Compact (Hunter) frame help

[Seldomseensmith]

I'm in the process of designing an off road capable frame and suspension for my Compact. I saw a thread on here from someone that made an extended length frame and for the life of me I can't find it. I was hoping to review it if anyone knows which one I mean. The gentleman had a motorcycle mounted on frame I believe. Thanks. -David


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[Jon in AZ]

I do remember seeing the one you're talking about, but I am coming up dry as well. I vaguely recall it was in one of the many long threads on bicycle racks...

Donna? We need you!

[cityslicker]

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ter-47194.html

when in doubt a great way to search this site is actually externally. I simply put my keywords into google and follow it with fiberglass rv. The site is indexed extremely well. for this it was "extended frame fiberglass rv" and this is what I got.

Mike

[Jon in AZ]

That's not the one I recall. It was a Hunter/Campster type, and an entirely new frame was fabricated so the motorcycle could ride in front of the cabin, where it belongs for stable towing.

[Eddie Longest]

There was a thread about 8-10 years ago where someone extended the frame to the front on a Red Compact II. I found one picture of the trailer but is was before the frame extension and it was posted by Historian. Will try again to post link.
Eddie
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/m...icture308.html

[Bob Miller]

While dismissed by the O.P., don't overlook the "Pendulum" effect caused by attaching a significant weight so far behind the axle. I added a set of crank-down stabilizing jacks (admittedly for a much larger trailer, but they were new and free!) near the back of my Hunter frame and, with still over 10% of total weight on the hitch, I noticed a substantial increase in swayability(?) to the point where I will be taking them off in the near future.


Several other posts have noted this when adding as little as a loaded dual bicycle rack on the back bumper.

[Eddie Longest]

This is the thread I was looking for but it is not the with the extended front frame.
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...r-21709-2.html
I will keep looking.
Eddie
This may be what you are looking for.
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ter-53092.html

[Packdaddy]

Jim Forest has a very nice compact with frame extended to carry his motorcycle. You can see his build on on Hunter compact group on Facebook


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[SouthwestOregon201]

When I was researching awnings I found this Compact Jr. and it also had an extended frame with a motorcycle mounted on the trailer. I'm sorry but I cropped off the front of the picture. However, you can see the heavy stabilizer jacks on the front and the rear of the trailer. That frame was about 6 feet long in front of the cab.
I looked back through all 42 pages of the Registry but they are no longer listed.

Dave Heffner
Roseburg, OR

[Packdaddy]

If you find the hunter compact group on Facebook and scroll down quite a ways you will see a lot of pictures . That is a picture of his trailer that southwest posted. I mis-spelled his name . Jim Forrest is correct spelling.


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[Jon in AZ]

That's the one!

[Seldomseensmith]

Wow. Thanks for the time. That was what I was looking for.


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[tericson]

We are in the middle of a frame-off rebuild of our 1974 Hunter I. I traded a couple of old pickup cabs for the steel and welding needed. The spare is now mounted just in front of the body, and there's a hitch receiver just under it so we can carry our bike rack between the body and our car (and remove it so we can use it directly on the car!)

You can see the new 2" square steel extends from the cross-member at the axle's front spring attachment to the original 2" square tongue steel - about 5' long. The center front cross-member was also replaced by 2" square steel so it's strong enough to support the spare tire and bike rack.

Here's the frame, just painted:



You can email me if you have questions!

tericson <at that> yahoo (COMmerical)

[Andrew Gibbens]

Do remember that the bending load on a trailer frame is proportional to the length of the frame in front of the front cross-member. If you double that length, the frame rails need to be twice as strong as they were before.

If anyone wants to get technical, I have a tongue strength spreadsheet on my web pages that is based on the relevant international standard:
Unified Tongue Strength

[tericson]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gibbens

Do remember that the bending load on a trailer frame is proportional to the length of the frame in front of the front cross-member. If you double that length, the frame rails need to be twice as strong as they were before.

If anyone wants to get technical, I have a tongue strength spreadsheet on my web pages that is based on the relevant international standard:
Unified Tongue Strength

Andrew makes a very good point. Check out that link!

We anticipate that fully loaded our trailer will weigh between 1700 and 1900 lbs, with about 120 to 150 lbs tongue weight - less than 10% of the overall weight.

The welds at the major stress point where it joins the original tongue has been gusseted with 1/4" steel plate underneath, and we chose to run the new steel as far back as we did to increase its attachment strength and to reduce the chance of bending.

Our trailer will be used almost exclusively on-road with very little off-road, as we prefer campgrounds with hookups and showers over dry camping.

Please consider all of these kinds of things when modifying your trailer!

Tim.

[Seldomseensmith]

Yeah thanks for all the great info. I'm a Mechanical Engineer so I geek out on design.


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