RE: [SilverStreak] Rear Hitch on trailer

["Ken Wilson" <ke5dfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Personally I would not hang anything on the back end of my trialer.  First
is the issue of it will lihtenyour hitch weight, which you do not normally
want.

Next are the stress issues.  Hanging a static weight out at the end of a
lever arm is one thing, but as soon as you start to move down the road,you
have dynamic forces involved now.  The distance from the scooter back to the
support pont on the trailer frame will be something close to 2 feet.  The
scoter support or bracket will probably weight a good 100#  plus the
scooter, say 200# for a total weight of 300# hanging 2 feet back from the
frame.  The moment arm will equate to about 600 #/ft for a static load.
When moving down the road, the rar of the trailer will be moving up and
down.  When it moves, the weight will be seeing an acceleration and a
deceleration which will result is an intermediate force that is several
times the static forces.

I know you will see people with scooters and such on the back of a rear
monted hitch, but I have also seen carriers destroyed with only a couple of
bicycles on them.

Short story is to not add the hitch or carrier to the trailer if you care
about the trailer or scooter.

Asa note, I am a mechanical engineer by profession.  while I have spent my
career in heat transferand thermodynamics, I still understand stress es,
statics and dynamics.

Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: sslist-admin@tompatterson.com
[mailto:sslist-admin@tompatterson.com]On Behalf Of CHRIS H BROWER
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2008 7:19 PM
To: sslist
Subject: [SilverStreak] Rear Hitch on trailer


I recently purchased a Bajaj 150cc scooter.  Along with it came a  hitch
mount
mechanism which you can put into the hitch receiver of your pickup to haul
the
scooter on the back of the truck.  The metal scooter and hauling mechanism
are
not light.  I'd like to be able to take the scooter on trips with me.  I'm
wondering if it would be folly to have a receiver put on the rear end of my
28' foot 72 continental rocket so I could haul the scooter on the back of
the
trailer.

I've learned the  importance of tongue weight and not hauling full water
tanks, etc. so I'm wondering if this would put too much weight on the back
of
the trailer causing trouble for towing, etc.  I can get ramps and put the
scooter in the back of the pick up but it would be far more convenient to
just
put the already purchased devise on the back of the trailer.  I have an
equalizer hitch set up to hitch the trailer to the 3/4 ton Ford truck but
even
with it I still have some trouble with passing semi-trucks causing drag on
me
so I'm cautious about mounting too much weight at the back of the trailer.
What are your thoughts?  Thanks.
Chris