1985 Honda Big Red 250ES front wheel trailer ball /bracket attachment

[MotorCity]

Hey all,
I'd like to put a front trailer ball "bracket" on the front end of my Big Red. I'd liket to do this so I can use my Big Red to move my 16 foot fishing boat up /down the driveway. I've seen people mount trailer ball attachments to the front of their trucks bumper to hook up to whatever trailer and move around, I'd like to do the same to my 250ES.

Has anybody done this, or does anybody have a pic? Figure I'd have to come of the front forks somehow with angle iron, bolt/weld, to put the trailer ball on.

I allready have a trailer ball on back, but backing is kinda a pain in teh ass in my driveway, I'd like to pull my boat down the driveway with the trailer attached on teh big red rear hitch, and when I come home, "back it up" my driveway with the big red front hitch, so I'd be driving the 3-wheeler "forward", and boat would be "backed up".

[dustrunner]

I wouldn't suggest it, I don't think the forks or steering stem would handle it well. just my .02 cents..

[Hair Bear Bunch]

I wouldn't have thought the forks and stem bearings would cope. Also you would be constantly fighting a sideways force which would be almost uncontrollable leaving little or no steering and very likely twist the forks. I've worked around trailers from boats to trucks all my life and haven't ever seen any advantage to having a trailer hitched to the front.

[Stonewall]

You would be better off doing this with a 4 wheeler. Doing this would require a hoop around the front tire attached to the fork sliders. That means that whenever you try to steer, the hitch will have 3 or more feet of left-right travel. When you put weight on that you wont be able to steer it at all, and you'll most likely destroy your forks.

[Flyingw]

Normally I would agree with the other guys however if you were to build a bracket for the front of your Big Red and used a tongue wheel to take the weight of the trailer tongue instead of the front end of the Big Red then yes, its very doable. When I was in the Air Force, I was a tow tractor driver with AWACS. Our hanger complex configuration dictated that the aircraft be backed in tail first to the hangers and my tow tractor had hitches on the front and the back. When I would push an aircraft in to the hanger, I would push the aircraft in with the tow bar on the front of the tractor. This made this operation far easier than trying to back the aircraft in to the hanger with the tow tractor pushing the aircraft from the back hitch. The same thing applies here to you and your boat so I understand where you are coming from. As I said, for this to work, you would need the weight of the trailer tongue to be on a tongue wheel and not on the front end of the trike.

[tri again]

Normally I would agree with the other guys however if you were to build a bracket for the front of your Big Red and used a tongue wheel to take the weight of the trailer tongue instead of the front end of the Big Red then yes, its very doable. When I was in the Air Force, I was a tow tractor driver with AWACS. Our hanger complex configuration dictated that the aircraft be backed in tail first to the hangers and my tow tractor had hitches on the front and the back. When I would push an aircraft in to the hanger, I would push the aircraft in with the tow bar on the front of the tractor. This made this operation far easier than trying to back the aircraft in to the hanger with the tow tractor pushing the aircraft from the back hitch. The same thing applies here to you and your boat so I understand where you are coming from. As I said, for this to work, you would need the weight of the trailer tongue to be on a tongue wheel and not on the front end of the trike.

Nice as usual, fw.
I was thinking about the way people mount snowplows...nothing really attached to the forks.

If it's in the driveway, hopefully paved, a simple matter of 'steering' the boat
and trailer? with the trailer wheel on the ground?
12 ft aluminum under 100 lbs??

[Stonewall]

Like Flyingw, I have also backed airplanes into hangars, my flight instructor actully has a Honda Foreman set up just for that purpose. It has a hitch on the front for the towbar, and it's much better than trying to use the rear hitch. We even have a receiver on the front of the farm's F-350. The same idea tri again mentioned occurred to me as well. You could use a mounting system similar to the old Big Red snowplows, with a couple of casters on the front and a hitch ball instead of plow. I didn't mention it because I doubt that it would work very well, simply because of the amount of leverage that would be on the mounts when you turn. There are almost no ways to add lateral stability to a hitch like that. I know if I tried using it I'd bend the hell out of it before quick.

[redsox]

the tractor/truck/quad set up have totally different steering than the big red. i see the advantages of having a front mounted hitch, but i do not see how it could work on a trike. the steering pivots on one point. the load would need to move perpendicular to the trike in order to steer. even if the trailer had a tongue wheel, you'd need to "pull" the entire load when you steer in either direction and "push" the entire load when you bring the bars back to center. its an original idea, but i don't think its a good idea.

[MotorCity]

Yes, trailer has a fold down wheel, my driveway is paved (but narrow between houses, hence reason I'm askign this is in first place). I have a cycle country snow plow currently mounted on teh big red, maybe I could remove teh plow , and mount some type of ball on it. I will be moving slowly, I have a hard time believing I'll screw up my forks etc.

[Stonewall]

Yes, trailer has a fold down wheel, my driveway is paved (but narrow between houses, hence reason I'm askign this is in first place). I have a cycle country snow plow currently mounted on teh big red, maybe I could remove teh plow , and mount some type of ball on it. I will be moving slowly, I have a hard time believing I'll screw up my forks etc.

You won't hurt your forks doing it that way, but I'm afraid your snowplow wont hold up to the side to side forces. It's just made to push.

[redsox]

Yes, trailer has a fold down wheel, my driveway is paved (but narrow between houses, hence reason I'm askign this is in first place). I have a cycle country snow plow currently mounted on teh big red, maybe I could remove teh plow , and mount some type of ball on it. I will be moving slowly, I have a hard time believing I'll screw up my forks etc.

well, that would solve some of the problems. i agree w stonewall that is alot of bad leverage on that plow rig.