My old Dodge Ram with Cummins diesel...

[7milesout]

Why not remove the rear trailer ramp and leave it home if you are going to make use of your loading ramps anyhow? Do you have a simple hinge/clevis hooks to hold the ramp on? How much weight do you estimate you'll save? 100? 200?

The gate hinges are welded on. Removing the gate is not a weight thing. It's wind drag with the gate up that's the issue with the Mirage. I think the wind drag accounted for more required power to overcome than the weight.

Say for example pulling that ATV down the road with the gate up required 40 hp, and I have 50 hp available (at that rpm, and this is just for argument sake), then a small bunny hill would require all 50 hp, and it would get the job done. But bigger than a bunny hill I'd drop to 4th. My feeling is that if I could have dropped that load gate instead of it requiring 40 hp to roll down the interstate (flat level, no headwind), dropping the gate might drop the required power down to 30 hp. Giving me more buffer for bigger hills, and using less fuel to boot.

Now those are not real numbers, just for argument sake.

I'm also remembering "mechanic." He doesn't seem to post much of late. But he moved from I think it was Minnesota to Texas. It took him 3 trips as I recall. And he towed a good bit more than 1,600 pounds with his G4.

The difference between myself and mechanic, and the guy that towed the Chevette is ... I have access to 2 very capable pickup trucks. They did not. For me to choose the Mirage over a more capable vehicle is just silly. But that's just who I am, just silly. I'm resisting though. I'm going to stick to blue truck.

[Fummins]

My local buddy asked me last night, "If you want to tow that red sickle with your gate folded forward / down, why don't you just bring your load ramps, and just push the bike up the ramps and roll over the gate with it laid down?"

I would have bet a dollar that I already suggest that exact thing in this thread but I didn't hit post...I was too busy hi-jacking your thread.

[Wallythacker]

The gate hinges are welded on. Removing the gate is not a weight thing. It's wind drag with the gate up that's the issue with the Mirage. I think the wind drag accounted for more required power to overcome than the weight.

Say for example pulling that ATV down the road with the gate up required 40 hp, and I have 50 hp available (at that rpm, and this is just for argument sake), then a small bunny hill would require all 50 hp, and it would get the job done. But bigger than a bunny hill I'd drop to 4th. My feeling is that if I could have dropped that load gate instead of it requiring 40 hp to roll down the interstate (flat level, no headwind), dropping the gate might drop the required power down to 30 hp. Giving me more buffer for bigger hills, and using less fuel to boot.

Now those are not real numbers, just for argument sake.

I'm also remembering "mechanic." He doesn't seem to post much of late. But he moved from I think it was Minnesota to Texas. It took him 3 trips as I recall. And he towed a good bit more than 1,600 pounds with his G4.

The difference between myself and mechanic, and the guy that towed the Chevette is ... I have access to 2 very capable pickup trucks. They did not. For me to choose the Mirage over a more capable vehicle is just silly. But that's just who I am, just silly. I'm resisting though. I'm going to stick to blue truck.

I forgot drag was the issue. Same with my larger AL trailer. It's very light but a poor ramp design means wasted HP on the hiway. I have access to my Saturn, good for 3500 lb. (says the internet) but I'd still likely use my Mirage for anything up to 12-1500 lb. with very little drag.

[Mark]

My local buddy asked me last night, "If you want to tow that red sickle with your gate folded forward / down, why don't you just bring your load ramps, and just push the bike up the ramps and roll over the gate with it laid down?"

And I was like, dayim. Why does my mind not think out of the box? I guess in my mind, you have to do things they way you're supposed to do things, and so I don't think out of the box well.

So now, here at the 11th hour, I'm slightly thinking, wouldn't it be cool to tow the sickle with the Mirage, now that I can do it with the gate down, the power required at interstate speeds should be a lot less.

I think the trailer is ~875 pounds. The bike is ~750 pounds. That's 1,625 pounds, with a 2,000 pound car. I don't know. Sounds fun. Certainly if I weren't on Enasaves with 32,000 miles on them, if I were on new tires, I'd probably just do it. But I think I'm going to not be so dumb. And just use blue truck.

Although, the tires on blue truck are 10 years old...

When I read posts like these, the ability to tow is not my concern. My concern is the ability to STOP! If your clipping along & something in front of you happens suddenly (shi* happens), how much control do you have in that situation?

I have a hitch on my Mirage. I could add a wiring harness, but I have no plans to do that. My Mirage hitch is strictly for my rear hitch bike rack, and it works nicely for that. Could I tow some trailer loads with my Mirage? Most likely I could, but I wouldn't have the level of control I would feel safe with. Yes, one can take it slow & be super careful. I get that.

I look at this way, some vehicles have large towing capacities. Even with those vehicles, trailer brakes are going to be required at some point for larger loads. Once you get a large mass in motion, it takes a lot of force to stop it.

If you were traveling through SW Wisconsin, I would plead with you to use your pickup truck. I seriously don't want to be around someone towing borderline large loads with a Mitsubishi Mirage.

If the person selling the bike has a small ditch or small hill near their house, I wouldn't even take a trailer. I would back the truck up to the small bank, & use your ramps to roll the cycle into the back of the truck. That's assuming you have a place like that to unload once you get home. If not, I don't blame you for using the trailer. It's probably easier to tie down on a trailer, too.

When I load my stuff (Mule, ATV, compact tractor, riding lawnmower, sold my motorcycle), I will use the small hillside near my house sometimes. It makes loading some much easier, but I have a tilt-bed trailer. I use a small board that simply pulls the bed down when I drive on it. Once I drive towards the front of the trailer, it comes back down & latches. In many ways, I prefer that over a rear ramp. It's easier to haul oversized planks & other stuff without a ramp being in the way all the time.

I like the new Floe CargoMax trailers, because they use both (small ramp with a tilt bed feature). The small rear ramp can be removed easily if you don't need it. If I am getting a yard of gravel with my trailer, I don't need a ramp! If I am buying lumber at Menards, I don't need or want a ramp on the trailer. I realize you can drop your ramp down flat in that case, however.

Sharing for just anyone - When hauling things like UTV, ATV, & motorcycles, I have found mounting the straps high on the item is best. Instead of putting a strap on the rear hitch of an ATV, put two straps on the corners of the rear rack, & then use your ratchet straps to compress the shocks. If you can tie things down in such a way that the shocks can be depressed, your load will be way more secure. This doesn't work for a riding lawnmower, unless you have a fancy one with some type of suspension.

If I was hauling a motorcycle a long distance, I would take my cordless drill, some 3" screws, and a couple long 2" x 4" boards. Once the motorcycle is loaded, I would screw down a 2" x 4" along both sides of both tires. That's provided you have a trailer with a wood floor.

Good luck with your purchase & trip! I miss not having a motorcycle at times, but I don't miss having to deal with it, too! At this point in my life, a used Mazda Miata (manual of course) may be more fun!