what brand your trailer was but Harbor Freight trailers also use the same setup when the tongue is 2.5″ wide and the center-to-center is 2.5″.

This unit comes with spacers and a new coupler for the front. It has those extra pieces because the swivel units are designed to fit a 2″ square tongue and use a 2″ coupler on the front. The spacers make it fit snug in the tongue and the new coupler allows you to bolt it onto the front with the proper hardware, eliminating the possibility of binding that comes with trying to fit a 2.5″ coupler on the front.

If you happened to have a trailer with a 2.5″ tongue but the center holes were only 2.25″ center-to-center, then that is the same as a “Shelby” coupler. You also need to have the spacers and the coupler. You can just order the Piggybacker unit but put “Size for Shelby coupler” in the comments section and I’ll have it drilled accordingly.

Answer: I’m not aware of anything special needed to install this hitch. It attaches to the two fender struts on the fender and to the exhaust brackets, so I don’t see where it would require any modification. You don’t need to take anything off the bike to install the hitch, just take out a couple of bolts to put the straps in place. Pretty straightforward.

The wiring is a plug-and-play setup, so you find one plug under your seat (on the rear fender in the backrest bracket location), open that up and put our t-connector in place, then plug in the rest of the kit. That’s pretty much it. As far as wiring goes, it doesn’t get much simpler.

Got a question about trailering? Feel free to send it to dale@openroadoutfitters.com and I’ll try to answer as best I can. Thanks!

Answer: Dan, I’ve spent some time under there on my Time Out. It’s a powdercoated steel box frame. I know this because one of the first times I towed the camper, I forgot to tuck the front jackstands. When I got home, they caught on the front edge of my garage slab floor where the driveway has sunken. I twisted up the jackstands pretty badly, to the point that I had to replace them, but the frame was basically unharmed. It’s pretty tough.

If I can answer any other questions, or help you when it’s time to order, please let me know. I really enjoy my TO. I’ve camped with others, including the Mini Mate, which I also like a lot. But the TO gives me a ton of room and I really like that l-shaped awning.

Got a question about trailering? Feel free to send it to dale@openroadoutfitters.com and I’ll try to answer as best I can. Thanks!

Answer: The TriGlide hitch comes with a five-pin receptacle and plug. This works for most trailers, even those that have a six pin plug. Most motorcycle trailers have four signal wires and a ground wire for a total of five wires. If that’s the case with your trailer, you can use the five-wire harness that comes with the TriGlide hitch, you’ll just need to change the plug on the trailer.

Some trailers come equipped with an extra wire for an interior cargo light. In that case, you can do two things — you can find a six-pin receptacle to match your six-pin plug (not difficult), or you can combine the cargo light lead on the trailer with the running light circuit. This means your interior light will only work if the bike is keyed on, which some folks prefer as a way to prevent leaving the light on and draining the battery.

Whatever the case, you can feel free to change up the plug on the trailer to match up whatever works best on your bike. I talk to some folks who are afraid to change it for fear that something new won’t work, but there’s no magic to the plug that’s on it. You just need to make sure the new plug has the right number of pins to accommodate all the functions on your trailer. Five is usually enough.

Got a question about trailering? Feel free to send it to dale@openroadoutfitters.com and I’ll try to answer as best I can. Thanks!

Answer: It depends. Often it’s not too tricky, but sometimes the setup throws you a curve. The reason a conversion is necessary is because, as you say, a motorcycle trailer usually has five wires and four-wheelers use a four-wire setup. Motorcycles, unlike cars, has a brake circuit separate from the bike’s tail lights. Most cars/trucks have brakes and tail lights that share the same bulbs.

Easiest: If you haven’t yet ordered your trailer, ask your manufacturer if the trailer can be wired for a four-wire system. Some accommodating folks will do this for you just for asking. Put a four-wire harness on your bike, and you can swap the trailer between your bike and car with no conversion.

Simple: If your motorcycle trailer has turn signals with red lenses, you’re in luck. All you need to do is hook up the ground, running light circuit, and two turn signal circuits on your trailer to a four-pin plug and ignore the wire for the brake circuit. This will plug up and work with a car/truck with no problem. You can actually rig up a converter to go between the existing plug on your trailer and a four-wire plug to match the car side without doing any re-wiring on the trailer or your bike. When you want to tow with your bike, just remove the converter.

Less Simple: If your turn signals are amber, you can’t use them as turn and brake. Brake lights must be red. The next simplest thing is to source red lenses for your lights. Many trailer makers use off-the-shelf lights which are available in either color.

Harder, but doable: If you have a trailer that uses proprietary turn signals, like those that match the Honda Gold Wing, you have more engineering to do. That’s because neither the old style (01-05) nor new style (06+) offer tail lights with red turn signals. In this case, you need to do some re-wiring. The easiest way to accomplish this is to move the turn signal wire down, replacing the brake wire on both sides. This is a permanent change, so you’ll want to confirm that by doing this you will still have running lights. You will also need to put a four-wire harness on your bike to run the new system. You are not building an adapter like the “simple” process above, you are making a permanent change to your trailer.

As always, with any wiring project, test your work before you make it permanent, and always do a shakedown run. Don’t do this the night before you take a long trip! If you aren’t comfortable making wiring changes, enlist the help of a buddy from your club or if someone at your dealership is knowledgeable about trailers, ask them for help.

Got a question about trailering? Feel free to send it to dale@openroadoutfitters.com and I’ll try to answer as best I can. Thanks!

Is that a good thing, or not? The use of swivel is hotly debated on many motorcycle forums.  Folks in the “pro-swivel” camp say that a swivel will help a trailer tow smoother because it pivots easier and further than the ball-and-socket joint that couples the bike and trailer. “Anti-swivel” folks cite that it doesn’t make the trailer feel that much different and is just a waste of money.

I’ve towed trailers with and without swivels and here’s what I think. If your only reason for buying a swivel is to make the trailer “feel” better, it’s probably not worth the money.  (And I say that as someone who sells them! But keep reading…).  When I’m towing a cargo trailer, I can’t really feel any difference, and that’s regardless how aggressive I’m riding.  When towing a heavy trailer, it does make the trailer set up a little faster behind the bike, and that makes it more comfortable. But I’d tow the same trailer without a swivel anyway.

Now, there is one good reason why I do have a swivel on my camper, and it has nothing to do with feel. I put a swivel on my trailer because it’s cheap insurance in case the bike, with trailer attached, falls over in a parking lot. Over the years, I’ve made good money selling replacement hitches and tongues to folks who had their bike tip over in a parking lot with trailer attached, and bent the tongue and hitch.  With a swivel, there’s little chance you’ll damage anything other than your pride.

Swivels install easily,and I’ve created a video showing how it works. Take a look at this:

Safe riding, and happy swiveling!

A isolation harness contains a set of relays; one each for the brake, turn signals, and running lights. Your bike is full of relays that control the lights, horn, and many other circuits.  In short, a relay is an electrically-controlled switch.

When installed on your bike, the isolation harness uses your signals circuits as the triggers, but it draws power for the trailer lights directly from the battery.  This means your trailer lights are running at full power and they are separated from the rest of the bike.  Even if a short developed and rendered the trailer’s lights inoperable, it would not affect the bike’s lights.

Installation

This plug-and-play isolation harness is for a four-wire trailer and a Harley.

An isolation harness can be installed on any 12 volt motorcycle. A popular relay package I often use has three components: 1) the relay package consisting of a weather-sealed epoxy package with a passel of wires, 2) a 5-to-4 converter package for use with four-wire trailers, and 3) a subharness.

The subharness, consisting of four wires terminating in a four-pin plug, is installed first. If you own an ’88 to present Gold Wing or Harley touring bike you can use a plug-and-play style subharness that plugs into your bike. All other bikes require a universal subharness which contains a set of quick taps. We’ll assume you have something other than a Harley or Wing and need to use the universal subharness because your installation will require a little more effort.

Job one is to identify which wires run your bike’s running lights, left and right turn signals, and brake. If you have added a brake light modulator or other aftermarket accessories, you may already know. It’s times like these that it pays to have the shop manual for your bike or access to an online owner’s forum.

Remove the seat from your bike and look for a wiring harness that runs toward the back of your bike. On many bikes there is usually only one wiring harness running to the lights in the back. Without the shop manual you can still figure out which of those dozens of wires are the right ones to tap. Remove your lights from the back of the bike and make a note of the wire colors for each light. All of your lights should have one color in common and that common color should be the ground side of your wiring. Locate the other color wires in the wire bundle running under the seat. You will need to pull away some of the wrapping around the harness so you can get at enough length of the wires to tap into them.

Before you start tapping, I’d advise that you take an extra step just to make sure you’ve flagged the right wires. Using a pair of pliers, push a straightpin into one of the wires until you’ve punctured the insulation. Attach a test light or voltmeter (set to a range of 20 to 50 volts) with the positive lead on the pin and the negative lead on the negative battery post. Turn on the bike to check the light you’re testing. If you’re checking a turn signal you can expect to see the test light flash on and off just light the turn signal. On a voltmeter, the needle will swing as the voltage on the circuit rises and drops. Do this for each wire and you can feel confident you’ve identified the right wires.

The subharness comes with a set of quick taps. If you haven’t used quick taps before, they’re an easy way to splice in a wire into your harness without actually cutting into your harness. A quick tap has two slots that hold the wire you are tapping and the wire you are adding. Using a pair of pliers, push the metal tab down until it penetrates the insulating jacket of both wires, then fold the plastic tab over the body of the tap to clip it shut. Do this for each of the four signal wires and you have just completed the most difficult part of the trailer harness installation.

After installing the sub-harness, you’ll plug in the 5-to-4 converter if required. You’re probably wondering, “How do I know if I need this?” The easiest answer is to check your owner’s manual or look at your wiring harness.  If you have a separate wire for brake lights and each turn signal, you have a five-wire system. If the wiring diagram in your owner’s manual shows your brake lights combined with the turn signals, you have a four-wire system. This is similar to the wiring scheme used on boat trailers and motorcycle haulers.

If your trailer is a four-wire system, you need to install the converter. Your bike has separate lights for brake and turn signals, so they can operate independently. The converter adapts the bike’s wiring so the trailer’s lights can operate properly, allowing the turn signals to override the brake lights on the trailer. Without a converter, your turn signals will only work when the brake is not applied.

With the 5-to-4 converter in place (or not), you’re now ready for the relay package. The relay has a four-pin connector that plugs into the sub-harness (or 5-to-4 converter), two power leads, and five output wires. Find a spot where you can tuck the relay package. It’s built to be weather resistant but you can usually find one little spot under the seat if you look around.

Next, run the power leads. The relay package uses power directly from the battery to operate the trailer lights.  The relay package contains a set of crimp connections and a fuse to wire to the hot lead of the relay package. Always wire in the fuse! The connectors on the package require a crimp connection. To ensure you get a good crimp, use a real crimping tool to attach the terminals, not a pair of pliers.

With the fuse and terminals wired onto the power leads, connect the relay package to your battery.  Disconnect the negative lead entirely from the battery before connecting the positive lead. This avoids a potentially dangerous situation. When working around the positive terminal, you can’t accidentally short out the battery if the ground lead is disconnected. After disconnecting the ground, connect the positive lead to the positive side of the battery, then connect the negative side, reconnecting the main ground lead.

Before you go further, it’s a good idea to check your work at this stage while everything is easily accessible. Attach a voltmeter or test light to the outputs of the relay package. The ground lead of your test device connects to the ground wire on the relay package. Connect the positive lead of your device to the wire designated for the running lights. Key the bike to the “on” position and check your test device. A test light should simply light up while a voltmeter will read a steady 12 volts on the scale. Check the other lights including brake and turn signals. Make sure the leads of these wires do not contact the ground lead while you are testing.

How did that turn out? Just fine, I’ll bet. Now you are ready to wire on a plug and button up the bike.  I’ll discuss this step in a future installment.

Harley pass-thru connector for direct wiring.

Adding trailer lights increases the load on a circuit originally designed to drive one set of lights. Years ago, that wasn’t an issue. Light circuits used heavier gauge wire and could handle higher loads. Today’s bikes use thinner wire for weight and cost savings. Thin wire has more resistance per foot than thicker wire, so you can expect your trailer lights to receive a lower voltage.

Doubling up the lights probably won’t cause an outright failure, but the wiring harness will simply be unable to deliver the full power both sets of lights require to operate at maximum brightness. When lights experience a voltage drop of as little as half a volt, this can lead to the loss of as much as 20% of an incandescent lamp’s output. That’s a visible difference.

There can be other consequences as well. An increasing number of bikes are sensitive to changes in the load placed on circuits, especially bikes using the new CANBUS system like recent BMWs. Wiring in a trailer directly on a CANBUS-equipped bike can trigger failure conditions in the bike’s monitor systems, even if everything is wired properly. Sometimes it becomes necessary to add countermeasures such as “load equalizers” to make the circuit appear to function normally to the bike’s control sensors. Expect CANBUS and other load sensitive monitoring systems to appear on an ever-widening range of bikes over the next few years.

If that weren’t enough, there’s another reason to avoid direct wiring. Even though your trailer may be well designed, the wiring running from the bike to the trailer is exposed to the elements, possible damage, and the potential for shorting. Short circuits and wiring problems are not common, but they can develop over time, particularly at the point where the trailer and bike are plugged together. When a short develops in a direct-wired harness, the problem will affect the bike’s lights as well as the trailer’s.

In the next installment, I’ll discuss a better method for powering your trailer lights using a isolation harness with relays.

Photo Courtesy of Alan Cleaver

Thinking about buying a trailer, but need to get it past the home budget czar? Really like a particular trailer but find it’s just a little out of your range? Here’s a list of ways you can save money when buying a trailer. Depending on your circumstances, it is entirely possible to cut your cost for a trailer by more than half. So, I hope this helps you get the trailer you want, and a price you can afford!

Buy Off-Season

This may be the most obvious of suggestions, but making a trailer purchase in the off-season will save you money. In October, we’re still mourning the loss of fair riding weather for the year, and haven’t started looking forward to next year’s rides. Very few people are thinking about trailers. As we begin to approach riding season on the calendar we suddenly remember – Oh yeah, I guess I’d better get that trailer ordered!

Do yourself a favor and budget for your trailer purchase between November and January. There’s a good chance you will find special shipping deals, discounts on leftover models, and incentives on orders for the new year.

Buy a Complete Package

Do you need a hitch and wiring for your bike along with the trailer? You may be able to get a package deal and save money on the extras when you buy everything all at once.

Buy a Trailer Timeshare

Have you and a buddy talked about buying trailers for your future trips? If you have similar tastes in bikes, you may be able to save by splitting the cost of a trailer with your friend. Think of it as a “trailer timeshare.” People buy timeshares of beach condos, exotic sports cars, and airplanes, so why not a trailer?

When traveling together, you’ll find that a 25 cubic foot cargo trailer can easily handle the gear of two couples. You’ll also have the use of a trailer when you go off on solo trips. You’ll need to agree on a common color choice, how the trailer will be stowed, and how to allocate its use when you are not riding together. But if you find you can agree on these things, sharing a trailer means you’ll get all the trailer you want for half the money.

Make a Group Buy

Maybe you and your friend like to travel together, but you know a trailer sharing agreement would never work.  You can also save by buying with a friend or with a group if you purchase trailers from the same place at the same time. A package deal will allow a willing dealer to create some incentives for a group purchase.  Shipping two or more units to the same location can also help reduce your freight costs by as much as a third.

Terminal Pickup

Speaking of shipping, it’s possible to save a big chunk on freight by picking up your trailer at the freight terminal of the truck company handling your delivery. Often, delivery to your door is expensive because the shipping company will need to run a special truck to your house. If you have a pickup or a flatbed trailer, or access to either, picking up your trailer at the terminal will often save you $150 or more.

Make It a Vacation

I’ve sold trailers to many riders who avoid crating and shipping fees altogether by making a vacation out of picking up their trailer. Escapades are manufactured in the Virginia mountains while American Legends are made in the midwestern heartland. Mini Mates come from Pennsylvania and WAGS are in Iowa. All are great riding destinations.

Cash Talks

Dealers who accept cash or personal checks for payment may be willing to give you a discount.  They would be paying the discount to a credit card company, so why not give it to you instead? Card discount rates usually run 1.5 to 2.5 percent. Potential savings: A cash discount on a $4,000 trailer would put $100 in your pocket.

Go Color Neutral

If you’d like to have your trailer color-matched but want to keep your costs down, consider buying a neutral color. Most trailers are available at no extra cost in stock colors. Fiberglass trailers are usually available in a white or black gel coat.  Gel coat is a hard finish used to give fiberglass a finished look.  It is not as glossy as paint, but if a black or white trailer would look good with your bike, even if just for a year, you can get it painted later and spread the cost of the trailer over time.

Get Only the Critical Stuff

Finally, take a really hard look at what you absolutely need and order only the most critical things with the trailer. Most trailers have a long list of options you can bolt on to the trailer.  Many of these are cosmetic enhancements that may add to the appeal of the trailer, but don’t necessarily change its performance. Many options such as coolers, luggage racks, spoilers, chrome trim, extra lights, can all be added at a later date.  There are a few options that make sense to have installed at the factory.  For example, if the trailer you choose offers interior carpet as an option, have that installed by the factory.  It would be difficult, time-consuming, and probably more expensive to have carpet added later to your trailer.

Let’s take a real example. Let’s say you’re interested in an Escapade LE trailer (25 cubic feet, air suspension). You really want it color matched to your bike but you need to keep the price down. On an Escapade, as I mentioned above, the only critical factory-installed option is the carpeting. That’s it. Don’t let another dealer tell you otherwise. Everything else can be bolted on later. Chrome wheels? Chrome tongue? Luggage rack? These can all be added later with no problem. Stone shield? Skip that and have a car detailer install a clear stone guard on the front. Cooler? Bolt on.  Garmet bag? Bolt on. Spoiler? Bolt on. Not as easy as adding some of the other things, but it’s still a bolt on.

When you take off all the things you can add later, guess what?  A color-matched Escapade LE that would have cost you $4590 with all the popular options is now $2,865.  Later, if they’re important, you can add your accessories. But for now, the important thing is, you have a color-matched trailer for almost half the price of a full-loaded trailer.

How Do You Save?

I’ve shared a handful of ideas for saving money on a trailer purchase. What’s your strategy?

Wash the trailer’s exterior to avoid damage to the painted surface from environmental pollutants, acid rain, tree gunk, etc. Bird droppings are especially harmful to any painted surface. Droppings adhere to your trailer like acidic glue, eating away at the clear coat, then the paint.

When you use cleaning products designed for motorcycle or automotive applications, you can use these on your trailer, too. For example, always use a detergent designed for bike or car applications. Never use dishwashing liquid, it’s too harsh and will dull the painted surfaces over time. Use a soft terrycloth towel designed for washing applications. The fibers in terrycloth capture the contaminants removed from the surface, reducing swirl marks and spider webbing in the clearcoat.

While you’re washing, don’t forget the underside of the trailer. Use a long-handled brush and soap up the underside to remove road grime, particularly salts leftover from winter road treatments. Also clean the wheel wells, wheels, and tires. Rinse everything completely. I like the Mr. Clean wash system that includes a water filter. Using this as a final rinse, you can let the trailer air dry. If you don’t use filtered water, wipe the trailer exterior and sides with a chamois cloth. Unfiltered water contains mineral deposits that remain behind when the water evaporates leaving spots.

If water beads on the surface of the trailer it has a sufficient coat of wax. If water breaks, leaving a thin film on the surface, you should consider preparing the surface further and then wax the trailer.

Where you go from here in preparing the trailer’s surface for waxing depends on your level of interest. There are entire books written on professional methods for cleaning that discuss when and how to use paint cleaners and polishes. In brief, cleaners are used to remove residue like bug carcasses and tar that ordinary detergents can’t remove. Polishes are used to restore the clearcoat on the paint when it begins to show significant spiderwebbing. Spiderwebbing or swirl marks are tiny scratches in the clearcoat that occur from any contact made with the trailer’s surface when it is not clean. Polishes are available in differing levels of abrasion. You always start with the most abrasive polish you intend to use, then follow up with less abrasive polishes to finish the job.

One method for deep cleaning the surface is to use a paint-cleaning clay. Paint-cleaning clay picks up contaminants left behind that washcloths miss. Lubricate a limited portion of the surface you’re cleaning with a detail spray, then rub the surface with a clean chunk of clay. After finishing a section, fold the clay to trap the surface gunk in the clay. Move on to another small section, folding and reshaping the clay as you go. Be sure to wipe away the leftover detail spray as you go. You will be amazed that how smooth the surface will be when you use clay.

With a clean surface, you’re ready to wax with a quality carnuba wax. Wax is a necessary final step because it provides an essential added barrier between the environment and the trailer’s clearcoat. Wax restores the luster of the trailer’s paint finish by filling in the tiny surface scratches that look like swirl marks or spiderwebbing. I prefer pure wax products to combination products that have some type of cleaner embedded. Use a soft, moistened applicator to put down a thin coat of wax. Don’t use too much wax on a single coat. It’s preferable to apply several thin coats if you’re trying to build up wax on the trailer. A heavy coat of wax leaves behind no more product than a thin coat and is harder to remove.

Don’t forget the exposed metal bits on your trailer. These will benefit from the use of a high-quality polish to match the type of metal, e.g. aluminum polish for aluminum wheels, chrome polish for chrome wheels, etc. After polishing chrome, apply a thin film of carnuba wax. Wax will greatly assist in preventing surface rust from developing on chrome. You may have heard that coating your wheel rims with Vaseline will prevent them from rusting. While some people do that for long term storage, I think it’s messier to deal with and returns no better results than simply keeping the wheels clean and waxed.