Rich K. graciously provided the use of this Toyota Tundra pickup truck to tow the trailer over to the welding shop to have it's tongue lengthened by two fee.
By 2PM, it was ready and we went to retrieve it. Great welding job by Valley Machine; highly recommended.
Here's what the trailer looked like before the mod:
Here's what it looks like after the extension was welded on:
Hopefully you can see the additional room that will hopefully suffice to install a motorcycle carrier rack of some sort, in order to be able to carry Yagi, the TW200 and one of my Ural sidecar rigs in the main cargo area of the trailer.
The support wheel is attached on the new aluminum
section that is the extension
Shiny, but not for long.
To my untrained eye, looks like a good weld
The welder also installed two plates extending past the point where the two pieces are welded together. There's bolts holding them down on both ends providing additional structural support. This extended tongue is not going to be bending due to weight!
The additional length should also help the trailer clear any part of the URRV when backing it up causes it to swing wide to the side due to space constraints and actions on my part.
Before, the shorter tongue had actually allowed a slight impact by the front edge of the trailer's cargo area and a corner of the RV! Luckily, no real damage.
I've not driven the URRV with the trailer yet, but Rich K. didn't seem to have any issues backing the trailer into position once we returned to the campsite. Lengthening the tongue makes it a bit easier to back the trailer apparently.
In the afternoon after work, Rich K. and I rode out on 3100 Road north towards the Grand Mesa National Forest. It was paved for a few miles but it turned to dirt soon enough and we were able to access the forest via the smaller of two gates. The main gate, used by cars and such, remains closed due to road conditions apparently.
We motored on for a few miles, avoiding mud puddles and ruts caused by snow melt and soon stopped at the parking lot near the junction of FR 728 and FR Z50.
From there we didn't get too much further towards Bailey Reservoir due to muddy conditions. On our return to the junction, we stopped at Hartman Reservoir to enjoy the scenic water and surrounding forest:
I think this area will be quite scenic come the Fall Colors, lots of Aspen trees around, water scenics, and green pine trees.....
We returned the way we came, got back with no issues. The plan is for us to replace the sprockets and chain on Yagi on Tuesday of this week. Rich K. has generously offered his assistance, tools and most important, his motorcycle lift! More on that later.
4 comments:
As a former welder in a shipyard, I can say that weld looks great. No defects that I can see.
Lovely landscape along the lake with the two motorcycles. That's adventure for me. Getting somewhere and looking around. No thrashing through streams, mud and sand. The motorcycle is the burro for me. All that wild physical stuff was something from my dirt bike riding youth. Now I'm suffering from a case of the old mellows and riding is a gentile activity...
The pictures of the lake look refreshing to me. We currently suffer from a heat wave at 40°C (104F), and everything water is nice to see, even if it is just on a picture.
104F, now that is hot! When I took the pictures I was actually debating putting on the jacket liner as it was cooling down....and we were at higher altitude also. Thanks!
You were a welder?!?! Cool....thanks for the assurance. I really don’t do much wild riding off pavement....slow and steady is my mantra but slow sometimes get pushed a bit when riding with others so as to not make them wait too often.
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