Taking advantage of a little destruction.

After my last track day, I was back in the garage putting away all my junk the next morning. It has become part of my routine to get to the shop early in the morning with a cup of coffee while the house is quiet. I stow my gear and start the list of tweaks, improvements and service that the little Ninja track bike needs between days out on the track. The last part of the process is to unbolt and re-fold the trailer. This last time I was still a bit tired from the track and ended up dropping the trailer the wrong way. No injuries other than to my pride. I did smash some things. Since I had to work on the trailer anyway, I decided I'd make some long overdue improvements to the trailer's functionality and ease of use. Take a look below to see what I was able to get done.

The pictures above and below detail the extent of the damage. After the fact, with a bit of time and distance from the event, it doesn't look so bad. I could just straighten the bent stuff out and get back on the road. The lights took the worst of the permanent damage. Above you can see that the license plate folded like a taco and in the process, smashed the bottom of the left tail light. The left tail light has a clear bottom for the stock tail light's license plate illumination light. The lights inside were unharmed, but the clear plastic ended up in several pieces in my driveway. The license plate has always been vulnerable in its stock location and I've folded it up inadvertently a time or two previously.

The right tail light ended up losing its face plate. The lights themselves are LEDs and actually pretty robust and weather proof. After stowing the trailer and surveying the damage it looked like a little glue would fix things up. A fact later verified by me pulling the trailer out and testing the lights by hooking them up to the truck's connector. Before I use the trailer again I'd have top repair this damage. While I was at it, I investigated ways to mount the lights in a less precarious position and also get them to be a little more visible to traffic behind me. In their stock location, the lights are only about 14"-16" off the ground. This really is too low to hope that someone behind me will see them when I hit the brakes. It puts the trailer and my bike in position to get rear ended on the way to the track. Not good.

After testing the lights I figured that a little 5 minute epoxy should fix the right light. The left took a bit more thought. First, I'd have to determine the new placement. From there I'd had to find a way to get the license plate lit and mounted correctly. My idea was to mount the lights to the top of the fenders. This would serve two purposes. One, it would get them up another foot or so higher and be much more visible to the inattentive drivers behind me. Two, it would also put the lights on the non-folding half of the trailer. This will let me shorten the wiring harness some and make it easier to get the trailer ready for the track. Before I did that, I would need to solve a common issue with these trailers. The springy, weak, fender mounts. In the pic above left you can see a gap between the frame and fender. The mount for the fender is a springy steel and when driving the fender vibrates in this gap causing a great bunch of noise. Eventually the fender breaks off somewhere down the road. I usually cure this by using a tie down strap to put tension on the fenders to keep them from vibrating. A more permanent solution can be seen in the right picture. I drilled a hole in the front edge of the fenders and used an existing frame bolt with some spacers to bolt the the fender to the frame. I also did this to the back of the fenders, though I did have to use some scrap metal to make a bracket between the bolt and the fender hole. It worked like a charm and the fenders are known solid enough to mount the lights. Perfect!

I re-used the existing 90 degree brackets that mounted the lights to the side frame rail near the back of the trailer. I used a drill to make the hole spacing fit the top fender mount bolts on the horizontal side. I then used the existing vertical holes to mount the tail light using the original hardware. I took some more scrap metal and made the silver bracket you see above to mount the outside tail light bolt to the stock bracket in a triangulated shape. The lights are solid and when combined with the new fender mounting are perfect. They are out of the way of the folding half of the trailer. The wiring is also out of the path of the moveable metal jointed middle section of the trailer. The lights are protected from debris and the errant trailer drop that caused all of this drama. I couldn't be happier with it unless it came from the factory like this, which it should have.

Above you can see just how high the new light position is. Now when I go to stow the trailer after a track day, I can fold it without having to support the rear end of the folding half. Usually I would put my shop stool under the folding half of the trailer so that when I tilted the front of the trailer up onto the casters, the lights and license plate wouldn't come into contact with my garage floor. All of the different pieces of the trailer alone aren't that heavy. Putting them together along with some of the other accessories I bought for the trailer, makes folding it up and stowing it a bit more challenging when I'm alone. Most of what I added to the trailer is attached to the front half of the unit near the hitch. This is great for towing as it increases the tongue weight of this lightweight trailer making it easier to tow. It does make me have to lift another 40-50 lbs of awkwardly placed weight when trying to get the trailer back up onto the caster wheels in the upright, folded position. So removing some excess weight (from the trailer, not me) was next on the list of improvements.

Some of the weight I wanted to remove was the stake pocket holders from around the perimeter of the trailer frame. When I put the trailer together originally, I put the stake pocket holders on just in case I wanted to build a set of rails from 2x4s. Having used the trailer a dozen times or so without rails, I decided that I don't need them. Altogether they only add a couple of pounds to the overall weight of the trailer assembly. The spare tire carrier on the other hand, adds a few more pounds of awkwardly placed weight right at the tongue area of the hitch. Combine that with the wheeled trailer jack that I also added, makes trying to fold and unfold the trailer the usual way pretty difficult. Usually you leave the tongue pins in and tilt the trailer up using the hitch. Once you have the trailer standing upright, you remove the pins and let the tongue fold down. With the extra weight of the spare tire and the trailer jack, I felt like an Olympic lifter trying to get a record clean and jerk when lifting the trailer off the deck. To compensate I would remove the pins and fold the trailer with the tongue dragging on the ground. I moved the spare tire to the tongue's center cross member using some of the parts from the tire carrier assembly and while I was at it I moved the trailer jack a bit more forward so that the jack's wheel lets the hitch roll while folding the trailer. Moving the weight of the spare tire like this removes a bit of the awkwardness out of the folding procedure while keeping it in an easily accessible area in case of a flat.

This just about does it. I made the trailer a bit more functional using mostly the original parts and junk I had on hand. I could do a few more improvements, namely sealing the plywood deck and welding the pieces of the trailer frame together. The trailer spends most of its life in the garage so sealing it is not a high priority. Doing the welding is something for the future when I'm ready to invest in a welder. Before I get a welder I'd like to have some tire warmers and a generator. Each of those purchases individually are the price of a decent welder so getting one is low on the priority list. I have a few more posts lined up for this slow content holiday month. Take some time and come back when you can. See ya!

Blue