Boat tail project based on a single wheel trailer...
 

About to go retrieve a single wheel (swivel) trailer and will try build a boat tail on that platform. The trailer is in okay shape but needs some work to git it to a level of safety and function. Only 1000 of these were made in the 1990's for Sears catalog sales and was called the Shadow. The company closed after 9-11. :(

Here's a couple of quick piccies of the trailer. :D

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...d.jpg~original

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...4.jpg~original

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Website dedicated to single wheel trailers...except they don't have mine...yet. ;)
Welcome to Single Wheel.com

Looks like another great project. [popcorn!]

interesting.

These single-wheel trailers look interesting. I wonder if I could get exempt of road fees with one where I live.

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...4.jpg~original

Got the trailer today and it needed a lot of work just to git back to my friend's house. Angled the trailer so it was close to the exit angle of the aero cap. Replaced the worn tire with a new rim and tire from Harbor Freight. Loaded the trailer with my tools so it wouldn't hop and buck on the trip home

Well...the hitch adapter is bent at an angle which causes the trailer to track with too much profile. I'll have to git a new hitch adapter built in 2" and make sure it's not at an angle. Also, the 1.25" insert has too much slop which causes the trailer to flop side to side as I'm driving down the road. Makes to be a little hairy at times. :(

When I git time to snap some piccies and tear down the trailer fer corrosion control and updates, I'll take care of all those issues that currently plague this trailer. ;)

I got an indicated mileage of over 24mpg coming back with the trailer and an extra 200lbs of groceries. I got an indicated mileage of just over 22mpg going up before I did my local driving. ;)

Here's a quick overlay with the online template tool...
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...a.jpg~original

My aero cap isn't as fast as the template but it should play out with its current angle. I'll git more piccies from the top and from behind later today or this week. :D

Is there any way that you could move the coffin forward? While more on my hypothetical Civic HX than on Bacon, I have thought about building a boat tail off of a trailer hitch--on Bacon, I could secure the top to the rear gate hinges, but I do not have any idea what I would do on a coupe. A single-wheel trailer, though, which only articulates on one axis, I would think that you could do a great trailer like what Aerohead is doing, but it would seem far simpler!

Once I start tearing down the trailer to replace the rusted fasteners, dilapidated deck floor, and what not, I can move it forward or even remove the cargo "coffin" and build my own. After looking at the fasteners, I really shouldn't have loaded it up with gear as most of them were rusted down where they could've easily failed and the cargo container would've fallen off. :eek:

i have heard bad things about Harbor Freight tires, esp for trailers.

All the articulation is in the receiver hitch? It's scary, dump it.

You need two custom brackets on or under your back bumper that attach the same as the crossbar/hitch piece does now. There are bronze bushings in there, right? That's the way all other one-wheel trailers do it.

How does the width of the frame at the rear compare to the truck? Flat-sided teardrop or compound curve bubble?

I'm not finding the "bad thing" issues with the 8" Harbor Freight tires on the internet. I won't be loading a lot of weight on these tires any way. ;)

Today I will snap a bunch of piccies of the trailer before I tear it down. Seems they used OSB fer the deck. :(

No bronze bushings in the vertical supports...just holes in steel plate. I just squirted some oil to reduce the amount of squeak on the way home. ;)

If articulation = slop...then yes. If articulation means it's supposed to move/pivot...then no. The single wheel pivots in turns...just like a front wheel fer a shopping cart. I think if I have the hitch adapter rebuilt with 2" stock, the rolling should be minimized. If that doesn't work...I'll have to see what it will take to stabilize the roll. ;)

I need to fab up a way of locking the wheel in the forward trailing position when I don't have the trailer hooked up. Even though it has support legs in the rear, it doesn't work as well as one would think. ;)

Once I have the trailer torn down, I'll be able to git the measurements and post them along with the piccies. :D
There's no way I could put brackets on my bumper as the tailgate would hit them when the tailgate is down.

Stripped down... :D

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...psc03efdef.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps7bae52af.jpg

Bad bolts...
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps84c0cf5b.jpg

Bottom side...
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...psf73ff188.jpg

Dampener...
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps1a7a93f6.jpg

Shadow!
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps4f022277.jpg

Hitch adapter...
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...pse1b37ae9.jpg

Just a little bent... :(
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...psd434cb8f.jpg

Concept fer locking the wheel straight ahead...but I'll be using metal tubing or box tubing instead of wood.
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps3e1ed76c.jpg

As soon as I git the hitch adapter fixed, I think a hitch anti-rattle device might work to keep the trailer from rolling. Looking at this one...Hitch Vise. Seems easy to install and adjust. :D
Hitch tightener: no wobble, anti rattle stabilizer device for hitch accessories

Ordered the Hitch Vise and it should be here by the end of the week or the beginning of next week. :D

Deck measures in at 54" long by 36" wide. Gonna git some 1/2" plywood cut today and install it with some stainless steel bolts this time around. ;)

Gonna see about having the hitch adapter converted over to 2" and not worry about any 1.25" adapters gitting in the way, too. :D

Got my Hitch Vise devices on Sep 28. Nicely constructed from steel. Will test it in the morning if it's not raining too hard out. ;)

Picked up my stainless steel fasteners and a gallon kit of Herculiner to coat the new plywood deck with. Not sure if I want to coat the frame or not...we'll see. ;)

Here's what the Hitch Vice looks like installed on my hitch adapter. This should minimize or eliminate the trailer rolling with the loose adapter. ;)

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...psf0ec3faf.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps06e541c6.jpg

Hopefully I'll be able to find someone to change out the 1¼" tongue to the 2" tongue tomorrow... ;)

I think the previous owner took a right turn too wide and hit something...hence why the hitch adapter is bent to the right. :(

I think that your hitch vise needs a hitch, so that you can hitch your hitch while you...

Too much Internet for me. Goodnight.

The carrier came with the single wheel trailer. It was manufactured by Tri-Glass in Daleville, Alabama. Seems they closed back in 2007. :(
Tri-Glas Manufacturing Plant Closing

The cargo body/carrier is 38" wide (widest point), 61" long, and 19" deep. The lid adds another 9" of clearance at the upper most point. It has a lockable handle and a prop bar to keep the lid open. It is bolted to the frame with eight 1.5" bolts.

Thank you for the reply.

That's too bad about Tri-Glass. 38" wide would fit onto one of the narrow, inexpensive trailers from Harbor Freight, which we have. We currently have a rooftop cargo carrier on it, and have used it for a couple years that way. The Tri-Glass looks like it has significantly more cargo volume, so for an expanding family, that would be welcome :). I'll have to keep my eyes open. Since I am from Alabama, there may be a few around (I have never seen one).

Just dropped off the hitch adapter to a local fab shop. It will cost about $80 fer them to replace the tongue. By the time I git this boat tail trailer done...it will take me a few years to amoritze it.

Gitting the pivot lock worked out. Just need to cut the PVC pipe to length and add in a bottom bar...maybe out of wood fer now. I'll have to see if how it will pan out or if I need to change out the wood piece to something else later on down the line. ;)

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...psaff17e10.jpg

I'll probably be able to hang a mud flap off of that frame now. I'm tempted to hang the Yosemite Sam "Back Off" one back there. :p

Fabbed up... :D

Unlocked...
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...psdac734c0.jpg

Locked...
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps9228c011.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps58c67a61.jpg

The 1"x2" wood bars (same ones I use to keep the aero cap hatch up when towing a bigger profile trailer) are inserted in to keep the swivel wheel from swiveling. This will allow me to easily "wheelbarrow" the trailer from the front and not have to worry about the wheel swiveling and tipping the trailer over when I'm manually moving the trailer around. I'll still put the rear landing gear down just in case... ;)

I'm thinking about painting the wooden bars a nice florescent orange so I won't fergit to pull them before heading out on the trip. Maybe some "Remove Before Flight" flags attached to the end might be a good reminder. :cool:

Quick flat black paint job... ;)
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...psaba49bf1.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps93da46ba.jpg

Looks great! :)

Hitch adapter is all done...fer $86. :D

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps658852f0.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps5a93d4fd.jpg

Gonna take back the Herculiner so I can reduce the amount I'm putting into this project and just paint the plywood. :(

Got everything back together again. Had to level out the trailer as it was too high on the right. I just dropped the right side down one inch on the right side of the hitch adapter. I moved the cargo box up towards the front about 6 inches. :D

Made a quick test around the neighborhood and the trailer is rock solid now. No more rocking! Pumped about half a tube of bearing grease into the hub! The stuff that came out looked rather...yuck. :D

It lives...again! ;)
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps5fcba782.jpg

Rear shot...
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...psb26b01b3.jpg

Making a trip down to Houston with the trailer attached to drop off the family at the airport and then I'm on my own fer the next few days. Guess what I'll be playing with? ;)

I'm not sure I'll be keeping the cargo box on the trailer in my future versions...I guess it will depend on how much effort I want to put into this and what the returns turn out to be. :D

uni-donut
 

Way too much fun!!!!!!!!!!!
I see a wave forming!:thumbup:

If you can reattach flow onto the trailer you have the opportunity to see gains, at least relative to with no attachment. On a non-articulating trailer, you could just seal the gaps and go that way.

It reminds me of Austin Powers, "Mini Me, you complete me!"

When I take the cargo body off of the trailer, I should be able to go crazy with various designs...which include pivot points on the truck and trailer so the gaps will be minimized or eliminated. Keep in mind that the trailer will still pitch up/down at the trailer hitch adapter so I have to account fer that. ;)

Refueling fer tomorrow's trip, I am reminded by the trailer to load up the trailer with some weight as it bounces a lot when empty. ;)

Excellent work! Very insperational!

Put a gas tank with some sort of quick release! At least that way if you are going to weigh it down, you'll do it with something useful! :D Plus if you notice the trailer hopping around, you'll know it's time to refill! :p

Had the opportunity to drive a round trip from College Station to Houston and back...so I attached the single wheel trailer to the truck to see what the new configuration would do. The drive was a little bouncy even with the trailer loaded up with my standard tool load out and luggage.

So while I was driving...I was thinking...if it would be possible to put some sort of shock absorber setup between the trailer and hitch to minimize the amount of bounce being transmitted back into the towing vehicle. It will be something fer me to investigate to see how feasible it would be to do that. ;)

Install a fastening point on the hitch bar and another on the trailer deck with the shock absorber attached to both points. As the trailer wheel bumps up, the shock absorber compresses and dampens the bump/bucking into the truck. With this type of setup, I should be able to minimize the amount of weight I need to preload into the trailer. Any thoughts? :confused:

My trailer-hitch-in-progress has two downward pointing ears for the safety chains to pass through. I'd thought about adding a steering damper that would be positioned just under the hitch.

There is a category of 'load-leveling' or 'equalizing' hitches you might want to look into.

I also saw someone suggested running with the trailer tire half-flat. Sort of a real primitive air suspension with no unsprung weight? You could compare aired up with load against empty with low pressure.

I looked at the load-leveling/equalizing hitches and it won't work on this type of hitch because of where the pivot points are and they are a friction based type of dampening.

Because of the small trailer tire, I don't think I want to risk pre-mature failure of the tire since the sidewalls would incur extra stress with the lowered inflation.

Here's a piccie of the hitch and my rudimentary drawing of what it would roughly look like...
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...psfb6bd4ec.jpg

I would probably lower the nose of the trailer to a lower point on the hitch ears and extend the attachment point of the shock absorber so that the shock absorber would git a better radius angle. As the back end of the trailer travels up, the shock absorber would compress and dampen the bucking effect of the trailer.

I have to determine how much compression travel there will be so I can find an absorber that will fit correctly. I'm probably looking at a gas filled shock absorber, too. ;)

Hey BZP ... From the pic, it looks like you could put the shock "under" rather than "over" ... seems to be a ready-made attachment point on the lower part of the hitch ears. Since the shock should resist motion regardless if it's getting pulled or pushed, you would still get the same effect but with a neater install and (potentially) less fabrication.

EDIT: Maybe a little more fabrication, as you may want one shock per "ear" ... can't tell from the pics if going "under" in the middle would work

shock absorber
 

My Morris Minor 1000 had 'friction' shocks.I didn't have X-ray vision,but I suspected that inside their was something akin to brake pads on either side of a section of 'rotor' if you will,with some sort of spring-tension preload keeping a constant force against the 'rotor.'
A mechanical disk brake unit from a contemporary mountain bike (yard sale/metal recycling center),with the cable held by a tension spring might be adapted to provide a damping function to the pitching.It would be extremely low mass if nothing else.

After doing more research, it looks like I would need to go with a coilover shock type as the coil spring is what dampens the bump on compression and the shock absorber is what keeps the spring from oscillating when rebounding. I might be able to use a stock ATV or motorcyle spring setup since the trailer weight would be similar to those type of vehicles.

The coilover spring will need to be installed to the inner part of the radius as it will need to be compressed vs being extended while in operation. This will assist in keeping the trailer tire (along with gravity) pinned to the road. I might have to design a preload lever to allow me to hook up the trailer or it will be near to impossible to rotate the hitch adapter so I can insert the trailer tongue into the receiver hitch. More brain power required... ;)

I guess if I git an adjustable coilover setup, I could always spin the collar down every time I need to connect/disconnect the trailer. We'll see... ;)

I could probably even go with an airbag type of setup as it would be totally adjustable to load weight, but that's starting to git kinda expensive... :(