Modern Modular Teardrop Trailer
by John Bell
Note - I will repost this when i figure out how to include photos
This describes the building of an advanced, custom, detachable teardrop trailer. It’s a light weight version of typical teardrop trailers, and can be removed from its rolling platform so that a bicycle or motorcycle can be carried instead.
1994: The Generation 1 Trailer
To give the background on this project, we go to Pewaukee, Wisconsin in 1994 when I scratch built a single channel motorcycle trailer of welded steel. I wanted a unique design without leaf springs, not a run of the mill flatbed. So, I designed custom machined swing arms using 4 small coil springs per arm, with pivot shafts riding in bronze bushings. I used coil springs so that I could switch to stiffer springs if I towed a street bike. Friction alone provides adequate damping. Tongue weight adjustable by sliding the axle carriage on the 5 inch wide steel channel. With 4.80-12 tires and a spare mounted flat on the channel, I used the Gen 1 trailer for 9 years in Ohio to haul my enduro bikes. It worked well, but at 260 pounds was heavy even when disassembled because it broke down to only two main components. It had a pivoting loading ramp at the rear, but no lights or wiring.1 A light trailer has the advantage of the motorcycle’s own suspension to help damp out road bumps, just don’t crank down the tie straps too hard.
When I entered off-road races I was always the lightest rig in the parking field. Other guys had big pick-ups towing flat bed or box trailers.2 I prefer to add temporary capability to an economical car, for a weekend ride or a camping trip, rather than daily drive a thirsty, oversized vehicle. I moved to Michigan in 2004 and gave the Gen 1 trailer to a dairy farmer in Marysville, Ohio who converted it to a rigid axle, covered flatbed for transporting calves, with floor planks spaced for dung fall out. I was delighted the trailer got a new life, retired on the farm, but still serving daily. I had about $1200 in the Gen 1, rather a hobby in itself.
2008: Generation 2 Trailer
In 2007 I wanted to return to off road motorcycling, but first I yearned to build a new trailer. I wanted to design the best complement to my preferred vehicle, the medium station wagon with 2 liter engine. Cars of this size (~3000 pounds) typically have a towing limit of 1000 pounds for trailers without brakes. I turned it over in my mind for weeks, and finally opted for an improved single rail motorcycle trailer, plus a separate teardrop “shellâ€