Utility Cycling - Trailer hitch help

I was thinking about building a trailer for the bike to haul stuff, and the hitch seems to be the part thatis most difficult. I just had a safety 1st kid trailer given to me, and my daughter loves it, but it has a clamp that holds ont the left chainstay and I kept hitting my foot on the knob. So that designis out and I'd like to make a hitch that could be put on the kid hauler as well, so they were compatible with the bike end and easy to switch back and forth. I ws looking for ball joints on McMaster-Carr, and found this. Anyone ever use something like this for a bike trailer hitch?

http://www.mcmaster.com/param/images/RodEnds/ItemDetailScreenBallJointLinkageQuickDisconnect.gif

here's the page where I found it.
http://www.mcmaster.com/itm/find.ASP?tab=find&context=psrchDtlLink&fasttrack=False&searchstring=6058K34

It dosen't list any specs on strength, and I might be worried about it popping out of the socket

That is absolutely perfect ..... it's what I use for my bike trailers: I use the 10 mm threaded male & female size.

As for strength;having used them on Agricultura,construction and Earth Moving Machinery I can confirm that they are more than adequete.

This is what I made prior to buying my WIKE trailer. Airline fittings and caster swivel brackets FTW.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h170/HandsomeRyan/CC2.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h170/HandsomeRyan/CC3.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h170/HandsomeRyan/IMG_0396.jpg

You can see the quick-attatch ball joint on the drawbar of my trailer ( the chain is there to lock the trailer to my bike to prevent theft).

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m230/Gareth_Lewis/Bicycles%20and%20bits/trailer014.jpg

Thanks. I really didn't have much doubt about the strength of the joint, but knowing that someone else has been using the same thing is reassuring. That is one nice trailer, Gareth. Did you just thread the ball joint quick release on the tongue of the trailer, or is it welded/pinned/etc as well? I can't tell in the picture.

This is the hitch joint that I developed for a cargo trailer I'm manufacturing in small batches. It sound like the clamp itself would not work for you but I think you might find the joint useful. It's made with small pieces of angle and 1/4"-20 nuts and bolt with a nylon washer between all the pieces - good luck!

You can see the quick-attatch ball joint on the drawbar of my trailer ( the chain is there to lock the trailer to my bike to prevent theft).

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m230/Gareth_Lewis/Bicycles%20and%20bits/trailer014.jpg

While this trailer looks pro built all the way it also looks to be very heavy also.

While this trailer looks pro built all the way it also looks to be very heavy also.

Depends more on the weight of the wheels and the platform material than the tubing thickness.

:)ensen.

Depends more on the weight of the wheels and the platform material than the tubing thickness.

:)ensen.



The specs of my home-made bike trailer are as follows:

Majority of the material used is 16 mm outside diameter steel hydraulic tubing. The drawbar socket tube is 22 mm outside diameter hydraulic tubing ...............the drawbar insert is 16 mm diameter round steel bar, and had to be turned down on a lathe at work so that it fits nicely inside the 22 mm tubing. The retractable parking stand is made from 15 mm hydraulic tubing, and slides easily into the 22 mm tubing. Cross braces for the corners are 20 mm X 3 mm mild steel, the wheel fixings are made from 5 mm thick mild steel plate. The cargo deck is made from 6 mm WBC exterior plywood, with two strips of 3 M, 100 mm wide none slip tape added.

Cargo deck 30 inches long X 18 inches wide.

Overall width to outside of the frame is 26 inches.

The mudguards have been made from 1 mm thick mild steel sheet MiG welded together, and have been coated with hot sprayed galvanising.

Overall unladen weight is just under 25 lbs or 12.5 kg's, and is approx. 2 kgs lighter than it's European commercially made Aluminium framed counterpart.

The steel rimmed wheels are 16 inches in diameter and are fitted with Schwalbe City Jet slick 16 X 1.9 tyres. I originally used a cheap pair of 16 X 1.75 knobbly tyres, but these created an unacceptable amount of tyre friction and increased rolling resistance

The wheels centres have been set at about 2 inches to the rear of the centre line, to impose a load upon the drawbar and towing bicycle to prevent the trailer from nodding up and down around the wheel centre.

This home built trailer of mine is horrendously strong; just as I designed it to be. The average monthly shopping payload that it regularly hauls is around 20-22 kgs, I have towed 75kgs over 5 miles on it, and once it even got loaded to over 100kgs for a 1 mile trip. Although the unladen weight of the trailer can be an issue for the pedalling cyclist providing the power, I have found that the rolling resistance created by under inflated or the wrong type of tyres, and incorrectly set and lubricated axle bearings really is the critical factor.