Updating my "Family" Photo, Stable Update, and Pending Projects

"Mercedes Streeter" (smart) 04/16/2019 at 16:54 • Filed to: wrenching, Two Wheels Good, gambler 500

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It’s been a couple years since I’ve gotten a family photo of all my toys. Last time I did this I only had three cars and they were all under one roof. Well, I kinda grew the hoard since then. Since I’m no longer moving I’m going to make this happen! Here are a few updates!

I’m definitely going to get a trailer for the bikes. I’m done renting trailers. I’ve narrowed down my choices to either converting a jetski trailer or building a 4x6 Harbor Freight trailer and adding a motorcycle rail.

Right now I’m leaning more towards jetski trailer due to the fact that it’ll likely be galvanized and you can directly bolt a motorcycle rail right into it. Plus, winch!

Using that trailer, I would then cart all my bikes to my place, get all the cars to my place, line them up, then get a new family photo. :)

In other news, I made myself a plan to keep myself distracted for as long as possible. An upside of being single is that I have a tonne more time and money..

Cars:

Tucker’s (light blue car in the lede photo) brakes and spark plugs.
The brakes have to be in good shape before I move to troubleshooting the ABS system, so reluctor rings will have to wait. I also want to recoat the towing hitch, but that’s a super quick job that’s not even worth listing here.

— Parts/tools I need to buy:
- Pads.
- Rotors.
- Plugs.
- Floor jack.

— Completion date:
I should be done with this one by early May.

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Laura’s alternator and clutch actuator.

(Yes, this car has the same license plate as the 451. I transferred the plates ($25 at the DMV) from this car to the 451 once I realized it was going to be parked for a while. Cheaper than a $100 renewal!)

While I’ve run the car throughout my ownership, I haven’t driven this car in nearly a year because I’ve fallen for bikes. I got a convertible specifically to replace the 451 as my daily. I really want this to happen.

— Parts/tools:
- 24mm offset wrench.
- Impact wrench.
- Floor jack.

— Completion date:
So long as the weather holds, I want to have this car running by next week, driving by hopefully the first week of May.

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Bikes:

I’ve been dailying the CF Moto since I fixed it and I love it too much to see it get hurt on the Gambler. I’m not sure why I had the change of heart, but honestly my brain and emotions have been scrambled for the past week so I’m really not sure. At least my Chinesium count is down to just one instead of two.

Why am I telling you this? Meet the newest Imperator Slowiosa ! I know, facepalm. At least my two wheel count is still 7? lol

This is a 1986 Honda Elite Deluxe. It runs and rides (well, did until I broke it) and currently has a top speed of about 62 mph. It needs its carb gone through, a new battery, and all of the “Gamblerification” mods I can throw at it. Basically, I’m giving it two light bars and removing all decals from this scoot’s previous life (pit bike and trail bike) for Gambler 500 decals.

Oh...and it needs a new ignition switch since I somehow snapped the key off in the one it has.

I’ll also be carrying with me:

- Extra fuel (a 5 gal jerry can).
- Basic tools (screwdriver, adjustable wrench, pliers that can strip/cut wires, and some metric sockets).
- Fix-a-flat.
- Tent.
- Alcohol (for the offroad parks we’ll be camping at that allow it).
- Duct tape.
- Zip ties.
- Starting fluid.
- Spare drive belt (maybe).

— Completion date:
ASAP. I don’t want to be doing last minute stuff like I was last year.

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I plan to have the trailer situation sorted by the Gambler 500. The plan is not to have to rent a trailer for three days. But...since I put a lot on my own plate I will do what I have to.

And finally, I will be writing about many of my motorcycle projects and Gambler 500 antics over at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ! I feel this would be better for me than starting my own blog about motorcycling. I’m finally picking up enough of the broken pieces of my life to get back into what I do best. Thanks so much, Jake T!

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Mercedes Streeter 04/16/2019 at 17:27

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I’ve been meaning to update you on this, as I mentioned it in a reply to another one of your threads, but I did the Harbor Freight trailer. In my case I wanted haul crap with around my house - I’m taking down at least 2 trees this year, maybe up to 5 (they are all in stages of dead or dying) , and I have to repair multiple sections of crappy fence. Hauling my bike and toys is a nice bonus, though. I was looking at trucks last summer/fall but when Mrs. Snuze needed a new vehicle   that dashed my truck dreams so I had the bright idea to get a CUV that can tow and get a trailer. At some point in the next couple weeks I’ll write all this into it’s own post here on Oppo, but I’ll give you the brief synopsis to help with your trailer decision.

I bought HF heavy duty 4x8 folding trailer as I also didn’t want to leave it outside all the time and be able to store it in my garage. The heavy duty part means it’s got a 1720lbs payload capacity vs. 1190 or something for the base one. I don’t think the price difference was great so I went with the heavier duty one.

First I got screwed on the wheel bearings. When I purchased there was a recall on tires - HF was using some crappy Dongfeng or whatever chinese tires and they were exploding. So when I purchased at the store they opened up the box there at the register and yanked the old wheels/tires and went into the back and came out with some different wheels with nice Carlisle trailer tires on them. I get home and start assembling and realize i don’t have the wheelbearings. I go back to the store and the bearings are bolted ot the old wheels... but they are 4 lug, the new wheels/tires are 5 lug. I call Harbor Freight and they tell me they are aware of this issue and will ship me the 5 lug hubs/ wheel bearings as soon as they get them, should be 8 to 10 weeks. This was back in October. I got them in February.

The wheel bearings/hubs they sent me are too wide for the axle stubs. They are supposed to be assembled with a wide washer under the castle nut, but they didn’t send me the washer. I get washers from Lowes that are the perfect fit... but too thick. I grind them down on my belt sander. Still too thick. Long story short I did some looking and thinking and decided I don’t really need said washers. I’ve towed this thing several times now, taken the dust caps off and checked, and there’s no indication of anything bad happening with the bearings/hubs so I don’t think this is an issue.

The wiring harness they gave me was too short. Seriously, it was not long enough to take into account the folding of the trailer. Also, the lights that came with it kind of sucked. I mean they were adequate, but not great. So like a sucker I shelled out like $30 to HF for their LED light kit that also comes with a 16' wiring harness so now I have plenty of wire. The LEDs are much brighter.

Another thing I bought from HF was a front jack for ~$20 that rotates parallel to the towing A arms in storage/towing, and rotates down when the trailer is by itself so it can sit parallel to the ground. It has a wheel on the bottom which makes it easy to push the trailer around. The only problem is no brake, so I need to make some wheel chocks for this thing.

Since it’s a folding trailer it has castors to roll around on when it’s folded up, but the ones that came with it are tiny, like 1.25" or something. I bought some 3" castors at HF for like $5-10 each and it makes it so much easier to roll around, especially with the added weight, though they do hang up sometimes. I wish I had like 2 or 2.5" castors. I may go back and change them later, I’m not sure yet.

Those are the major big issues. Assembly was mostly straightforward with 16, 17, and 19mm sockets and wrenches. Or whatever SAE stuff I had that fit. Or adjustable wrenches. Whatever. I wanted a deck on my trailer so I put 3/4" pressure treated plywood down. I think this doubled the weight. Also the bolt heads stick up and I wanted my deck to look nice and level, so I got forstner bits and drilled pockets for all the bolt heads. Also to make it look clean I drilled holes for the bolts to hold the deck down and sunk carriage bolts in. It was a pain in the ass but it looks clean.

Now there are a few minor issues I need to tackle. The brackets that hold the fenders and tail lights on are very crappy and wobble bad. When I’m towing it I can look in the mirror and see that crap fluttering around. I bought a 4' piece of 1/2" x 1/8" steel stock at Home Depot and I’m going to cut and weld in some reinforcements/cross bracing so they don’t flutter so much. Fatigue cracking is a bitch.

Also, the stake pockets are designed for 2x4s but are actually slightly too small, so I need to cut all my stakes and then taper the bottom 2" on each one just a smidge on my belt sander so they will fit in the pockets.

Finally, a few nice to have items I want to do eventually. I’m going to get some nuts and weld them behind the stake pockets and the bolt holes for securing the trailer halves together when it’s unfolded, and get some twisty handles from Fastenal and weld in 3/8" threaded rod. This way I can screw everything in by hand quickly and easily. I may also make a set of ramps for it and bolt or weld brackets underneath so I can slip them in between the frame and axle for loading motorcycles, rental equipment, etc.

I got the trailer onsale for $350 or 400, $30 for the light kit, $20 for the jack, and about $75 in wood to make the deck and stake sides (1 sheet of 3/4 PT plywood, 2 sheets of 11/32 ABX ply for the sides, and a half dozen 2x4s for stakes and side reinforcements), and about $50 in miscelaneous hardware (casters, bolts for the deck, that 4' piece of steel for reinfor cements). So I’m in it for about $525 ~575 .

Basically, if you are willing to put up with Harbor Freight BS and realize that you’re probably doing to have to do some “mandatory upgrades” to make it functional, it’s not a horrible way to go.  One nice thing about a trailer like that over the jetski trailer is you could put a solid wood deck on it, screw a piece of C channel or something to it for the bike wheels to sit in and use it for that, but also just have a nice general purpose flatbed utility trailer for other uses besides bikes.  

Mercedes Streeter > Snuze: Needs another Swede 04/16/2019 at 17:47

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Noted! Yeah, I’ve long known about the hassles of HF trailers. So I’ve heard, the bearings that came with the recalled wheels weren’t that great to begin with. So if your tyres don’t blow, your bearings eventually will! Plus, I’ll be storing this trailer outside so HF’s horrible rust protection will start becoming a problem eventually.

Honestly, my three main goals out of a trailer are to haul bikes, compactness (so I can park it behind the convertible at the condo), and something that isn’t going to look like an eyesore (ie: a trailer that looks like it was used by a poor scrapper ) . A jetski trailer checks all of those boxes with very minor changes. You can get a motorcycle channel/rail thing with a built in chock for like $100 and it’ll bolt right into the frame.

If I ever need to haul cargo that isn’t a bike I wouldn’t mind renting then. My main goal is to stop myself from giving U-Haul $20 anytime I need to move a bike, which is very frequently.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Mercedes Streeter 04/16/2019 at 20:35

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Sounds like you’ve got a good plan.

The HF wheel bearings are okay, one of the big things is they are shipped "greased", but its some awful neon blue stuff that I think might actually be frosting. All the advice I read was to clean them out and repack them with good grease, so hopefully that will go a long way in preserving them.