So we went to Home Depot this last weekend and did some brainstorming. Left with all kinds of fun stuff, and spent about six hours with a carbide drill bit and a pencil torch to turn this:



(Our old baby trailer, since updated to a much nicer model for the 2 yo)

To this:





Looks a little cobbled together at the moment, but it is actually quite sturdy, with room for clothes and camera equipment and other stuff that needs to stay dry in the box, and a couple spare tires, tubes, and two 10L dry sacks up front. The tires are temporary, came off of an old mtb, I plan on getting some narrow road slicks asap. The advantage of the 26" wheels is that the flatbed sits perfectly level. Still some work to do, but it looks promising. My girlfriend and I are planning a tour in June, and this will let me pack the heavy/compact stuff in the Nomad, and let her carry the bulky, but less heavy items with much less wind resistance than the drag-chute-like canopy trailer.

Okay, the wheels don't match, but reuse/recycle, right? Total cost so far into things we were going to get rid of anyway: $60.

I approve!

Looks great! One question though:Anyone know how the normal MTB hub (supposed to be supported from both ends of the axle) adapts to being supported only from one side? I have a trailer that needs replacement wheels, and I've been holding off trying to find the kind of wheels your trailer originally had. Turns out they're fairly difficult to find where I live.

--J

That is a nagging concern... I'm going to do some pretty extensive testing in this regard before we leave. My initial hypothesis is that it won't be a huge issue, although the bearings might need servicing a little sooner than they otherwise would. The QR skewers are supported by a semi conical bushing and a brass sleeve that closely matches the ID of the holes for the original axles... this allows the wheels to center up and align as the QR is tightened. The only lateral movement at the wheels comes from the slight flex in the frame. Also, there is minimal side loading like there would be if the wheels had to tilt in order to turn. It's an experiment!

Good luck with the experiment! Please post follow-ups here, I'd be curious to know if it works well.

--J

Great job, have you posted it on the Utility bike sub forum?

Since you were going to get rid of this anyway, this is a great idea indeed!

As long as the axle doesn't sag,the hubs will be fine.If the axle sags,it will crack the center of the hub at some point.Instead of the hub going around a centerline,it will flex in the middle,fatigue,then crack.

Looking good!

I think that depends where the axle bends. I have fished a couple baby joggers out of the dumpster, and they had bent axles; but the axles bent right where they were attached to the dropout, so it didn't bother the alignment between the bearings.

I'd check how much weight the baby jogger was supposed to be able to carry; as long as you don't go too much over that, you should be fine.

If they do bend, you can probably straighten them; but if you do, replace them ASAP. Bending means metal fatigue, and each successive bend will be worse, until it breaks.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone! This trailer will be hauling mainly clothes, spares, and other not-too-heavy items. Probably 30lbs max. The trailer was originally rated for 80 lbs.

Just to test it out today, I put a 3 gallon water jug on the front, and two 5 lb. weights in the bin. So that's right around 30 lbs. No problems, in fact it rode better loaded than it did empty. No worries about side loading or lateral stability.

One thing is clear, though... bumps and potholes taken at speed definitely stress the attachment point of the wheel. I'd say this setup is pretty solid, just watch the bumps!

Nice work, I've been planning on doing something similar with my instep trailer as soon as my youngest moves out of it this year. Family camping on a rails-to-trails is just too much trouble getting everything in paniers and on racks. I think I'll go with the original wheels though. Thanks for posting the photos.

this guy lives and does his shop out of Flagstaff. Might want to talk with him. I found him to be very nice.
https://www.biketrailershop.com/

Resurrecting this thread to report back on the project.

I'm going to say, without any hesitation: DO NOT DO THIS.

The trailers that have square stock frames are not laterally rigid enough to resist torsion forces being transmitted from the longer lever arm of the larger wheels. We loaded the trailer up and got about 10 miles into a test ride when we noticed the whole frame twisting from side-to-side and whipping back and forth between the wheels. There is not enough structural integrity to the wheel mounts to hold them in a consistent plane.

I will grant that we did have a fair amount of weight on there, but I would expect the problem to develop with any amount of weight, given enough time. Initial tests were promising, but the final analysis is: dramatically unsafe.

I would think that some sort of solid axle or maybe a few pieces of rebar welded across the frame would help.

For our upcoming tour, my girlfriend will, sadly, be hauling this instead:

Juda, My friend and I got to stay a day and night in Helsinki on a layover-what a wonderful city it is!!! We had a great time with sights, foods and peoples and I would love to return.