meach

Here's the story if anyone cares to offer assistance: I'm in the process of wiring my bike & trailer as I've added a tag-along trailer. I've also added some LED brake/turn lights, previous owner installed LED tail light & custom turn signals on lic. plate holder but I think all other lights are stock. All the basic functions on bike and trailer are working but with some flakyness. Bike lighting was working fine before I started messing with it but now a couple odd things have come up. I had an older 5 - 4 converter I wired in that had never been used but since I was having issues I have since switched to a powered 5 - 4 converter. Also PO installed what appears to be a load equalizer from Street Magic, not sure of its rating. Possibly it has gone bad. I thought perhaps poor grounding on bike might be problem but not sure where any wiring grounds are, I know where battery grounds (PO also added a stebel horn, mounting bolt has the battery ground) Flaky things it does: Flasher speed rate varies, seems to randomly speed up and slow down. When applying brakes the flasher speeds up which seems odd since brighter brake lights would mean more amp draw, I thought flashers sped up when bulb burned out thus lower amp draw. This happened when trailer attached but also now when trailer not attached. A side note when applying brakes I hear a relay near radiator clicking but can't find it. Where is it and whats its purpose? Another odd thing is when trailer attached and brakes applied the bike and trailer lights blink opposite each other, when no brakes applied the lights blink in unison. suggestions/comments? I might try and disconnect the load equalizer and see how that affects things.

Only about half loaded if that, threw a couple tents & bags and some tools in trailer. Gotta find all my camping stuff around the house and load it all up. I took it kind of easy in curves staying in the middle of lane so as to keep trailer away from opposing lane, also I was riding 2 up. Edge of fenders are about where the tips of my highway pegs are when folded out so that gives me an idea how close the trailer will come. My fear is catching the trailer on something that the bike just missed. Yea was thinking ground might be issue. Today while checking things the bike blinker was speeding up without trailer attached, kind of a random thing.Another odd thing is when trailer is attached and you apply brakes and the turn signal in on the bike and trailer lights blink opposite each other, when brake is not applied they blink together. The 5-4 converter I'm using is old but was new still in the package, a left over from years ago project. May end up replacing it with an isolater.

Here are some pictures of my tag along. Went for a short road trip (150 miles) yesterday over a variety of roads from curvy mtn. to interstate. Trailer did great, hardly knew it was back there, only change in driving was being aware of trailer tire hitting objects, potholes, etc that the bike tires miss. In one case had to dodge a limb on the road that the trailer ran over, wasn't a big issue but would hate to hit something big. Need to work out some issues with LED lights I added, blink rate is randomly speeding up and slowing down. Cooler mount I made myself using old bed frame. Added a leg that swivels down to work as a stand. Now to get the camping gear ready for a road trip. Might head up to the BRP for a couple days.

Decided to go with a HF tag along, got my hitch from Carbon_One, used wiring harness from M61A1MECH which made wiring bike simple. Couldn't find a stinger in local auto stores that worked on bike and not being much of a metal worker myself Carbon_One offered to make me one up which I took him up on. It works great, as good a quality as any in stores and customized for my bike. Great products for great $ Attached is photo of first use for trailer, trip to Home Depot to get flowers for the wife. I'll be sure to check VR vendors for the next project.

Did changing your converter out fix you turn light issues? I'm having similar issues with my lights, I added LEDs to trailer. I'm using an converter I already had, new still in package but several years old.

Ya never know, I have this pond in my back yard with mostly cheap goldfish that we we've had for several years, some of the older ones were 6" or longer and really pretty, I noticed the only large lemon colored we'd had for several years up and disappeared with no signs of dead fish or anything. Didn't think much more about it and weeks later my daughter is looking out the window saying what the heck is that and pointing to a bird standing about 6' tall in my pond. Turns out to be a Blue Heron using my pond was his breakfast buffet here in a subdivision in metro Atlanta, started coming around more and more, cleaned out all my big fish, finally had to put some mesh over pond until tree leaves came out and he couldn't see the fish as he's flying over. Good thing the fish were only the 10 for dollar variety, if they were expensive koi we might had to take more drastic action.

I vote for some type of hawk. You didn't mention which eagles you have around (Bald or Golden) bald eagles tend to live around water (if you have large bodies of water around) and normally feed on water related critters such as fish, water snakes, etc and they tend to also scavenge any dead things they run across. Golden tend to feed more on land animals such as rabbits, etc. We have several hawks around that keep our song birds & squirrels in check. In recent years more coyotes around have been picking off cats & dogs.

We're hoping to do some camping, which was another question as to what kind of camping possibilities are along the way. I've done several solo camping trips on my vtx but wife hasn't been camping on bike. We're gonna try some local 2 up camping this summer, maybe do the BRP camping and see how the wife likes it which means taking a trailer along for all the stuff. I camped 3 nights on the Natchez Trace solo, nice thing there is the camping was free. Also not sure how many miles we want to try and do day after day. When camping I like to get a site early and then hike, swim, etc. but get up and be gone by shortly after sunrise. Longest so far on RSV was a little over 500 mi on a day trip to south GA & back home but no camping involved. Open spaces don't bother me but wife will be along this time, not sure if thats good or bad. It was pretty cool seeing the Wind River Range on the horizon come up thru WY and seemed like it took about all day to get there with the mtns. rising in the distance (also with about a 30 mph crosswind all day)

Somehow I doubt changing the date is NOT going to happen, PP does sound like it would be fun however. Maybe another year. Yea, oil field traffic, (trucks, etc) was a concern. May be pushing it to try and make Glacier along with everything else in terms of $ & wear and tear. We may end up just dropping down to I94 across the plains if we even decide to go west. Spent 10 days a few years ago on my VTX on a western trip but didn't make it up to Glacier, headed back east after yellowstone across SD. After crossing the plains many times, most recently on a bike, I can see why people trailer their bikes.

Congrats, celebrated 35 last month myself, told my wife it was the best 2 years of my life.

Never been to MI that I can recall, got a former foster daughter getting married early august to a fella up near Big Bay, I think she lives about midway between Marquette and Bay Bay. Hoping to take the bike up if all works out. Might spend a couple days there visiting and seeing the area then head west to eventually end up in Idaho just north of Boise to visit family. Wife has never seen the rockies.

All trailers in GA must have a plate, Costs vary depending on where you live since we pay taxes on value of vehicle/trailer which varies from county to county. My boat & utility trailers have tag fee of 12 plus tax which end up costing between 12 - 14 a year. No insurance required. trailers in TN do not need plates. Its a hassle for folks who cross in GA a lot cause they end up getting stopped all the time, some areas more than others.

Other day the wife was fussing wanting the AC on in the house, I told her to open some windows.Couple days later she's fussing she wants the heat turned on, and that's here in the south middle of April. I told her to make up her mind:confused24:

It seems its either U.S. 2 or I94, will probably see how we are doing up in MI. Still debating on cage or bike since we have the wedding to go to. Speaking of deer my daughter hit one just last week in metro Atlanta, go figure. It busted her right headlight assembly all to pieces. Hard to tell if anything else caused by deer due to other damage that was already there. We always watch out for critters.

Anyone ridden this highway lately (or at all)? How was it, roads, etc.? Gotta be a wedding near Marquette MI in Aug, loosely thinking of head west afterwards to Glacier then down to Idaho to visit family. May try and do some camping along the way. In the process of getting hitch,trailer, etc. together for that purpose.

Gonna try and put that pic here. EDIT Seems to be working. I could go a little longer if needed. I was roughly trying to see what would work. Maybe 4 1/2 rather than 4 1/4 hole to hole. I was assuming a 1" overlap between 1/2 flat bar and 1 1/4 square insert, you would know whats best.

I've also heard that it doesn't matter how long it is but rather what you do with it that counts.

so when I put my gps from my iphone into lat/long I left off neg. sign for long. and i ended up in china, i had looked to see my pin when i originally put in info, when I didn't see it I just thought it would take a sec or so to update and I got sidetracked and never went back to look, someone pointed out my pin was in China. so I fixed it.

yea the leverage against the bike was my biggest concern with the one all the stores seem to have, just a matter now of deciding how long I want it to be, thought I'd try and see what others have used.

Have checked every place I can think of just about and they all seem to have the same solid one which is also too long, probably gonna just have a custom one made out of lighter material but gonna check out a couple more places just in case.

So I'm probably going to have carbon one make me up a stinger for my hitch rather than use the commercial ones I can find. For those that know or don't mind measuring, what is the distance from the center of your hitch ball to edge of fender? I've been told shorter is better (obviously as long as nothing hits.) thanks. btw, to use with my HF tag-along

this stinger is rated 300 & 3000, carbon one have offered to make me one out of tubing. I could make one myself If I could find a good source for the stock but would prob have to buy a bunch just for the few inches I need, now the question is how long to make it?

So I have my hitch mounted, looking for a 1 1/4 stinger, any suggestions? Thus far most places have one that is solid steel and ball sits 9 " out. Any suggestions on where to find one? This one would work just seems overkill and ball seems to sit somewhat far out (fyi I'm using carbon ones hitch) Is there an ideal length for the ball to be from the fender? http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200247974_200247974

Welcome, and you live here in the south where we can ride year around (well most of the time). Folks up in snow country still getting the white stuff. I've had my 07 for about a year which I purchased mostly for the wife's benefit (kept my vtx but haven't ridden it much lately). In the process of adding a trailer to do some camping on the bike with the wife, now if I was solo wouldn't need a trailer. PO had already added a stebel horn, GPS, LED tail lights, highway pegs, clearview shield, and I hope to have my seat done in the near future and eventually arm rests & cup holder for the wife . meach

Its the tag-along, may just leave spring alone for now, can always remove later, do want to put some hose around the rear bolt at least. I might just leave the stock tail lights as well and add some LED brake/turn lights up high similar to yours.