Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Need (U-Haul) Trailering Advice

Don't even get me started on U-haul. What a bunch of Zod-damned chuckleheads. We're moving my mother to Great Falls this weekend. I'm driving the truck and to save her a round trip back to Helena we're trailering the bike so I can ride that home.

Those idiots at U-Haul won't let any of their motorcycle or "ramp" trailers be turned in at another location. They want to keep them all in Helena. So we ended up with a 4x8' enclosed box trailer. Has anyone trailered their bike this way? Any caveats?

All it's got for tie-down locations are two rings in the front-lower corners of the trailer and those damned wooden rails along the sides. I've got a variety of tie downs, both regular bike style and ratcheting. I figure I'll use the regular tie-downs from the handlebars to the rings, compressing the front end as much as possible. Next I'll use the ratching tie-downs on the sides from somewhere on the bike to the wooden rails. Then I'll use some nylon rope from the sissybar to the wooden rails.

Will that be enough?

I moved my bike in the back half of a giant uhaul like that. NO rings of any kind. The metal studs in the walls of the truck are kinda like C channel. You can get a hook in under a rail, and into the C channel, and it'll hold good. Since then I have gotten those little nylon strap loops that you can loop over the bars. They could be used to loop around the wooden rail too... Just an idea. Or fish the hook of the strap behind the rail and then onto itself.

I think your best source of information on trailering a bike would be from any chucklehead poseur who owns a Harley and heads to Sturgis.

FJ, I've been contemplating this same problem for some time now in the eventuality that I move to CO. My thought is to get a 4x4 from the local DIY center, cut it to length (so that it's a good snug fit into the front of the trailer), and mount Eye-bolts through it close to the ends. To help matters, I'd probably bolt a couple short 2x4's to it in the middle to form a channel for the tire to rest in, and then run tie-down straps from the eye-bolts to the forks, just like if you were hauling it in a pickup. I would think this would be sufficient, and you could even do the same thing in the rear of the trailer for the back end. It really peeved me off when I found out you can only rent their bike trailers locally, what a bunch of unprintable words came out of my mouth!!! I thought about tying off to the wooden side rails, but just don't think they've got enough of an anchor to be sound, so that's why I started thinking about building a "rack" inside the trailer (or truck in my case). I can draw up a sketch and e-mail it to you on Wed (I have a PDF scanner at work) if you're not sure what I'm talking about....

That reminds me... The floor of the truck I rented was wooden, so I screwed down a couple 2x4s as chock blocks.

Greg, I get the idea, I just don't have time to do something like that. The wooden side rails won't take a lot of load, they'll just have to help keep the bike steady so it doesn't put undue side-loads on the main straps.

Benny, it doesn't have those wall studs. You must be thinking of a larger trailer or a truck box.

The other problem I see is I don't think the front wall is strong enough to take the front wheel being compressed against it. I'm going to use a piece of plywood, reinforced with 2x4s, to distribute the load across the lower metal support and the tie-down rail across the front.

Yippee. Fun times.

John, Should be just fine. Just attatch 4 straps high on the bike and low on the wall. That way it will compress it slightly. Also use ratchet straps and not those "pull only" straps.

Jerry

Okay, I cobbled together some 2x4s to stretch across to the corner beams in the front of the trailer. I suspended them at about the right height so the front-most part of the tire would contact them. I should really be able to crank down on the ratcheting straps now.

John,

I moved my Speedmaster from California to Utah in our 7 X 14 trailer with no problems. Just used ratchet straps, left the side-stand down and it didn't budge.

Sounds like you have it all figured out. Last summer when my tire blew out, in sight of nowhere Idaho, also called Challis I rented a u haul truck. I used the hook end tie downs, and slid them behind that "flat rail" piece near to where the rail is screwed to the trailer wall, then fastened the hook back onto the strap. It didn't go anywhere.

JH

best not to strap down from the bars, and leave the kickstand up, if something happens and its down and breaks off you got nothin. strap down from the cross member, not the bars!!! straping down a dirt bike or small bike from the bars is ok but not a bike of this size or bigger, its possible to damage them. good luck!!!! i would drill a hole in each corner of the floor, get me some eye bolts and some fender washers(one under the floor and one topside for each bolt) and strap er down, when you get there take the eye bolts out and return the thing, they will never notice and if they do.....deny, deny, deny,....those holes??? they must have been there when i got it????? but they wont notice, trust me, if anything, they might look inside to make sure its clean, but thats about all. and hey!!!! did you measure the inside of that trailer??? sometimes 8' is not really 8' inside and you will need 8'

The only trick is to tie down both ends of the frame twice. You have to tie it down high and low. Low only and the bike will fall over. High only and the wheels will walk out from under and it will fall over.
Oh, and tie it down so that it stands upright.

Of course I know about this stuff, do you know how many Harleys I've owned?

Okay, I used my ratcheting tie-downs from the gussets behind the steering head to the rings in the floor. I used the non-ratcheting (they call them "locking" ...right) tie-downs on the handle bars to the wood strips on the wall up front, just to keep the front end straight and keep it from "walking." I used rope to spread the load at the wood strips between two holes, a foot apart.

Lastly, I used rope on the sides at the rear to tie from the wood strips (again distibuting the load across multiple holes) to the sissybar. I picked up these funky clips (the real name escapes me) that allow you to adjust the tension on the rope and tie it off without using knots. When I shake the bike, the whole trailer shakes. Hopefully that will be sufficient.

The other drama came when trying to load it. I made a makeshift ramp out of three 2x4s: two side-by-side with a slightly shorter one underneath tying them together and reinforcing them. I also beveled the ends to better match the angle of the trailer and ground. It is plenty strong enough. I enlisted a friend to help push it up the ramp. The first time the rear tire didn't line up and when we tried to back it off the ramp it backed out of the way and BAM, the front wheel dropped off the ramp. It was less than a foot drop but it freaked me out. I'm going to back the trailer up to a small hill or a curb or something to unload it, hopefully without that ramp.

Oh, and Newt? The kickstand is up and I have about an inch between my taillight and the door. Whew...

Too late now, but you said "WE'RE moving my mother". Couldn't somebody else drive the truck while you rode the bike?

And after all that trouble doing a bunch of maintenace on your bike, and it ends up on a trailer? Oh well, at least the belt drive won't squeak when it's loaded on the U-Haul.

You guys are killin' me...

My mom is driving her car. The U-Haul is too wussie to pull my car on a dolly. It's going to take me 3 hours to get there and about :45 to come home.

Oh I thought when you said we, there were more people involved in the move than just you and your Mom. I hope you aren't loading all that furniture by yourself. Take some Ibuprofen before you do any lifting.

The truck was loaded today. She hired some local movers to load most of her stuff (which was in storage - long story) in the U-Haul. I'm just not in any kind of shape for that. Tomorrow her new boss (who is also a former co-worker - another long story) is coming down with a truck and horse trailer to load up the stuff at the house. She is also bringing her husband and I guess they're going to help unload both trucks in Great Falls. Still I'm going to have to help unload and I'm going to pay for it on Sunday and Monday.

Got all that? There's going to be a test later...

Post deleted by Grump

I should have listened to Greg (I think it was Greg, but I think someone else mentioned wheel walking and I'm too tired to look through the whole thread again).

Everything worked out but the front tire did walk to the left a bit against the 2x4s I had used up front to bolster the front wall of the trailer. Also on the right side, those fancy little clips I used with the rope to secure the sissybar broke.

Unloading I didn't use my makeshift ramp at all and I did it all by myself. I had some time to kill once I got to Great Falls. I stopped at a shopping center that had built-up mounds with grass in the dividers around the parking lot. Found one tall enough, backed the trailer up to it and offloaded the bike. Piece. Of. Pie.

All in all there are only three things I would have changed. I should have found a small hill to load the bike instead of that dang ramp, I should have put too boards on the front 2x4s to hold the wheel in place (it wouldn't have taken much) and last, used tie downs in the back from the side of the trailer to the sissybar.

This isn't even the most annoying thing that happened to me today. But that deserves a fresh thread and a good night's sleep...

Glad to hear you made it through the day. Hope your bike doesn't hold it against you for the trailer experience. Must have been horrific for the poor thing.