Do you use your SlingShot more having a trailer?

Quote from gooseman

i am so proud of you We rode the same year to South Carolina to Kaytwo’s place in a group of about half dozen slings all the way in rain. This dosnt impress me one bit. Its like saying you drive somewhere like from my place to disney or i could take a plane and enjoy the trip. I go south to ride the sling and enjoy the riding down there but feel more relaxed getting to and from sitting in my truck knowing i am not worried about the weather.
No different than alot of guys wont ride when its in the 30’s for temp. Why not I do. This debate on trailering is starting to be like the harley vs honda. Who cares just my $.02 even though we dont have pennys in Canada

I vote HONDA and will send you TWO-CENTS.gif

We did have a good time at KTwo's

As as long as we are all enjoying our rides the way we want to that is all that matters. Whether you tow it or ride it, I’m looking forward to meeting you all in Maggie Valley!

To answer the question, yes trailering allows me to use my SS more. I enjoy riding the SS every chance I get and while I'm not oppose to ridding in the rain I am opposed to ridding in storms. Let's say for example I am in MV for a week of ridding and the weather forecast says that moderate to severe storms are forecast between MV and home for the last 2 days of my vacation. Without a trailer I'm likely to pull out early and try to get home prior to the severe weather. With a trailer I'm going to stay and get 2 more days of ridding in and not be overly concerned about ridding home in the truck with the SS in tow.

Another example of the trailer allowing more use of the SS is when we have track days. I'm not going to ride 7+hrs one way on my track tires. Not good for the tires and my pocket book and with no way to haul the tires in the SS I would not go. With a trailer it's not a problem. I would also be hesitant to ride my SS that far to a track day knowing I'm going to punish it and there is the chance that I would break it. Then I'd be trying to figure out a way to get it home. Again with a trailer it's not a problem.

Do I always trailer my sling? Of course not, but when I ride it long distances across multiple states I usually have plenty of time to alter my course or just hold up in a motel for a day or so and let BAD weather pass. As I said in the beginning I am not opposed to ridding in the rain and will continue to do so but I'll leave the severe weather to you brave souls. jes my .o2

Quote from chavey2

I guess time for me to chime in. I have a 8.5x24 cargo trailer used for hauling the SS long distances. I'm converting it into a toy hauler - got 2 fold down twin beds, plus bath and kitchen already roughed in.

When it's close enough, I drive the SS. We did 800 miles each way to Huntsville last year but that was about the max - not so much the distance, but just the amount of stuff I needed to carry. We really minimized it down to a couple back packs that we mounted to the roll bars, but there was no way to carry anything else, not even ice chests.

So, maybe I use the SS just a bit more with the trailer, but definitely not with what it's costing me to have that trailer. I really wish I had just bought a small motor home and an open trailer to haul the SS those long distances.

Maybe you could do something like this? You can see at Kerrville, you are going aren’t you? We staying at Best western. I am getting it ready for an epic adventure in June, if all things go right.

Bill I probably be hard to find a used 'dolly' but ask for one in the wanted section of the forum.

Quote from EjFord

Bill I probably be hard to find a used 'dolly' but ask for one in the wanted section of the forum.

I've got one you can have:

For most of us, the better option to get a boat to a body of water is a trailer.

For those with the capabilty to trailer a Slingshot, the option is to use or not use the trailer.

Neither case reduces the headaches or cost of having a trailer.

I have a 5 ft x 8 ft trailer from Tractor Suppl. I bought it for general cargo and trailering my motorcycle when traveling cross-country to visit our Son & Granddaughter. I bought a trailer for my motorcycle after riding down to Daytona, FL from the DC area and encountering rain o the way back that lasted from leaving Daytona until I got about halfway thru SC. I bought a tow dolly for my Slingshot because I just don't have the garage space top store a vehicle hauler large enough for my Slingshot. Another reason for the tow dolly is during long trips, using a tow dolly or trailer gives us the option of switching divers for long days w/o making either of us overly tired and the freedom from the weather-related problems chavey2 described above.

I forgot to mention that since my Wife wants a vehicle to use while I'm out riding, another reason for towing my Slingshot is I hate driving two vehicles to the same destination and while towing may increase my gas cost for the tow vehicle, I still save some money buying gas for the one vehicle compared to two vehicles and I have the driver flexibility and freedom from weather while getting to/from my destination I referred to above.

Quote from Boomer

Maybe you could do something like this? You can see at Kerrville, you are going aren’t you? We staying at Best western. I am getting it ready for an epic adventure in June, if all things go right.

Yeah, I debated getting a small trailer for the SS itself, even looked at one of the tear drop ones that you can sleep in or making one of that expedition tent mounts for trailer. But I've got the cargo / toy hauler now (worked on roughing in some more plumbing yesterday, starting electrical today).

That being said, doing it all over, I would have bought a small motor home and an open trailer for the SS because I could have used the MH by itself when I needed. (I also go to Renaissance festivals.)

Quote from chavey2

Yeah, I debated getting a small trailer for the SS itself, even looked at one of the tear drop ones that you can sleep in or making one of that expedition tent mounts for trailer. But I've got the cargo / toy hauler now (worked on roughing in some more plumbing yesterday, starting electrical today).

That being said, doing it all over, I would have bought a small motor home and an open trailer for the SS because I could have used the MH by itself when I needed. (I also go to Renaissance festivals.)

The Slingshot should fit right in with the 'Renaissance festival' …

Quote from wjfyfe

A fellow on the "other" forum has complained that the tires on the dolly come into contact with the SlingShot even in normal turning, has anybody here experienced this issue?

Bill

Looking at the middle picture here - https://allthingsslingshot.com…dy-kits-com-tow-dolly-kit, I'd be surprised if the two dolly rubs the tub. About the only way I'd see that happening is if the chains have an extra link or two. From the listing - "

THE RECOMENDED TIRE SIZE IS 185 X 80 X 13 . Larger diameter tires will increase the risk of tires striking dolly on full lock parking lot turns. Stop chain adjustments must be made...

Dolly Fenders are discontinued and no longer available as they were cosmetic only and could cause problems when stop chains are not properly adjusted." I added the bolding for emphasis.

I bought my tow dolly almost 2 years ago and still haven't gotten around to trying it out (other priorities have delayed trips where I'd planned on using the tow dolly, but we will hopefully get a trip or two in later this year. I used 13" tire/wheel unitss since they are a little cheaper than 14" tire/wheel units. Since I have the fenders, I may need to adjust the safety chains to limit dolly movement and reduce possible rubbing.

My tow dolly did not come with any assembly instructions and I ended up making the incorrect assembly choice a couple times and had to remove and reverse some parts. That's been the worst part of my experience and didn't really add that much time to the assembly process.

if you’re going to leave the slingshot front wheels on the ground anyway...buy this instead...

https://slingshotbodykits.com/…GSHOT_TRANSPORTER%2C.html

no dolly, no wheels, no inspection, no plates... Very compact.

Quote from Bigdog

if you’re going to leave the slingshot front wheels on the ground anyway...buy this instead...

https://slingshotbodykits.com/…GSHOT_TRANSPORTER%2C.html

no dolly, no wheels, no inspection, no plates... Very compact.

Thanks for the link, that's pretty cool and a reasonable price.

just so you know I have one and I’ve used it to take my SS to the dealer..

Takes a heavy duty truck as I doubt most 1/2 ton pickups would be rated for that.

Clarification - I was referring to the fact that the estimated tongue weight (700 lbs) hauling the Slingshot using the hitch-mounted carrier from AllThingsSlingshot might be more tongue weight than most 1/2 ton pickup hitches are rated for. If the truck has a Class III hitch it will be rated for around 800 lbs tongue weight. Cars and light pickups generally max out at Class II hitches with a limit of around 300 lbs tongue weight. In my searches, there seems to be be some variation in max tongue weight limits by hitch class.

Most decent half tons these days can tow 11-12k lbs. That would be no issue. I tow an 8.5 x 16 enclosed trailer with my Raptor with no issues and total weight is over 5000lbs loaded. Aside from the gas mileage sucking you barely know it’s back there.

Pick up a 7x14 (if all your towing is the SS) utility trailer. They have a 3500lb floor rating, plenty of places to strap too you should be able to drive right up the gate into the back. I had one and worked a treat. they are pretty inexpensive and can be had anywhere and they weigh <1000 lbs empty. I used to back the truck up on some of those rhino ramps to tilt the trailer up to give me plenty of room to drive the SS up on it. Actually that’s the trailer I used to tow my first SS to the First Maggie Valley show. They key is make sure it’s wide enough for the front end which if I recall is 79” wide. 7’ wide (if the wheel wells are on the outside) should be fine. They are also more common.

I like towing. Doesn’t matter what crappy weather you encounter going up and back, half the time it’s raining all the way home for some reason so for me it’s nice. Plus you can take all the extra stuff you want to take with you and you have plenty of space, We do also drive our SS long distance as well, I have packed it for weeklong trips, with a little planning and the bags it’s doable. It’s just easier with towing it. I can bring extra tools, cleaning supplies, extra gear for any weird weather, it’s just convenient. I’m currently selling my enclosed trailer so I can get a 8x24 flatbed to tow both our Slings at the same time. I thought about a 24’ enclosed but it starts to get over 7000lbs and the Raptor is rated for 8000lbs. It’ll do it though. TFL trucks did a 100 mile loop with a 20’ with 7000lbs with no issues on the new Raptor.

I thought there was something with the transmission where you couldn’t tow it on a dolly??