Trailer loading my Silverwing

This is about trailering my Silverwing.  This is not an invite to assassinate my plan to trailer / haul my Silverwing.  If that is your opinion, keep it to yourself.  I ride 12 to 15,000 miles a year on my Goldwing.  Yea, I ride.  This is about bringing my Silverwing along on 3 or 4 months at a time away from home.  

Background:  We are moving from Seattle area to Yuma, Arizona this fall.  Our plan is to "reverse snowbird" from Arizona and travel to the northern climes for the months of July, Aug. and September.  We have chosen to tow a pop up tent camper behind my 2008 Ford Ranger.  

The problem:  How to bring along the Silverwing.

My idea is to put the Silverwing in the back of the pickup and load and unload it when we are at our camping destination.  Note:  We plan to move our camp site perhaps every two weeks, not much sooner than that.  

We want to have the Silverwing available to us as we all know the best way to explore is on a Silverwing.  

My concern was how to load and unload the 600 lb scooter safely.  My girl friend has always freaked out when I loaded the Silverwing onto my bike trailer, but this operation will be higher and could be more complicated.  

So, I did my research and I found the Condor loader to be part of my solution.  I found mine on ebay and with shipping, it costs me $400.  

I have to add the ramps but I need to have the loader here to get a sense of the ramps necessary for the load.

I also am considering whether or not to use a hand crank or electric wrench.  I am going to use a snatch block and secure the crank in the tail gate area of the truck.  

Any suggestions would be welcome.  

I will update this thread on the process and perhaps even upload a you tube video of the finished product to encourage anyone else looking for such a solution.

Here is a picture of the Condor Loader.

Good luck! Sounds like you have a plan and hopefully it will come about as you hope! I have a popup tent trailer we pull behind our Nissan Frontier. Coleman Fleetwood Evolution model. The Evolution models have a shelf (porch) on the front for carrying quads or trail bikes. If you don't already have your trailer you might investigate. Not sure it would work for a 500+ pound Silver Wing though... Mine will hold my Trail 90 fine!

GHM-PM wrote:

Good luck!  Sounds like you have a plan and hopefully it will come about as you hope!  I have a popup tent trailer we pull behind our Nissan Frontier.  Coleman Fleetwood Evolution model.  The Evolution models have a shelf (porch) on the front for carrying quads or trail bikes.  If you don't already have your trailer you might investigate.  Not sure it would work for a 500+ pound Silver Wing though... Mine will hold my Trail 90 fine!  

Thanks for your kind words.

I did look at the pop up toy haulers. I just felt this is the preferred method of hauling my Silverwing. I can use this loader for my Goldwing going onto a flat bed trailer as well.

My tent trailer is a 2001 Colman Fleetwood model. I am the 2nd owner of it and the first rarely used it. We plan to use it till it won't work any more! Winters in the south and summer in the north.

Modernman1953 wrote:

GHM-PM wrote:

Good luck!  Sounds like you have a plan and hopefully it will come about as you hope!  I have a popup tent trailer we pull behind our Nissan Frontier.  Coleman Fleetwood Evolution model.  The Evolution models have a shelf (porch) on the front for carrying quads or trail bikes.  If you don't already have your trailer you might investigate.  Not sure it would work for a 500+ pound Silver Wing though... Mine will hold my Trail 90 fine!  

Thanks for your kind words.  

I did look at the pop up toy haulers.  I just felt this is the preferred method of hauling my Silverwing.  I can use this loader for my Goldwing going onto a flat bed trailer as well.  

My tent trailer is a 2001 Colman Fleetwood model.  I am the 2nd owner of it and the first rarely used it.  We plan to use it till it won't work any more!   Winters in the south and summer in the north.  

Do i understand you are going to 'full time' in a tent trailer? you must have an understanding / adventurous significant other!

the plan to haul the silverwing while towing the camper seems reasonable. when you load/unload try to get the rear tires of the truck in a low spot so the ramps arent quite as steep, riding up a narrow ramp is not an easy thing to do - 1 rear window replacement probably costs as much as the loading dolly and winch (get an electric winch if you will be loading and unloading not too expensive from Harbor Freight.)

I like the electric winch thoughts. Not sure where might be best to fix the "hook" end arrangement to the bike but with a ramp and a reversible winch of proper capacity, & with a long enough control cable that gives you "on, off, reverse" access while balancing the bike up the ramp, should work. Attach the winch in the truck box near the top of the box with twice the capacity of what you calculate is required in bolt size. Maybe 1/2" high strength bolts. A simple hand winch like on a boat trailer might work if a helper was available. I tend to err on the side of caution. Or for another thought ..... how about one of those small cranes that are mountable at the rear of a pick-up box? Then there is the problem of the lifting point on the Silverwing. Good luck with this.
Mike

Another engenius solution

Meant to link to "trailer loading". New at posting.....
Bob

LOL, rear wheel chock, new tailgate optional.

Thebreen wrote:

Modernman1953 wrote:

GHM-PM wrote:

Good luck!  Sounds like you have a plan and hopefully it will come about as you hope!  I have a popup tent trailer we pull behind our Nissan Frontier.  Coleman Fleetwood Evolution model.  The Evolution models have a shelf (porch) on the front for carrying quads or trail bikes.  If you don't already have your trailer you might investigate.  Not sure it would work for a 500+ pound Silver Wing though... Mine will hold my Trail 90 fine!  

Thanks for your kind words.  

I did look at the pop up toy haulers.  I just felt this is the preferred method of hauling my Silverwing.  I can use this loader for my Goldwing going onto a flat bed trailer as well.  

My tent trailer is a 2001 Colman Fleetwood model.  I am the 2nd owner of it and the first rarely used it.  We plan to use it till it won't work any more!   Winters in the south and summer in the north.  

Do i understand you are going to 'full time' in a tent trailer?  you must have an understanding / adventurous significant other!  

Not full timing. Just June, July and August in the tent camper. We won't spend every day in it. We will be on vacation and when visiting major cities, we will stay in motels and will will be visiting family and friends as well.

The pop up tent trailer is an upgrade from our 4 man tent.

I don't plan to be running a tailgate on the pickup.  The Silverwing will fit in the box with the tailgate off.

If and it's a BIG IF I were to trailer my scoot I go borrow back my Welker trailer. With the exception of the lack of protection from road spray it was great, the easiest loading hauling trailer I'd seen. A one person loading of a Goldwing or anything, flat to the ground no ramps no lifts. Load, secure bike,crank the load up install three pins and you were ready to go.

oldwingguy wrote:

If and it's a BIG IF I were to trailer my scoot I go borrow back my Welker trailer. With the exception of the lack of protection from road spray it was great, the easiest loading hauling trailer I'd seen. A one person loading of a Goldwing or anything, flat to the ground no ramps no lifts. Load, secure bike,crank the load up install three pins and you were ready to go.

That is great for your application. I have had those trailers as well. My landscape trailer worked perfect for hauling my Goldwing and my lawn tractor.

However, I am gearing up for an extended pop up camping adventure and wish to tote my Silverwing along.

The Condor loader will be here on Monday. I look forward to doing some dry runs with it and see how it gets that big scooter into the back of my pickup.

The big question is how does the Ranger act when loaded to the manufactures load limits. I might be adding some air shocks or over load springs.

I have plenty of time to figure out the hardware. This system will not be deployed until next spring when the weather pushes me out of Yuma. In the mean time, I will be riding that Silverwing all over the southwest.

That's what I have a Ranger PU, I bought a set of 1500 lb rated " helper springs " at Advance auto, they work well and don't change the ride as the springs don't do the job until the weight is such they are needed.