Manky Monkey Motors

There has been a lot of talk about trike towing trailers. But have you really thought about what your trike is doing once you’re all hitched up and towing it down the highways.
Well there are several types on the market. There is the one that bolts on to your towbar.  The dolly type with it own wheel. Trail a trike one that clamps to the forks. So lets take the first one.  It bolts on the towbar once the trike is strapped down the no movement the trike will follow.  There both are of the same principle they stay in line with the tow vehicle. Now the second one similar the first but it has some movement as it has its own wheels. The third one clamps to the fork just under the yokes hitches on to the tow ball the trike follows plenty of movement as the trike is just being towed
Now look at these photos of what the forks of your trike are doing
this is a mock up of a towing frame weather its bolted to your towbar or it got it own wheel the principle the same
wheel straight
(http://i50.tinypic.com/331dgnr.jpg)
wheel being turned to the right 
(http://i47.tinypic.com/2zzro1t.jpg)
wheel being turned to the left
(http://i48.tinypic.com/33p8uvk.jpg)
as you can see the tow frame that the wheel is strapped to don't stay parallel to the road. so the stress is being forced on the wheel and forks. and the steering head bearings. plus if it the dolly type it may lift the wheel off the ground when your turning

Glad you bought up this subject Terry, when I looked at making a trike tow frame I came to the conclusion that the only way to allow the frame /forks to be unstressed was to use a wheel  hub to allow rotation, I have seen a video of a car being recovered on a spec frame that is not parallel to the road where the inside wheel leaves the ground due to the lift height not parallel to terrain, a similar principal.

So what do you recommend then guys? (I've never towed a trike).

Simple really, where the front of Terry’s wheel support meets the fixed point add  for example a trailer hub to take account of / allow rotation and make sure the plane of support is parallel with the ground. 

i use the Trail a Trike type. the ideal type would be a flat Bed trailer. but who's got the space to park one.
also when thinking off towing your trike is the rake of your forks. my rake is standard but sum are 45 degrees the steering will be different again  . there is one like boom trike uses lifts the front wheel off the ground. but again watch out for the kerb weight on the back of your vehicle ???

(http://i48.tinypic.com/25k1qft.jpg)

Sorry, don't understand a word of that!

If you put your  trike on a full lock you will see that the front wheel cants at an angle, when its towed the front wheel should be allowed  to lay at the angle naturally, not being restrained, this means that the front forks / wheel need to be able to rotate to follow there natural position.
If this makes no sense then Terry will probably explain it more clearly.  ;D

thanks mate

basically BG you want the trailer to keep both wheel on the ground when your turning. so not to put your forks or wheel under and stress. i done a simple sketch on what i think it should be doing. the outer frame being the trailer stays parallel to the road. the inner part pivots that's what the trike wheel get strapped down into. so when you turn the wheel is under no stress

(http://i46.tinypic.com/2gvnhxt.jpg)

Terry
not easy to explain is it ;D

NO. you right there.   that why i use the trail a trike just bolt it on and away you go simple. like me ;D

Not easy to explain but I get the gist.  The trike dolly I used for my Scotland trip was like this, too tight a turning circle and one wheel would lift.  But it didn't do this in normal driving, ie road junctions or roundabouts, just maybe when turning into a tight driveway etc.

What did concern me a little was that the tie-downs had to be so tight that the forks were completely compressed otherwise they just came loose or came off, surely all that compression can't be good?

no its not good. that why they came off as you turned one side got tight the other side became lose. as you said BG one wheel lifted off the ground. now as your trike is about 260kg. the weights  being put on the trikes front end  as you turn. slight turn may be taken up on the trailers suspension.
but at the end of the day these don't seem to do the front of the trike any good

Can't say I've noticed any problems with the front end though - and almost no-one will tow as far as I did!  (500+ miles x 2)

I don't think it was the turning that made the tie-downs come loose, it was the bouncing before I strapped them right down.  I did wonder if they were necessary at all as the front wheel was in a cradle and I wrapped a cable lock round wheel and cradle - but the dolly came with anchor points for tie-downs so I used them.

I`ve used a towing dolly a  few times, even took Cuddles trike to wales with one and had no problem. Like BG says they only show any problems when doing sharp manouvres, and reversing can be a pain as you have two articulated points.
I only ratchet strapped the front wheel to the dolly and not the yokes, as this is unnecessary as long as trike and dolly can`t part company. I appreciate all the geometry involved but it can only cause a problem in extreme circumstances i think.

I found reversing almost impossible - much easier and quicker in the long run to unload the trike!

i use and prefer a trailer.... means i can move it weather the trike is road legal or not

Oh yeah we all would - but not got space to store one!

I used Hightowers trail a trike to get my VW from bottom of Lincolnshire. You didn't really know you had it on it towed so well with no problems. Wouldn't like to try and reverse though with the double articulation and my crap reversing. Of course te trike needs to have all tree wheels in decent order

I use a 2 wheeled dolly that a trike front wheel sits in but I only secure the trike front wheel to the dolly which means the forks/trike can pivot of the front wheel spindle as the vehicle is towing around corners and/or up & down uneven ground. I feel that this gives a similar effect as Terry's "binnacle" design towing dolly.

Trev and i have a towing dolly we brought a trike from Carmarthen to Biddulph with no problems at all nice and small to we can do dimentions and pics if u like   DB

Go on then, show us what you've got  ;) :)

Yer we all want to see it. ;D

I'm not say any thing, ;D

I will say it Merv. wheres the photo. ;D

I,ve heard that if you are towing a bike trike any distance its advisable to remove or un bolt the prop shaft.
anyone know anything about that.

JJ

Only if it an automatic.

hello chaps we took some picks yesterday of the towing dolly as i had help from trev to deemonstrate(as Fred Dibner used to say ) i will try to up load now
DB

and more

yet more

 ;D

 ;D

 :o   its a nice simple design and easly stored a very stable when towing   DB

anybody like my invisible trike i,m sat on,its for sale or swap WHY,  ;D

Ah so thats what you were doing!
I thought you were.....Um, no...never mind  ;D

You ought to think about some mudguards for the dolly though  ;)

I recognise that back road and that strange bloke squatting and posing :)

Although it is very different that will act the same as the tow a trike and have double articulation, what you like at reversing it? :)

nice and steady noprobs

I am farly rubbish at reversing anything, I blame it on having had a blue badge as long as I have had a car, never had to reverse really. Have to really think about it when I have a trailer/caravan on the back, lot often now I just unhitch. Didn't even attempt it when I had the tow a trike on though :)

I attempted it with the trike dolly - but only once!  Much easier to take it off the dolly - most places just make sure you can 'go round the block'.

I nearly did that when I went to Trevs Bobbi. Went down a very narrow short bit thinking it was the road but was a dead end. Luckily I could go up the grass on one side so just about managed to 'force' the trailer back far enough :)