Posts by RichArlt

Quote from gpjames

Harleyujoe I tow a Leesure Lite camper, I've had no problems hrdroplaning with or without the camper but on occasion when I pullout for a 90° turn the camper has made the rear wheel break loose with little acceleration. Pucker factor takes over then lol. I would think hydroplaning would be worse if it happens while towing, no brakes on trailer its just pushing you.....my 2.

One of my buddies hydroplaned and wrecked while towing a light weight trailer, I think he's elaborated on that in the forums. From my research, if you feel your rear wheel break loose and hydroplane, do not hit the brakes as that can put you into an immediate spin. Added weight over the back tire (tongue weight) and a good tracking trailer in tow can actually help you ride out a hydroplaning rear wheel if you lay off the brakes. I've practice this in the snow and slush last winter with my jet ski in tow (in a parking lot of course). I think I saw this topic in the new SS owners manual?

If you're caught in standing water, drive under 35 mph, pull over when it's safe and let the puddles clear......Just my 3 cents worth.

Quote from KayTwo

@RichArlt, what can you tell us about that trailer? Empty weight, full weight, tongue weight when loaded? How did it feel behind the Slingshot?

From a previous post about my custom trailer. (I bought a Harbor Freight frame, built a new custom axle for it, and put the steel/aluminum body on it). Hope this answers your question @KayTwo! I could tell it was back there, especially when hard braking, but I had no issues!

The post title was; "Boy Does the SS Pull a Trailer!"

Sep 1st 2016+11 (click on this link for the brief video)
1800+ miles, 20.8 mpg, 65lbs tongue wt. 1087 lb. trailer average weight (I tested it heavy!).

@Shaun Did you end up getting a hitch? Pulled this trailer over 800 miles!

Thought you were talking trailers to be pulled by the Slingshot!

We'll be shooting a new install video soon. The 2017 SS has an electrical module that needs to be moved, as does the canister for the California Emissions. No problems though. If you download the install instructions from our website you'll see it's the easiest install of the frame mounted units.

We also plan to add a backing plate to the rear underbody panel so that the slot you cut into it can go all the way to the front edge. This will allow you to remove the underbody panel with the hitch receiver in place, giving you access to the rear subframe, wiring, and hitch adjustment rod without having to take the top deck off. I thought @jorgebri60 would have figured that one out for us as a beta tester!

You guys are all just awesome! What a difference it has made for us to be able to pull with our SS! Thanks for the support and encouragement in this endeavor. Hoping to move into some new accessories to go with the hitch very soon. 1st things 1st though.

There is no push on the single rear tire with our Wycked Hitch System. We engineered the hitch like a 5th wheel system used on pick-up trucks. The attachment points on the SS's tubular steel frame are centered and up high on the frame to aid in emergency trailering stops. In all of our tests with hard braking, the weight of the tow load is disbursed to the front wheels/brakes through the attachment points, (it actually feels like the front end of the SS is being pushed downward). The hitch frame is engineered to help stop a trailer and the SS quickly and safely, and it is guaranteed to out perform any other hitch on the market.

The physics of stopping a trailered load with a 3 pt. braking system are quite complicated. We feel confident that we have come up with the best solution.

FYI, we are the only hitch that is approved and installed by the 2 largest dealers in the country. Cycle Springs in Florida, and now Bert's Mega Mall in Southern, CA.

Another interesting fact; I did not have to tap the brakes more than 3 times during the 2 miles of the road that this was filmed on, and I could slow that thing to safe speeds by shifting down. Our top speed was no higher than 35 miles per hour on the downhill portions......50+ uphill.

Another testing note; My "brake failure" light came on a few times over the 2,500 mile trip when we had to stop quickly in heavy traffic. The cruise control does not work if that light is on. I learned I can just switch the ignition off, turn it back on, and pop the clutch while moving to start the engine and everything resets. The brakes and steering work fine with the engine off by the way.

I'm telling you first hand, the SS is one amazing machine! I have over 18,000 miles on mine now.....I have not been nice to it either! Time for an oil change and some checks to the drive assembly.

Thanks for the $.02 MB ......from one farm boy to another.........if you only knew! Trailer weighed in at 1,087 lbs on this test run, no trailer brakes. I would assume you took a few risks out on the farm???

Actually, I am the self appointed "testthewhollyhelloutofyourSS" with the Wycked Hitch System Testor (or testee?)

Certain factions (that I cannot name) have requested I do this testing. Of course I need to put up a disclaimer that this was done by a non professional driver, on a public road, in a stock Polaris Slingshot.

As the manufacturer of the hitch, I have to test every crazy scenario that somebody might try to pull if they install our hitch! I've done it all, and I am confident that if they stick to our recommendations, and do not exceed load limits there will be no issues! That being said, there are those out there who will actually try to tow an inboard boat I imagine, hence the two-million-dollar product liability policy we have taken out!

1800+ miles, 20.8 mpg, 65lbs tongue wt. 1087 lb. trailer.

Just mounted my "Redneck DTV Fender!" The Sirius Reception even works in tunnels!

The link plays the youtube video from my desktop???? Not sure about phone/ipad???

Also launched an 18' inboard boat, and pulled the trailer out! (This is waaaaaay beyond the safe capacity of the hitch, but we had to test it!)

https://youtu.be/0-JwkW85fy8

Towed out a couple of swimsuit models!

We're working on how our Wycked System will work with the Corbin's. We designed the hitch frame to lift and support the rear aluminum subframe of the Slingshot that the Corbin's attach to. We are working on the precise cut-out (where the license plate fits) for our receiver and drop hitch. Stay tuned.

Horses? Really? Do not be an idiot and try this with your SS The video was made as a student project for 4-H. It does show the capabilities of the the SS though!

Lot's of SS owners are adding trailer hitches for various reasons. I thought it would be interesting to have a thread where people could post pictures of what they are actually putting behind their SLINGSHOTS. It is quite amazing how easily these 3 wheeled tractors tow!

Gotta get the boys and their toyz to all the get togethers! Can't wait to get that rig hooked up @Joker256!

Quote from mugshot

Hey, Richarlt,

can you tell me why you opted not to have the lower arms on your hitch, similar to the one Bushtec sells? And what does your top arm attach to??? It seems like there would be a lot of sway pressure from side to side with such a long, curving arm, especially on curves...? You obviously did this for a reason. I am curious. Thanks.

I'll let the cat out of the bag, the engineers at Polaris made that fin in the rear deck to house our hitch system......J/K (but people have wondered?).

Our 1/4" plate, carbon steel center piece mounts to the front piece of the 1-1/2" steel frame tubing of the SS. The two 1/4" plate side frame rails mount to the 1-1/2" steel tubing frame at the seat belt mounts. So we are pulling from the beefed up tubular steel tub that the roll bars and seat belts are mounted to.....very solid!

We looked at all kinds of crazy options. We wanted a frame mounted hitch for extra capacity and rigidity that would house a 2" receiver to allow for various accessories making it multi purpose. Making it adjustable and non-obtrusive with the ball removed was another big factor in the design. We also didn't want to have our hitch supports covering up the rear wheel and disrupting the look of the SS. We learned that the rear aluminum subframe had issues with stress fractures (rumored to have come from overloading the Corbins???), so we definitely didn't want to touch that. We also did not want to touch the roll bars. So we finally settled on the adjustable frame with the truss rod adjustment.

My personal preference is to put a gooseneck on my jet ski trailer and pull from up high (1200 lbs). There is no side sway when you hook up on top of the wheel (I have a video on youtube showing how stout this set-up is). Due to popular demand, we came up with the diamond drop hitch for lighter motorcycle type trailers (up to 550 lbs towing). We do get some side sway with the drop hitch set-up at low speed maneuvering with heavy tongue weights. We have not noticed side sway when pulling down roads and highways with it (Noel Hughes at Cycle Springs has a video up showing him pulling another SS on an SS trailer which has to weigh at least 2400lbs). I can say with confidence that if you are pulling under 550 lbs with the drop hitch, side sway will be minimal and will not affect handling any more that if you were pulling with any other hitch.

I'm willing to let you test one of our newer beta units out at dealer cost if you are interested, no strings attached.

I'm willing to work with you on a hitch system (I have a couple of Beta Test Units available also). Thanks to the help of our beta testers like @'jorgebri60, we think we have it perfected now and are hoping to do a product launch this month through @'Noel Hughes at Cycle Springs. Attached is a "Top Secret" sneak peak of the Wycked Hitch!

Wycked Tow Hitch W Clevis.PDF