Pics of what you tow with your Sportsmobile

[r27d]

Originally Posted by Nrobert10

Van has to earn it’s keep also! Pulling one of the toys.

Nice boat! Here's mine.

[hojhauler]

Not a SM but 2012 E-350 w V10
1st pic Towing my favorite toy
2nd pic rescuing my daughter’s toy

[Orv]

This is my motorcycle trailer. I bought it from a woman who said her dad built it in the 1970s to tow a couple of dirt bikes. The side channels are made of frame rails from some kind of vehicle; a natural kick-up in the frame was used to turn them in toward the tongue. It has a drop-center I-beam front axle, possibly from the same vehicle. I've never been able to figure out what it's from, but the huge ball-bearing hubs make me think pre-WWII. It looks like the hubs may have originally been from artillery-style wheels, and someone welded 16" drop-center rims onto them at some point to make them into disc wheels. I gather this was a common modification after WWII to take advantage of cheaper tires.

It was pretty rough when I got it, but I repainted it and put a new wood deck on it, plus new safety chains and tail lights. It tracks perfectly behind the van, and the 16" tires make it more suitable for rough roads than most utility trailers.

The entire trailer weighs only 300 pounds, roughly the same as the motorcycle I usually carry on it.

My only real problem is it's nearly impossible to back, due to being so short coupled. Because it's so light that's rarely an issue, though, I can just pick up the tongue and push it where I need it to be.

[86Scotty]

That's an awesome little trailer. Never sell it! Unfortunately I sold my Dad's homemade moto trailer years ago in favor of a more practical (and bigger) utility trailer. It too had some stone age early automotive axle, even the hubcaps. It was some 1950's axle, actually, with hub caps still intact.

Drill a couple holes and add some tall flags for backing, then stuff them in the van somewhere when not backing. It helps.

[simplesez]

Some photos from last year. Towing the toys

[Fork-N-Road]

Originally Posted by simplesez

Some photos from last year. Towing the toys

Attachment 38048Attachment 38049

Nice All-Trac! My good friend had one in the same vintage, those aren't very easy to come by!

[simplesez]

Thanks! That is my restoration project. Back on the road soon I hope. Very rare ISMA verrsion

[Orv]

Originally Posted by 86Scotty

That's an awesome little trailer. Never sell it! Unfortunately I sold my Dad's homemade moto trailer years ago in favor of a more practical (and bigger) utility trailer. It too had some stone age early automotive axle, even the hubcaps. It was some 1950's axle, actually, with hub caps still intact.

Drill a couple holes and add some tall flags for backing, then stuff them in the van somewhere when not backing. It helps.

It reminds me a lot of the trailers my grandpa used to build on his farm. He was one of those self-taught farm mechanics who could build just about anything with scrap angle iron and a Lincoln stick welder.

I really hope I can keep that axle because it's such a relic, but I can tell finding replacement bearings will be an issue. When I had it apart to repack the bearings I found the bearing numbers, but they're all obsolete ones that don't cross reference to anything. If it comes down to it I can probably bolt some other solid axle up to the leaf springs.

The problem with backing it isn't so much visibility -- I have a backup camera for that. It's that the combination of a short tongue-to-axle distance on the trailer and a long overhang on the van makes it swing extremely rapidly. I could fix that with a longer tongue but I kind of like how compact it is.

The axle *maybe* should have been placed another foot or so aft (the tongue weight is also on the light side of what you'd expect) but I've had it up to 80 mph and it's never swayed, so I can't really fault the design.

[h.grenade]

So may cool setups here. Vans are the best vehicles ever!


We towed this all over OR and CA when the van was just stock interior. Does great except for huge hills with the tiny V8. Probably would be better with the 5Star Tune.


We towed this up to BC and back. Handles great but man it sucks the gas milage. I was pretty unhappy about that. The Nobo 19.5 is about 4500lbs loaded and we got 9mpg. This tiny ass 6x12 we only get 10mpg. Any that was just with dirt bikes inside. Maybe it was a windy day. The plan was to do a bathroom in here for long trips and still have room for our motos.

I might just switch to a small Kendon and a shower tent : )

[SheepShagger]

Towing my next project.