BossCat's Push Trailer

I never had much luck with wheels unsupported on the outside. I am running some trailers like that because they are lighter but I'm always expecting them to fail. all my previous ones have. If there is a secret let me know.
 
As it was a lovely day I took a little trip over to Maplins in Falkirk (about 14 miles) to get some cable connectors and wire.

Setting off...

falkirktrip1.jpg


I was just on the approach to the new bridge over the river Forth...

Bridge approach.

newbridge.jpg


when the chain on my push trailer came off, Damn. Went I stopped to put it back on I realised I'd lost it? I then walked back along the road and retrieved the chain, back at the bike with the chain I found that I had also lost the small sprocket of the motor, double Damn. I walked back along the road and managed to find the sprocket but couldn't find the nut that holds it on. I had to cycle on to Falkirk unassisted :(

On Bridge looking back at the Ochil hills.

onbridge.jpg


When I arrived at Falkirk I went straight to Maplins and showed the guy my Turnigy watt meter. Sorry we dont have any wire like that. Have you got any connectors? Sorry we dont have any of the type your looking for. I left Maplins and headed for Halfords as my bike needs new tyres. Do you have tyres that will fit my hybred bike - 700 X 40C? eerrr no, we dont stock those type of tyres.
So my journey to Falkirk was a bit of a waste barring for the exercise and a nice sunny day.

Regards
Tom
 
Gee sounds like my life these days...Personally I make a lot of lemonaid..(you know when lif thows you lemons and all that)
 
As you say, at least it was a sunny day. In a downpour that would have been a lot less than fun. The rig looks good and must get some stares. If it weren't for the internet and mail I wouldn't be able to move my projects ahead relying on what is available locally. Have you figured out how you're going to keep that nut on? I think I'd buy two of them.
SB
 
deacon said:
I never had much luck with wheels unsupported on the outside. I am running some trailers like that because they are lighter but I'm always expecting them to fail. all my previous ones have. If there is a secret let me know.
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Yep, your right Deacon (I haven't found the secret) it failed. I'll have to support the wheels on both sides. I have always made my trailers with cantilevered wheels and they have held up great but this is the first time I have added a motor, which puts added stress on the wheel - that added to a loose wheel nut has caused the wheel spindal to bend :(. I took the wheel into my local bike shop today to get him to stick a new spindal in it. I also asked him to order me up some new bike tyres.

silverbear said:
As you say, at least it was a sunny day. In a downpour that would have been a lot less than fun. The rig looks good and must get some stares. If it weren't for the internet and mail I wouldn't be able to move my projects ahead relying on what is available locally. Have you figured out how you're going to keep that nut on? I think I'd buy two of them.
SB
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Yeah silverbear, stares and plenty questions. I got asked on two seperate occasions (while at Falkirk) about the trailer, each guy kept me talking well over half an hour, in the end I had to get out of Falkirk before I got asked again and it got dark :D
As to the lost sprocket nut. It was a left hand threaded nut and I couldn't get a hold of one so I got the sprocket welded back onto the motor spindal, I dont think it'll come of in a hurry ;)

Regards
Tom
 
yes those nuts are a pain. I found some at auto fastener. I don't remember the diameter of the nut though.

I tried to weld my own and screwed up the sprocket so I had to toss the motor. I also messed up the drive shaft I think. I might pull it out of the junk heap and give it another try.

My trailers failed with battery weight on them. The only way I can use bike tires is to support both sides. I am running lawn mower tires on a small battery trailer unsupported but I expect them to fail at any moment. Plastic hubs you know.
 
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Nylon fixing nuts should do the job (drop of Locktite might as well).
As for trailers , well, live axle is invented long ago , as well as bearings. I know that it can be a pain in the butt to do that properly , but scavenging comes to rescue again. For example , those things with wheels that people use in storage rooms - don't know right expression (moving refrigerators without forklift) or in bars (to move few cases of beer ) are very sturdy and with some cutting and welding , you'll get almost unbreakable trailer. Just mu two cents...
 
I spent most of today restructuring my push trailer, its now supported on both sides. I still have a few little things to do to it and a few more test runs to make sure it holds together this time :D
Once the tests are complete and all is ok, i'll strip it all down and give it a lick of paint.

trailertest1.jpg


trailertest2.jpg


I also fitted my new rear rack box on and my new LED light, wow this things bright, you can see it in the daylight.

Rear Box.
ACB990.jpg


LED Light.
spotlight.jpg


Im going trailer testing now, i'll fit my new bike tyres tomorrow.

Regards
Tom
 
zabac70 said:
Nylon fixing nuts should do the job (drop of Locktite might as well).
As for trailers , well, live axle is invented long ago , as well as bearings. I know that it can be a pain in the butt to do that properly , but scavenging comes to rescue again. For example , those things with wheels that people use in storage rooms - don't know right expression (moving refrigerators without forklift) or in bars (to move few cases of beer ) are very sturdy and with some cutting and welding , you'll get almost unbreakable trailer. Just mu two cents...
Click to expand...

Do you mean a Sack Barrow? like this...

Sack%20Truck.jpg


I actually thought of making a trailer out of one of these a while back. We call them sack barrows.

Regards
Tom
 
Interesting the difference in terminology. Where I come from these are called a "dolly"... appliance dolly or furniture dolly and yes also used in feed stores to move sacks of grain. Looks like a good possibility to me so long as it is the pneumatic kind with a tube and air. Some are solid rubber and I wouldn't think that would do at all.
SB
 
Dollies here have those wheels that swivel where as hand trucks have only two wheels and they are fixed. I have some solid tires on lawn mower wheels I am messin with/; I'm afraid of them because they are plastic hubed.
 
deacon said:
Dollies here have those wheels that swivel where as hand trucks have only two wheels and they are fixed. I have some solid tires on lawn mower wheels I am messin with/; I'm afraid of them because they are plastic hubed.
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Deacon,
As I think about it you are quite right, a dolly has wheels which swivel and is usually a kind of platform of one kind or another, like with a piano dolly. I have heard the term dolly, mis-applied to a hand truck and have been guilty myself. A dolly would make a crappy trailer. A hand truck might be just the thing.
SB
 
Actually a hand truck would be like an old American Indian litter (now someone tell us the real name of it please) pulled long behind a horse, but those did not have wheels. The Indian thing was what I had in mind when I built my push trailers which were attached to both sides of the axle.

Funny thing about those push trailers I built. I could run a motor with 11 teeth with a 62 tooth sprocket on a 16" wheel and it ran just fine. None of the gearing problems guys talk about, or geared motor needed. I think the difference was that the pusher trailer had no weight on it. Yes it was pushing my butter ball butt around, but it could skip over the ground if it needed to, rather than burn up the wiring or motor. Another reason I love friction drive, it also skips over the tire rather than burn things up. It is so much simpler to build no gearing or special motors to deal with.
 
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Deacon,
Each tribe had their own name for it, but the name that stuck is from the French who called it a travois. I believe that's how it is spelled.
SB
 
I was thinking that it was something like that, but I couldn't pull it from my foggy memory.
 
Handcart yes /.... I know these threads wander around but usually they have information hidden in them useless today but who knows what is interesting at a cocktail party.
 
Hi Deacon et al. With chain drive a smaller wheel is like gearing things down - higher power, lower speeds. One day when I had way too much time on my hands I made up a spreadsheet for calculating wheel rpms for mph with different size wheels. A 16" wheel turns 315 rpm at 15 mph, 420 at 20 mph, 525 at 25 mph, etc. A 3000 rpm motor with 11:62 sprockets turns about 532 rpm. Figure it gets about 80% under load = 426 rpm, or just over 20 mph.

With friction drive, bicycle wheel size doesn't matter but the size of the drive spindle (or drive wheel in the rhino case) does matter. A 12" drive wheel turning 420 rpm goes 15,825.6" in 1 minute (12x3.14x420). Divided by 12 to get ft per minute = 1318.8. Multiply by 60 to get ft/hr and then divide by 5280 to get mph = 15 mph. Assuming no slippage, the wheel that it is being driven turns the same number of mph. If you don't want to figure stuff like that out shoot me a PM and I'll look it up or figure it for you - jd
 
JDC , for that amount of math , someone will shoot ...I try to avoid it on the forum all the time. Never the less , great thing that you've done that - someone will , definitely , find it useful . Why don't you post that spreadsheet here with all the combination's ?
 
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