Did you ever wonder how nice it would be
to have your motorcycle with you when your rig is parked at a truck stop for
the weekend? There are a lot of beautiful places to see throughout North America,
but your eighteen-wheeler isn’t very practical for touring the backcountry.
It would be nice to have your motorcycle with you however, it’s back home and
you are 1,000 miles away. If only there was a way to carry the bike on your
truck. Well, here's one idea.
The first question that must be answered is how much space is available from
the back of the sleeper to the front of the trailer? The second question is
how many inches is the corner of the trailer from the back of the bunk when
the trailer is jack knifed 45 degrees from the tractor? This is a critical measurement
because you would not want to crush the motorcycle while backing into a tight
dock at an angle. The space required is approximately 5 feet with the rig straight
and 3’-8" when the tractor is at a 45-degree angle to the trailer. If you
do not have the required space the frame will have to be lengthened or you’ll
just have to leave the bike at home.
Now that you’ve determined that there is enough room behind the bunk for the
motorcycle, how in the world are you going to get it up there? A ramp is the
most logical way however, you may feel like your trying to be Evel Knievel,
riding the cycle up to an elevation of four feet. If you have the ability to
ride up a ramp, where are you going to carry it? Don’t even think about an 8
foot ramp - that would be way too short. You will need a 12 to 16 foot ramp
similar to
what the furniture haulers use. You may be able to store a ramp of this size
under the trailer however, in my case, the trailer is very close to the ground.
Instead of a ramp, I chose to construct an aluminum boom and use a 3,500 lb.
capacity super winch. The reason for using a 3,500 lb. winch to pick up a 700
lb. motorcycle is that winches are rated to pull loads horizontally and are
not rated for vertical lifts. To take some of the pressure off the winch, a
snatch or pulley block is used. The pulley block doubles the lifting capability
of the winch. The boom is constructed of thick wall 4" diameter aluminum
tubing. To enable the boom to pivot, a 3/4 ton Chevrolet pickup truck axle housing
was used. The axle hub assembly is mounted vertical and steel braces mount it
to the truck frame rail. The aluminum boom is then bolted to the eight wheel
studs on the pickup truck axle housing assembly. The winch is also mounted under
the truck and the cable is routed up through the axle hub assembly and through
the aluminum boom. Pulleys are used to direct the cable through the entire boom
assembly.
The motorcycle is strapped
to an "H" style frame assembly. The boom lifts the frame, not the
motorcycle, into its storage area behind the bunk. The storage area is built
with a standard side kit from a steel-hauling trailer. The side kit consists
of (4) aluminum uprights, (2) 96" long bows, and (2) panels, which are
4’ wide and 6’ high. A custom tarp was made to go over the headache rack, the
two bows, and then down to the platform that the motorcycle sits upon. The platform
is constructed using 2" square aluminum tubing covered with 1/8" aluminum
diamond plate. The motorcycle is 4" longer than the 8’ platform, so a dog
box was fabricated into one of the side kit panels to cover the rear tire of
the bike.
The total weight added to the truck with the motorcycle, boom, winch, platform
and side kit is only about 1,000 pounds. Jon Anderson of Allison Park, Pittsburgh,
PA was the welder and fabricator of this project. If you have any questions
regarding this project or have other technical questions regarding high-performance
diesel engines, I can be contacted through Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh at
(724) 274-4080.
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