Jamie and I found a bike carrier tow dolly that is cooler than dog dirt, it's home built by a great guy that was passing thru and he did a wonderful job, the ballance and strength was perfect, the bike rides across the front of the dolly with the car right behind it, the tires had been moved back on the dolly to properly distribute weight, the guy is an engineer and did it right, complete with a tongue crank and a wheel for rolling it around, was the slickest thing, jamie took a couple of cell phone pics and we told him this would be the answer for a bunch of us that want to take a car and the bike with us, thought I'd show it if I can find somebody that I can transfer cell phone pics too that can post them here. I've apparently burned more brain cells than I'm replacing so I don't have a clue how to transfer a cel phone pic to my pc. ::)
Moderator note: Added photos as requested.
What we need to do is to send the pics from her cell phone to another cell phone and hopefully that person could transfer them to the board. I don't have a photobucket account and last time I fiddled with trying to set up one, my pc landed in the horsepistal with horrible keyboard pains, it was crippled for weeks and had to undergo PCT at great expense, we were concidering putting it out of it's misery a few times but with time it recovered and regained it's strength but I can't bring myself to do that to it again.
Thanks mike for adding the pics, as you can see this is a slick setup and the ramp is carried just under the back of the car, it's strong and well balanced.
That's pretty cool! What is the maximum weight limit? And of course..................drumroll...............How Much?
Do you have any other specs like distance between fenders etc........?
Paul
Very Cool set up. It looks real solid and well thought out. Nice choice on the bike too. Just upgraded from my '03 Concours to a 1500 Gold Wing. I would suggest some small, (1 1/2" or 2"), steel wheels under each side of the the front edge. I don't know about your bus but I know our MC 5A would drag that front edge alot. Also I used the rear, (passenger), peg brackets for the rear tie down points.
Don & Sheila
The guy isn't interested in building and selling them but he doesn't care if somebody else wants to use the idea to build their own, then a person can figure out their own modifications and adapt it to fit your needs but the basic idea is sound. His is very solid but he had an S&S with a low bumper height so that made the dolly apear to hug the ground, my hitch on my bus is a lot higher than his was, he said the weight on the hitch from the addition of the bike was offset by the new placement of the dolly axle.
That's very slick.
I'm currently working on plans for a front mounted bike carrier to carry my Honda CX650. It will be set up to raise and lower the bike from/to ground level using an air cylinder or two
and will be mounted to the front of the bus using two standard receiver tubes so it will be removable when not in use or when necessary to get the spare tire out.
I'm considering building a cover on the front and possibly over the bike that will conform to the front of the bus (kind of a short truck-like hood if you will) that will protect the bike
from rocks and bugs. I'm going to try to use the fiberglass caps I removed from the bus when I did the roof raise for the covers. I'll incorporate a deer guard into the carrier, as well
as a set of headlights and turn signals since the bus headlights will be covered by the bike and hood.
Maybe start fabrication this fall or next spring.
craig
This is an exceptionally keen idea. Would suggest one improvement. Make the dolly axel adjustable front to back to adjust the tonque weight. With the one shown in the picture, a bike weighing 800lbs would put near the same weight on the tonque. Uses for this keen idea are endless. Mount a cab sleeper for the Mother-in-law. I didn't say that out loud did I?
Kenny
As shown the car's weight will counterbalance the bike's weight somewhat, you'd have to do some numbers to see what the loads actually look like. I agree with adjustable axles or simply landing points for the car's tires. If you were to just carry the car, you would want the tire pads ahead of the axle, not behind.
I measured up my car dolly the other day, with a little modification I can make it into a motorcycle carrier for my sidecar rig! If I cure my oil leak issue of totally soaking the car in oil, I might even do that sometime!
Brian
All my vehicles pull 4 down so it really doesn't help me but I thought the idea was great and might help give some ideas, I don't know if the weight is adjustable on this one but he said that it's well counterbalanced with very little weight on the hitch, he seemed to be well versed on what he was doing.
I don't understand this design - as far as I can tell from the photos there is no pivot mechanism built into the dolly. Without a pivot the car will try to wrench itself off the dolly on every corner.
What am I missing?
Jeremy
Look closer, the pivot is built into the axle framework.
Quote from: cody on September 13, 2010, 06:39:02 AM
Look closer, the pivot is built into the axle framework.
Possibly - it's hard to tell from the photos - they also appear to show the car tyres strapped down to the fixed frame of the dolly. Even more significant, though, is the fact that the rear of the car is surely much too close to the motorcycle - if the dolly does have a pivot the rear corners of the car would very quickly hit the motorcycle
But then I may be wrong
Jeremy
He's been using it for 6 years without loosing a car or bike, but you could be right, it might not work at all.
Cody, Any chance you could get some pictures without tha car or bike on the dolly? Kenny
My assumption would be that he leaves the keys in the car's ignition (hence the steering lock off), and that the 'steering' of the front wheels is sufficient to get the dolly around mild corners without mishap - but as soon as he gets anywhere with even moderately tight corners he unloads the car and gets his wife to drive it behind.
Jeremy
The guy and his wife fulltime and I didn't see the dolly in motion, it was parked and they were having lunch when I saw them, they were still parked when I left, I saw the pivot, I didn't see any dents, I have no reason to think he lied when he said it tracked perfectly, but like I said, you could be right, it may not work at all and probably hasn't worked for the last 6 years, he just drags it around for people to admire. ::)
Guys, I posted the thread because I thought maybe somebody might be interested, not to explain or defend his engineering, it works for him and I don't care if it'll work for you or not, now I know why nobody wants to post anything anymore, it's just not worth the grief.
Cody - for goodness sake stop being so touchy! No-one is criticising you and there's no need to start throwing rattles out of prams. This is a thread discussing the design of the towing dolly which you started for that purpose.
Jeremy
Thanx Cody. I appreciate your effort. When I read this, it does sound like others feel you should know all about the design. Just my take.
I did see a S&S (high dollar) yesterday with a parallelogram type lift for a (real) ::) ;D motorcycle that swung down to road height to load the Harley and then lift it up over a toad pulling 4 down. Really cool and no doubt - pricey!! (and no, I don't know how it worked as it was going down the road. ;D lol ;D All I could basically see were the parallel arms. ;))
I thought it was a cool idea and kinda got me thinkin, but, I can pull my Harley in the bay of my buffalo after I pull my "apes" (handle bars) down, so I'm good. I love that aspect.
Thanx again Cody. Love seein that stuff!!!! Keep it comin when it shows up!!
Chaz
Here is a commercial version. I think this is a great idea, personally. It's a good way to go.
http://www.cruiserlift.com/towdolly.html (http://www.cruiserlift.com/towdolly.html)
Good post/link B.!!!! Gives a lot of good weight, etc. info.
Chaz
Yes jeremy, regretfully, I did start the thread, I also stated that the guy was just passing thru in the opening statement of the thread, had I known that a wannabe engineer was going to pick it apart instead of just taking it for what it was, then I would have never bothered.
there was one very much like that close to us in Fla last winter..The guy hauled a Harley Road King on front and his Esculade on the tow dolly part...I like the idea better than adding additional weight to the frame that is already carrying a 4000 lb engine..It was a commercial built unit so it must work:he's had it there the last two years...Bob
http://www.bestpricetrailers.com/for-sale/MCtowdolly.aspx (http://www.bestpricetrailers.com/for-sale/MCtowdolly.aspx)
This is a similar one and show pictures without the vehicle.
Cody, do you think you could track this fellow down and get me some blueprint drawings. i don't want to build one, I just thought you might need something to do.
8)
Craig, I have no idea who he was, jamie and I were driving and we saw the coach parked in a turnout by the lake and pulled over to see if we could look at the dolly, we never asked who they were, the guy told us a little about the dolly and we talked and then left, no idea on who they were.
Cody,
Do you have photo's from underneath the trailers?
How about from 10' to the left?
Cliff
Were just bustin your a$$
Only from 8ft, sorry
Cody, are you ready for us to quit yanking your chain?
No chain, I've got a cable, ;D
another sacrificial lamb slaughtered before the bus lords!...................Thank you for your donation!.................You can lead a horse to water, then you need to kick him in to drink or swim..........no good deed goes unpunished..............s......................PS nice dolly!
Quote from: cody on September 13, 2010, 05:47:48 PM
No chain, I've got a cable, ;D
I sure ain't yankin that!!
Cody do you realize how powerful you are? Your post has invigorated the minds of all. We now want to go out and cut, build, chop, weld, grind, tweak and paint our one-off creations. Our wives will be so happy. My wife can't thank you enough.
he does have a big.........................................................................................imagination
Quote from: bevans6 on September 13, 2010, 03:20:38 PM
Here is a commercial version. I think this is a great idea, personally. It's a good way to go.
http://www.cruiserlift.com/towdolly.html (http://www.cruiserlift.com/towdolly.html)
There's a YouTube showing this dolly (or one very similar) here: Tandem Tow Trailers Promo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJZvkRdYhFU#ws)
The pivot mechanism is shown at around 2.20 on the video. The pivot is just a bolt going through a length of 4x4 box section, which to me seems a bit minimal - but then I'm just a wanabee engineer as we all know. On my own tow dolly the vertical weight of the car was taken on a large greased plate underneath the pivot, a bit like a 5th-wheel coupling.
Thanks Cody for starting this interesting thread - sorry I ruined it by asking a question. I'll try to remember the '
just take it for what it is' rule in future
Jeremy
Jeremy, I should not have refered to you as a wannabe engineer as I have no knowledge of your engineering ability or lack of, my frustration came from your total lack of comprehension of the engineering aspects of the unit and the off the wall comments that the car would whip off the dolly or the dolly would smash into the bike or the best one is that the couple would unload the car at each corner and drive it thru then reload the car onto the dolly again, I made several attempts to explain what little I knew of the dolly but you couldn't or at least didn't grasp the concept so in frustration I gave up trying to explain it to you.