Need ideas on trailer hitch for 26-27 touring.

[dobro1956]

I am starting the design and fabrication of a trailer hitch for our 27 touring. It has wire wheels, factory spare tire carrier/ gooseneck, and full bumpers. If anyone has any input or has already built a hitch, any help will be appreciated. The spare tire and bumpers is going to complicate things. The trailer will weigh aprox 1000 lb fully loaded. I'm also looking to have trailer brakes. So the brakes will also add a little stress to the assembly.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Dennis Prince]

Donnie, I have two 26's with trailer hitches, a touring and roadster (both with wood wheels). The touring has a receiver tube welded into the spare tire goose and reinforced mounting at the upper spring mount. I have a ball receiver and a cargo carrier that mounts there as well. I have only towed a trail with it a couple of time and haven't weighed it but it worked good. I will try and attach pictures of the hitches and the trailer.

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[dobro1956]

Dennis. Thanks for the input and photos. I like how simple it works with wood wheels. With wire wheels I can not go thru the spare. I also like your trailer. We are going to pull a tent camping trailer with ours.

[Craig Leach]

Hi Donnie,
Your camp trailer idea has some interesting issues. Having Surestops is realy good & I take it you have wire wheels? You mentioned using wheel
adaptors for A wheels. May I suggest adaptors for T wheels so one spare will fit both the car & trailer. I will also quess you have a 12vdc system
already with a alternater so you can maintain a good charge in the battery to opperate the trailer brakes if needed for repeted aplications & for
some extended time if needed. I'm also thinking a Time Delay brake controller with Gain & Ramp adjustments to customize the brake apllication
if the T will not brake hard enough to propperly opperate a Proportional / inertia controller in all situations.
I'm envious of your love for the outdoors & camping. My wifes idea of roughing it is a 4 star hotel instead of a 5 star resort.
Craig.

[dobro1956]

Craig. With the Sure Stop brakes I feel comfortable with normal stopping situations. But downhill in gravel maybe not as good. So that is the reason for trying to get trailer brakes. Yes, we have 12 volts. With all our camera batteries and phones, we need reliable 12-volt power. I am not planning on pulling the trailer on the rough off-road trails that we sometimes do. The controller I'll probably use works off the brake light switch. When you hit the brakes and your brake lights come on the controller applies the brakes. It has 2 controls one sets how hard you want the brakes to apply. The other tells the controller how aggressive to apply the brakes. With the two settings it is possible to achieve a good overall setting. Since I have Sure Stop brakes, I already have a hydraulic brake light switch on the T. I'm hoping that with a trailer we may be able to stay out longer. Right now, 2 or 3 days is about the extent our old bodies can take . We have located a trailer that we probably will buy. It's a 1933 Guilkie in what appears to be excellent condition. Just have to wait till the weather clears enough for a road trip to inspect and buy it..... Our era of camping that we try to achieve is 1920s to mid 1930s.

[DanTreace]

Donnie

Someone posted these pics on the forum a while back. Chassis shows T wire wheels, and the part frame and part spring hanger mount uses a long bar to go under the wire wheel spare.


Seems like one way to do it. The trailer gross weight will have to be calculated to do engineering of the mount, long bar, gussets, and the wall thickness and size of sq.tubing.

Short receiver to spring hanger and added frame tubing fastened across the frame behind the crossmenber.

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Long drop bar from receiver to clear the mounted rear wheel.

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Detail of drop bar with hitch ball.

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My '25 touring uses a stubbed off 26-27 gooseneck, with receiver welded on, passes of course thru the spare tire on clincher rim.

[Allan]

If I remember correctly, some A models came with a bar between the two sides of rear bumperettes, and I have seen trailer hitches mounted/welded to that bar. Perhaps the same method could be used on your T. It is certainly neater than some Heath Robinson constructions.

Donnie, did you check out the Redarc controller I mentioned in a previous post. Really inconspicuous when fitted, and infinitely adjustable from the dash.

Allan from down under.