write up: Towing motorcycle with an car- 56k no
05-08-2007, 04:06 AM
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write up: Towing motorcycle with an car- 56k no
I wrote this up for Honda-Tech.com, but here it is.
I know this is non-technical, but I wanted to share my experience with other Accord owners. I have been searching the archives for a long time, but couldn't find any info on this, so here, other owners can now get guidance.
Hitch Install
I bought a 90-93 hitch for my 94 Accord, manufactured my Curt mfg, hoping that it would be the same. Two of the three holes aligned up to where the tow brackets were, but he 3rd holes on each side aligned up to a hole that didn't look very strong. In addition, the mounting bracket on the hitch was a 1/4" too long and it was bumping into the bumper bracket. We decided to cut the hitch and drill another hole in the correct place. The Accord has another hole in the chassis that you can tread a bolt through. After we did this, everything bolted up perfectly. I didn't bother to put on the tow brackets, because if my car ever needs towing, they can always hook on to the hitch.
Wiring
EBay has wiring kits for the Accords for $25-$40, which would just plug into the towing wire in the trunk. I didn't want to spend so much. I went to Auto Zone and bought two things:
1. Car side wiring kit- 4-Way Flat Trailer Connector - ~$2.99
2. Tail light converter ~$9.98
The Accord needs the tail light converter because it has a separate bulb for the turn signal, whereas the trailer flashes the brake light for the turn signal. Some cars do this as well, and they would not need a tail light converter. I found trailer connection diagram from the Accord manual and wired up the lights.
Receiver
I went to walmart and bought:
(1) 1 1/4" hitch bar with a 1/14" drop or a 3/4" raise. I used it on the side with the 3/4" raise - $18.73
(2) 2" hitch ball - $6.97
(3) 1/2" pin clip (to hold in the hitch bar) - $1.88
(4) Ball wrench (to screw on the hitch ball), which I later returned to walmart. - $9.86
Towing
I was picking up a motorcycle from Philadelphia to bring to Hampton, VA (not far from VA beach), approximately 320 miles. I decided to rent a trailer from UHAUL. I decided to rent the trailer for $14 per day for 3 days. When I went, the guy added on insurance for the trailer, extra $24. I went ahead with this since it was my very first time towing a trailer. The UHAUL guys helped me hook up the trailer and get it secure. I stuck the wiring out of my trunk.
Driving with a empty trailer took some getting used to. I wasn't sure how much I could turn with it and was unsure of how it behaved, so I took it to a walmart parking lot and made some turns and observed how the trailer behave making corners. ( I was worried that it would bump in my car at full circle in the accord. lol). I didn't feel much weight from the trailer, but it bounced alot and every pothole it would rattle, since it was empty. Overall, it was a good driving going up. I had to pay double tolls at each toll both though, and this pissed me off. I was a bit disappointed when I went to fill up my gas, I found I only got 24MPG. Normally, I would get 31.5 MPG on the interstate driving.
So, I loaded up my bike into my trailer
At first, I loaded the motorcycle all the way to the front of the trailer and put the wheel into the wheel bracket area at the front, but I realize that most of the weight was on the rear of my car and little on the trailer axle, so I moved the motorcycle as far back as I could to put more of the weight over the trailer axle.
You can see the sagging in the rear and a bit of lifting in the front of my Accord.
Driving with the weight
Driving in the city with the motorcycle on the trailer was a bit scary at first. I heard vibrations and rattles in the chassis/interior of my Accord. I soon realized that it was just the bad roads in Philly. I noticed that quite a lot of people gave me way when I needed to merge or to enter a road, especially guys. 1 or 2 females tried to cut me off, but most of the guys were pretty cool in letting me in front of them.
Driving at low speeds are the worst part of towing, especially in stop light traffic. It takes much longer to move off and I allow excessive braking distance in front of me. Overall, it wasn't bad though. The accord wasn't struggling or anything, you just felt the extra ~900 lbs on it. I have a 5spd Accord. I probably wouldn't recommend it for an automatic car. Driving on the interstate was where it got fun. Above 60 MPH, I could hardly tell that I was towing a 900 lbs trailer. It was smooth driving. The only thing that changed was that I couldn't use cruise control like I always do on the interstate. The cruise control would over correct and if I set the speed to 60 MPH, at times, it would overshoot and go up to >70MPH, so I just drove with my foot to save on gas. Normally, my cruise control would overshoot up to 5 MPH over the set speed when coming to the top of inclines. At speeds of about 50-55 MPH, I did feel the weight on the trailer though, something about it felt extra, not bad, but it just didn't feel as perfectly smooth as going >60MPH.
Once, I stopped on the side of the interstate to check up on everything and make sure everything was still connected. After I was supposed to merge back into traffic, it was a bit scary, because I didn't know how much acceleration I had to go from 0 to 60 in front of moving cars. I waited until it looked clear enough. The acceleration was definitely not bad. I reached to 60 MPH in a decent time and not holding up the lane. I was impressed. I wouldn't recommend stopping on the side fo the interstate if you don't have to though. That wasn't the best of ideas.
And so, I reached home after a good fun drive. I made 320 miles and my gas needle was at 1/8 tank left. I filled up and to my surprise, I got 24.4 MPG again. I actually got slightly better gas mileage with the motorcycle on the trailer than with it empty!
So, I went home and unloaded
Overall, its not bad to get 24 mpg once in a while when I need to move something big, and with UHAUL renting trailers for $14-$20 per day, its like having a truck for only when I need it. A truck would get less than 20 MPG all day long. I still get my great gas mileage all day, but have utility when I need it. :thumbup: <3 my Honda
I know this is non-technical, but I wanted to share my experience with other Accord owners. I have been searching the archives for a long time, but couldn't find any info on this, so here, other owners can now get guidance.
Hitch Install
I bought a 90-93 hitch for my 94 Accord, manufactured my Curt mfg, hoping that it would be the same. Two of the three holes aligned up to where the tow brackets were, but he 3rd holes on each side aligned up to a hole that didn't look very strong. In addition, the mounting bracket on the hitch was a 1/4" too long and it was bumping into the bumper bracket. We decided to cut the hitch and drill another hole in the correct place. The Accord has another hole in the chassis that you can tread a bolt through. After we did this, everything bolted up perfectly. I didn't bother to put on the tow brackets, because if my car ever needs towing, they can always hook on to the hitch.
Wiring
EBay has wiring kits for the Accords for $25-$40, which would just plug into the towing wire in the trunk. I didn't want to spend so much. I went to Auto Zone and bought two things:
1. Car side wiring kit- 4-Way Flat Trailer Connector - ~$2.99
2. Tail light converter ~$9.98
The Accord needs the tail light converter because it has a separate bulb for the turn signal, whereas the trailer flashes the brake light for the turn signal. Some cars do this as well, and they would not need a tail light converter. I found trailer connection diagram from the Accord manual and wired up the lights.
Receiver
I went to walmart and bought:
(1) 1 1/4" hitch bar with a 1/14" drop or a 3/4" raise. I used it on the side with the 3/4" raise - $18.73
(2) 2" hitch ball - $6.97
(3) 1/2" pin clip (to hold in the hitch bar) - $1.88
(4) Ball wrench (to screw on the hitch ball), which I later returned to walmart. - $9.86
Towing
I was picking up a motorcycle from Philadelphia to bring to Hampton, VA (not far from VA beach), approximately 320 miles. I decided to rent a trailer from UHAUL. I decided to rent the trailer for $14 per day for 3 days. When I went, the guy added on insurance for the trailer, extra $24. I went ahead with this since it was my very first time towing a trailer. The UHAUL guys helped me hook up the trailer and get it secure. I stuck the wiring out of my trunk.
Driving with a empty trailer took some getting used to. I wasn't sure how much I could turn with it and was unsure of how it behaved, so I took it to a walmart parking lot and made some turns and observed how the trailer behave making corners. ( I was worried that it would bump in my car at full circle in the accord. lol). I didn't feel much weight from the trailer, but it bounced alot and every pothole it would rattle, since it was empty. Overall, it was a good driving going up. I had to pay double tolls at each toll both though, and this pissed me off. I was a bit disappointed when I went to fill up my gas, I found I only got 24MPG. Normally, I would get 31.5 MPG on the interstate driving.
So, I loaded up my bike into my trailer
At first, I loaded the motorcycle all the way to the front of the trailer and put the wheel into the wheel bracket area at the front, but I realize that most of the weight was on the rear of my car and little on the trailer axle, so I moved the motorcycle as far back as I could to put more of the weight over the trailer axle.
You can see the sagging in the rear and a bit of lifting in the front of my Accord.
Driving with the weight
Driving in the city with the motorcycle on the trailer was a bit scary at first. I heard vibrations and rattles in the chassis/interior of my Accord. I soon realized that it was just the bad roads in Philly. I noticed that quite a lot of people gave me way when I needed to merge or to enter a road, especially guys. 1 or 2 females tried to cut me off, but most of the guys were pretty cool in letting me in front of them.
Driving at low speeds are the worst part of towing, especially in stop light traffic. It takes much longer to move off and I allow excessive braking distance in front of me. Overall, it wasn't bad though. The accord wasn't struggling or anything, you just felt the extra ~900 lbs on it. I have a 5spd Accord. I probably wouldn't recommend it for an automatic car. Driving on the interstate was where it got fun. Above 60 MPH, I could hardly tell that I was towing a 900 lbs trailer. It was smooth driving. The only thing that changed was that I couldn't use cruise control like I always do on the interstate. The cruise control would over correct and if I set the speed to 60 MPH, at times, it would overshoot and go up to >70MPH, so I just drove with my foot to save on gas. Normally, my cruise control would overshoot up to 5 MPH over the set speed when coming to the top of inclines. At speeds of about 50-55 MPH, I did feel the weight on the trailer though, something about it felt extra, not bad, but it just didn't feel as perfectly smooth as going >60MPH.
Once, I stopped on the side of the interstate to check up on everything and make sure everything was still connected. After I was supposed to merge back into traffic, it was a bit scary, because I didn't know how much acceleration I had to go from 0 to 60 in front of moving cars. I waited until it looked clear enough. The acceleration was definitely not bad. I reached to 60 MPH in a decent time and not holding up the lane. I was impressed. I wouldn't recommend stopping on the side fo the interstate if you don't have to though. That wasn't the best of ideas.
And so, I reached home after a good fun drive. I made 320 miles and my gas needle was at 1/8 tank left. I filled up and to my surprise, I got 24.4 MPG again. I actually got slightly better gas mileage with the motorcycle on the trailer than with it empty!
So, I went home and unloaded
Overall, its not bad to get 24 mpg once in a while when I need to move something big, and with UHAUL renting trailers for $14-$20 per day, its like having a truck for only when I need it. A truck would get less than 20 MPG all day long. I still get my great gas mileage all day, but have utility when I need it. :thumbup: <3 my Honda
05-08-2007, 06:37 AM
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Re: write up: Towing motorcycle with an car- 56k no
werd.
next up, a write up on properly tieing down a bike. the way you had it tied down (although i understand your reasoning for it) may work, but it's not the most secure way.
next up, a write up on properly tieing down a bike. the way you had it tied down (although i understand your reasoning for it) may work, but it's not the most secure way.
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