Trailering FJ with my vette

[keithu]

When I was a kid my dad towed our 16' ski boat behind a VW Scirocco. That was pretty normal back then and the boat launch parking lot was always full of cars. If a 76hp Scirocco can tow a boat, a Corvette should be able to pull a bike and trailer no problem.

[knyte]

I've towed a U-Haul trailer PACKED and way to big for the car - behind an 82 Civic station wagon 1.5 litre (I think) 5 spd through the Rockies and back again.  The vehicle manual said the same thing...not designed for towing, but I found a Class 2 somewhere and installed it anyway.

Sounds like that bike trailer is well balanced, which is everything.  Go for it!

[PhotoAl]

You are not the first Corvette to haul a motorcycle :-) and yes that is a real ZR1 - he was a very interesting fella to talk to.  Most ZR1s are in collections and are not driven much if at all.

That's a nice trailer and car.  I would expect it to do quite well pulling 1,000 pounds in a low profile trailer.  See a fair number of Corvettes at the track using a small trailer to haul track wheels and tires and tools. Only concern I would have is if you have an automatic transmission with a cooler and do higher speeds in hot weather - have read some of them have heat issues when used for a track day.  I keep telling the Mrs. I need a C8 but haven't gotten approval yet, I do have a trailer and a Tracer GT though :-) I just ride my bike to the roads and have a blast.  I'm retired and have taken several long trips in the last two years.  Al day riding in the rain is not so much fun but makes great memories!  

My trailer is an old Holzclaw, if anyone remembers the two rail dir bike trailers they made in the 70s and 80s.  I completely rebuilt mine and removed the rails and replaced with a bed of 5/4 deck boards.  It was built to haul my ZX6R 636 but has never hauled a motorcycle.  I need to check the wheelbase and calculate where the Tracer GT would sit just in case I need to haul it.  I replaced the wheels with 15" radial wheels and tires from eTrailer.  They are a trailer tire and are speed rated.  You have probably done this but repack the wheel bearings.  Lack of quality grease seems to be a major problem with small trailers.  If you can add a couple of shocks it makes a big difference when hauling a bike or anything else.  Used mine to haul wood when repairing my deck.  It did really well even though a couple of times I know it was near the load capacity due to the sam in the springs.  When I put the bed on I replaced the front crossmember with a piece of Unistrut.  Kept the front cross member and the rails so could convert back if I wanted to.

Edited October 29, 2020 by PhotoAl

[fddriver2]

On 10/25/2020 at 8:34 AM, Brian said:

 

Haven't tested it on the freeway yet. We will see. Tire speed recommendation is max 55mph even though many do 70 without any tire or bearing troubles. They are only 12" wheels which is a minus for this cheapie Harbor Freight. Otherwise good trailer.

Most trailer tires are rated to go 65mph. It has been my experience over decades and hundreds of thousands of miles  of trailer towing (RV and cargo) that  running between 65 - 72mph will reduce the amount of  trouble you are likely to have. 

Buy an inexpensive low profile aluminum floor jack .

I've used one of these for years.

1.5 Ton Aluminum Rapid Pump® Racing Floor Jack

---

1.5 Ton Aluminum Racing Floor Jack with RapidPump®

 

[andz]

On 10/25/2020 at 5:43 PM, mellow said:

Check this out 

 

We have had these in South Africa for many years, it's called a Lazy Lowder and I have used them dozens of times, it is the easiest trailer to load and super stable on the road. Can be towed at 80mph easily with zero sway.

http://2mtrailers.co.za/

Here is my bike on one of these trailers, it is not in the middle because I went to a friend and loaded a ZX-12 on the left side.

Edited October 29, 2020 by andz

[roadrash83]

I use to tow 2 YZ250's on a three rail trailer behind a 73MGB. Getting going was not as bad as you would think, but panic  stopping sure sucked and I as remember bumps in the weren't much better.  

[whistler]

On 10/25/2020 at 11:43 AM, mellow said:

Check this out 

 

That is pretty cotton-pickin' cool!

[skylin4]

On 10/25/2020 at 3:24 PM, limpy88 said:

There was a corvette guy that traveled around with c6 zo6 picking up antique farm equipment. He would travel nearly 1000 miles with 1700lbs hooked up.

...I'm basically about to attempt this with a Toyota Corolla and a Tracer on Friday because uhaul won't let me rent an actual motorcycle trailer for a one-way trip... So 1200lb utility trailer it is!

[keithu]

4 hours ago, skylin4 said:

...I'm basically about to attempt this with a Toyota Corolla and a Tracer on Friday because uhaul won't let me rent an actual motorcycle trailer for a one-way trip... So 1200lb utility trailer it is!

You're probably better off with the utility trailer anyway. I rented a U-Haul motorcycle trailer once and it was awful to tow. I pulled it behind a Nissan Maxima. The trailer was terribly short and basically invisible if it was empty, making it extremely difficult to back up.

If you get one of the U-Haul utility trailers with built-in ramp it's very easy to load and tow. I loaded one of these with a K100RS and a bunch of household goods, and pulled it 500 miles behind an 80hp Geo Tracker with no trouble. 

[mglax13]

There's a kart group that races on Sunday's in the parking lot of a local sporting arena, and they let us race our mini-motos on the track as well. There's a guy who tows an open trailer with his kart, stands, tools, etc, and pulls it all with a 70's era stingray! First time I saw that, but it's pretty awesome. 

[britelitebob]

I recently towed 2 bikes to NC and back, 1,200 miles with my Mustang. We averaged 80 mph on the Interstate and once we got up to speed you really couldn't feel the bikes. I also towed a very large pop up camper all over New England with a Firebird when I was a kid.

Also put radials on your trailer if your doing interstate speeds.