Modifying a Cheap Harley Trailer for Everyday Use
If you’ve been in the market for a bike trailer, you already know the good ones aren’t cheap. But if you’re like us, you probably want one any way.
Sure, we all love a good road trip. But sometimes, it’s just convenient or even necessary to have the capability to haul more than our bags can handle. So, if you’re on a budget or just don’t want to drop $1,000-plus, are you out of luck?
Cheaper options do exist, of course. Some of the more popular ones include a couple of trailers from discount tool seller Harbor Freight. Depending on capacity, they offer trailers for bargain prices in the $300-$400 range. And that’s without one of their coupons or sales. Still, we wouldn’t blame you for being a little hesitant to entrust your precious gear to a cheap trailer.
So naturally, we were intrigued when we spotted this thread posted by forum member sbaumann14, or Stuart as he’s known in other parts of the world. Like many of us, the Wisconsin resident just needed something he could use 3-4 times a year. So he took the plunge (and a coupon) and picked up one of Harbor Freight’s budget trailers.
“So my wife and I wanted to get a trailer so we could haul more stuff without feeling too over packed. We have 2 Softails – a ’99 and an ’03. The ’99 will be used for shorter legged stuff with the saddlebags and a tour bag. So we wanted a trailer for the ’03, and after some sticker shock, we decided to go with the Tag-A-Long from Harbor Freight. the money we saved will be put towards more trips. So we got the trailer at our local HF on sale with a coupon for $293.”
Obviously, the bare bones unit isn’t quite the ideal Harley trailer right off the shelf. So Stuart did a good deal of research and emailed other riders regarding their trailer mods. And he came back with a host of great ideas to make his budget trailer work like a more expensive one.
“First up were the bearings. No grease in there whatsoever, so I replaced with Timken’s and repacked with Mobil grease. Also replaced the grease zerks with American stuff. I painted the wheels black, adjusted the air pressure to 25lbs, and added chrome golf cart hubcaps.
As some of the other people who own these trailers have mentioned, I removed one of the leaf springs, covered the mounting bolts with rubber hose, and covered the other mount point with rubber matting. There is no squeaking or rattling whatsoever when I hit bumps.
I bought a 6′ section of tube steel, primed and painted it, and after installing it decided it was a BIT too long. So I cut 1′ off it, added a cooler rack, and all was good.
On to the lighting. I drive a semi for a living, so I got some Optronics halos. They have a halo ring for the running lights, and the LED’s kick in for the brake/turn. I grabbed the Sawzall and got rid of the factory mounts. Measured out some holes in the rear and cut some plastic with my trusty Zip saw, then installed the lights. I purchased a Kuryaykn plug and play wiring harness, which comes with a 5-wire harness (stop, right turn, left turn, running, and ground), so I changed the harness in the trailer to match. Routed the wires up through the trailer and zip tied them in place.”
All-in-all, the total cost of Stuart’s modified Harley trailer came to $575. But the real question is, how does it perform? Apparently, pretty darn good.
“Just hooked up the trailer today and went on a 200 mile shakedown run. NO wiggling of the trailer at all! Trailer pulled perfectly and tracked straight and true. Had it loaded up with 75lbs of wood and no problems to report.
As I said in the beginning, we just wanted a simple (cheap) trailer that we would be using for 3-4 times a year and the HF Tag-A-Long fits the bill PERFECTLY!!”
So maybe there is a solution for bargain hunters who want a simple Harley trailer solution. With a little elbow grease added in, of course.
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