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tag along harbor freight


rbig1

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well when you buy this trailer. There not supposed to charge you tax. You pay the tax when you get the plates. Didn't go that way with me. so just a heads up for next guy. Also if you don't show them the discount price they will try to charge you full price. So be ready or they will try and jip ya. Was going to buy a lift from them but don't know now. Don't like that stuff from stores I'm the customer not the victim.

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I guess that will vary by locality.

In Wisconsin you do have to pay the tax at the store because the GVW of the trailer is under 3,000 lbs so no registration or plates required.

 

If you take that state paperwork back to the HF store and talk nice, you can probably get the tax refunded to you.

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  • 8 months later...

lol I store this trailer inside. Went to move it today. Right wheel wont hardly move. Don't know if plastic cone broke on bearing or what. I might have about 1300 miles on it and I did grease it. Just through the grease fitting though. Just thought it was funny { locked up in a garage out of weather. } will have to fix as its in the way. Thought I would use it more but that never happened. Also the little black latches fall off when released.:Laugh: turd

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I have found that the bearings on the HF trailers are junk even keeping them greased. I lost the bearings on my 4X8 in the mountains in the middle of a rain storm. I replaced them with real bearings and have not had a problem since.

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I still want to build a new axle for my HF trailer. It will then use standard bearings and seals available everywhere, and it will have electric brakes.

Then you would have to figure out a way to add a brake controller also like in a truck wouldnt you? Good idea I think as these things dont stop all that well anyways.

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Yes it will need a controller.

I found a brake controller that I could mount on the trailer tongue in a water proof box. It has a wireless remote that I can put on the handle bars. This way I do not have to have the controller on the bike all the time when I am not using the trailer. Most of my riding is without the trailer. Brake controllers have a 4 wire hookup, power, ground, brake lights, and wire to the brakes. Power I can get from the running lights since they are on anytime the bike is running, Ground is obvious, brake light I can tap off of my high center brake light. Technically if you have trailer brakes you are supposed to have a breakaway switch (or device if you have surge brakes) and a battery on the trailer so that if the trailer ever comes off the hitch and the safety chains do not hold, it will lock the trailers brakes. I have not decided if I will do that or not. I may since I normally pack a battery for powering stuff in the tent. Having the battery wired in, it will be charging while traveling.

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Yes it will need a controller.

I found a brake controller that I could mount on the trailer tongue in a water proof box. It has a wireless remote that I can put on the handle bars. This way I do not have to have the controller on the bike all the time when I am not using the trailer. Most of my riding is without the trailer. Brake controllers have a 4 wire hookup, power, ground, brake lights, and wire to the brakes. Power I can get from the running lights since they are on anytime the bike is running, Ground is obvious, brake light I can tap off of my high center brake light. Technically if you have trailer brakes you are supposed to have a breakaway switch (or device if you have surge brakes) and a battery on the trailer so that if the trailer ever comes off the hitch and the safety chains do not hold, it will lock the trailers brakes. I have not decided if I will do that or not. I may since I normally pack a battery for powering stuff in the tent. Having the battery wired in, it will be charging while traveling.

 

 

I presume in order to do all that you have upgraded the stater/charging system on your bike ? I think that is my next upgrade to my 89. Not to hijack the thread, but on a scale of 1-10, how hard is it to upgrade the stator/charging system ? :confused24:

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I went the other way. I replaced every bulb on the bike and trailer with LED, The stock system now has plenty of spare power. With everything on the bike turned on it is still charging at idle. The electric brakes take less power that the Electric Anti Dive on the bike. so if you have gone progressive springs and unplugged the EAD, there is the power that the brakes need.

 

How is that for swinging a hijack back on track?:rasberry:

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I went the other way. I replaced every bulb on the bike and trailer with LED, The stock system now has plenty of spare power. With everything on the bike turned on it is still charging at idle. The electric brakes take less power that the Electric Anti Dive on the bike. so if you have gone progressive springs and unplugged the EAD, there is the power that the brakes need.

 

How is that for swinging a hijack back on track?:rasberry:

 

Rabbit trail........

 

Back off track...

 

So how much do you think it cost to switch everything over to LED's ? I have disconnected my anti-dives ( which a BIG difference) but I also have a lot of lights..in fact I just finished adding the OEM trunk guard on mine, although I wired the four rear lights to the brakes and the four side lights are brake/turn signals, there is a total of 26 additional lights on the rear not counting the stock rear light. I know I read something about converting to LED in the past, but doesn't it take adding something to make the LED's work in place of the stock ? Do they just plug in the same as the stock ? Inquiring minds want to know ?? :confused24:

 

Rear lights.JPG

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Bill,

 

You can convert your running lights to LED without any issues or resistors. Resistors are only needed on the turn signal circuit because the turn signal flasher needs the resistance of the light bulbs (the load on the circuit) to flash at the proper speed. Without normal bulbs in that circuit, the flashers flash to fast...requiring the addition of resistors to slow everything down again. To me, adding resistors to the circuit is a waste since they have the same current draw as the light bulbs...so no gain there.

 

However, if you add LED turn signals to your existing bulb turn signals, no resister needed since the bulbs are still in line with the flasher. That's what I did when I replaced my front and rear side reflectors with LED lights and attached them to the running light circuit and the turn signal circuit. They run all the time and blink when I use turn signals.

 

Bottom line:

 

1: Adding LEDs to your existing turn signals is fine...no resistors needed.

2: Replacing your bulb running lights with LED's is fine as well. No resistors needed.

By switching out all your bulb running lights with LED's, your electrical load will drop a lot.

 

Last...there are LED replacement bulbs on the market that simply plug in to your run/brake light in the rear. That results in a brighter light that uses less power.

 

Fool's little circuit board will add a flasher to that system so his brake lights will flash when applied. We can buy those flashers for incandescent and LED bulbs as well...he is saving bux and getting exactly what he wants by building it himself! Cool...

 

Hope this helps,

david

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I have disconnected my anti-dives ( which a BIG difference) but I also have a lot of lights..in fact I just finished adding the OEM trunk guard on mine, although I wired the four rear lights to the brakes and the four side lights are brake/turn signals, there is a total of 26 additional lights on the rear not counting the stock rear light.
While sorting out changing to all LED's begin by converting the guard lights to LED's which will reduce the load and not require the addition of a turn signal resistor.
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Hmmmm, the only thing I have done to my Dart purpose built tag along is replaced the tail lights with led. I have not had to replace the bearings, axles, lengthen the tongue, mount a cargo box, replace tires every 3000 mile because the axle is bent. Just hook it up to the bike and go. I read all the comments about the modifying and problems guys have with the HF trailers and it makes me wonder why you guys still mess with these things. It leaves me scrathin me noggin.:think:

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Sometimes you just need a base to start with and then you can modify to make it yours, or I can modify to make it mine.

Besides, the Dart is 10X the cost of the HF. Even with all of the mods to make it great, the HF is no where near the cost of a Dart.

 

 

And the HF looks no where near as nice as my Dart either. I paid $1400 for my trailer....worth every dime. I like to ad things that enhance the beauty of my scoot, not detract from it. I would rather buy something that is purpose built for my application than have to monkey jack around making it work and making it look nice. My time is more valuable to me for that shtuff and I have no patieance for crappy quality as I experienced with my POS HF lift. Just my .02 and my preference.

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And the HF looks no where near as nice as my Dart either. I paid $1400 for my trailer....worth every dime. I like to ad things that enhance the beauty of my scoot, not detract from it. I would rather buy something that is purpose built for my application than have to monkey jack around making it work and making it look nice. My time is more valuable to me for that shtuff and I have no patieance for crappy quality as I experienced with my POS HF lift. Just my .02 and my preference.

 

And that is why we have choices.:big-grin-emoticon:

 

My time is also quite valuable to be, but I enjoy changing and modifying things, some people do not. Once I am done, my trailer will be a one of a kind and I can say that I did it.

Besides, I have to have something to play with all winter to be able to take a break from throwing snowballs across the lake at @cowpuc.

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And that is why we have choices.:big-grin-emoticon:

 

My time is also quite valuable to be, but I enjoy changing and modifying things, some people do not. Once I am done, my trailer will be a one of a kind and I can say that I did it.

Besides, I have to have something to play with all winter to be able to take a break from throwing snowballs across the lake at @cowpuc.

 

 

 

I get where your coming from Jeff. I used to enjoy tinkering, but with my current work load and drive time to and from work, I do not want to tinker anymore. And if you and I team up.......you hit Puc from the west and I will hit him from the east. We'll get that puckster!

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I get where your coming from Jeff. I used to enjoy tinkering, but with my current work load and drive time to and from work, I do not want to tinker anymore. And if you and I team up.......you hit Puc from the west and I will hit him from the east. We'll get that puckster!

 

And he will never see it coming.....:snow2::snow::snow2::snow::snow2:

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Just got a HF flyer in mail yesterday. There is a trailer in there wit the little cargo trunk thing installed and 8" tires on it for $379. pn#66771 lot62644 I dont know which number you would need to look up so there is both.

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  • 1 month later...

well the axle shafts are not quite 1". So the bearings are metric and the hub is also. Going to replace the hub assy so I can buy bearings anywhere. The shaft is just a thousands under sized. I've read where the taper on the lugs is different. so will see what has to be done. Already bought this thing so might as well fix it. very pore quality of steel used on bearings they looked like they were run a million miles. Hope I can find a seal half metric and half American. May have to change shafts also if I don't like it.:bawling:

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