my hubby's version of a swivel wheel

[Indianawdwfan]

This is my dh's contraption he made. Hope it works! Let me know if you all see something that needs attention!!!
Jill

 

[BigDaddyRog]

Wow....thats different.Have ya'll done any test runs with it with the cart on it? Hows it handle?

 

[ditchdoc1017]

Now that is cool hope the frame of the 5th wheel will hold it.

 

[Mickey Canada]

Wow ..... please give that some serious test runs! If I were a betting man (which I'm not), but I am a mechanical engineer ..... my initial thought is that I would not want to be travelling behind you. The rear wheel support structure does not look nearly beefy enough.

Good luck with that.

 

[stacktester]

Wow ..... please give that some serious test runs! If I were a betting man (which I'm not), but I am a mechanical engineer ..... my initial thought is that I would not want to be travelling behind you. The rear wheel support structure does not look nearly beefy enough.

Good luck with that.

For what he paid in labor and material I'd have had one shipped from TX. That guy down there did a lot of trial and error before placing them on the market. I'm not saying your hubby's isn't a good one but if anything goes wrong somebody's gonna get hurt whether it be your family or someone else. I may still get one of these but I'll order mine or steal Lonestar's when he's at the fort.

 

[LONE-STAR]

For what he paid in labor and material I'd have had one shipped from TX. That guy down there did a lot of trial and error before placing them on the market. I'm not saying your hubby's isn't a good one but if anything goes wrong somebody's gonna get hurt whether it be your family or someone else. I may still get one of these but I'll order mine or steal Lonestar's when he's at the fort.

I will be hiding it in the 200 loop

 

[LONE-STAR]

This is my dh's contraption he made. Hope it works! Let me know if you all see something that needs attention!!!
Jill

Looks good I like it. I almost built my own but since the Swivel Wheel manufacturer was only 60 miles from my house I just bought theres. It only cost me about $500 more. Plus I just did not have the time to build one. The only thing I see (and it could just be the pic.) is it looks like its pitching to the front quit a bit. I was told you want them to tow as level as possible but if it leans it should be to the front. Just watch going threw step driveways so you don't fold the golf cart roof into your 5er. Have fun at the fort with your cart.

 

[lisa8200]

I looks great, I might have concerns about the triple tow laws because of the connection to the 5er. I really have no Idea but, my understanding ( which is minimal ) is that the connection to the 5er is part of what would classify it as another trailer or an extention of the 5er. Ther are two connections so there is not a pivot point but, it is not a direct connection ( bolted connection etc. ) It may still be considered its own "unit". There is also the fact that it has a tag. If this is your fiver tag it could be a good thing, if it has it's own tag, and it is tagged as a trailer, you have lost any arguement that it is an extension of the fiver and not a trailer.
It is a great job as I said but, if you are going to tow through a non triple tow state, you might want to check on those things.Sorry if I'm being a downer, but I did say it was a good job. As for the law part, I don't really know but, those are some of the things I myself would look into before hitting the road...

Mike

 

[LONE-STAR]

I looks great, I might have concerns about the triple tow laws because of the connection to the 5er. I really have no Idea but, my understanding ( which is minimal ) is that the connection to the 5er is part of what would classify it as another trailer or an extention of the 5er. Ther are two connections so there is not a pivot point but, it is not a direct connection ( bolted connection etc. ) It may still be considered its own "unit". There is also the fact that it has a tag. If this is your fiver tag it could be a good thing, if it has it's own tag, and it is tagged as a trailer, you have lost any arguement that it is an extension of the fiver and not a trailer.
It is a great job as I said but, if you are going to tow through a non triple tow state, you might want to check on those things.Sorry if I'm being a downer, but I did say it was a good job. As for the law part, I don't really know but, those are some of the things I myself would look into before hitting the road...

Mike

I dont thank they will have a problem with the law. I towed from Texas to Florida and back with no problem. But my swivel wheel was bolted to my 5er. Florida law says a trailer is a ball mounted device so thats why I bolted mine. I took the tag off my 5er and put it on my swivel wheel.

 

[John VN]

With the little engineering background I have, one of my concerns would be with the wheel offset from the single fork. Does not look like it would handle 55+mph runs with bumps and pot holes.

Level towing is preferred and this is not level. Undesirable forces acting on the balls and hitches.

 

[disney4dan]

I tell ya what, for a small fee I could be convinced to test out your entire set up for the summer to let you know how it works. Course, I'll need the tow-vehicle, trailer, you name it for a few weeks of rigorus testing over most of the entire east coast.

The things I do for others!

Looks like a great set up. The only thing I thought of, and it's being pretty conservative, is I would consider chains instead of the straps to hold the cart to the swivel bed. I would also loop a chain between the GC and the 5th wheel chains, mainly because I have seen some nasty stuff on the sides of highways and have often wondered what happeneded to the vehicle behind whoever lost the item? If something were to happen to the set up, the chains would buy you some time to pull over and hopefully keep your cart from becoming a hazard to others.

 

[lisa8200]

I dont thank they will have a problem with the law. I towed from Texas to Florida and back with no problem. But my swivel wheel was bolted to my 5er. Florida law says a trailer is a ball mounted device so thats why I bolted mine. I took the tag off my 5er and put it on my swivel wheel.

That was my point ( posted last night after a 17 hr shift ). Most of the things I hear about a swivelwheel being legal is about what they are considered ( trailer or extension ) . I have complete confidence that a swivel wheel trailer will be in compliance with the law. The connection of his to the fiver and if it is self tagged as a "trailer" could cause it to no longer be in that "loophole". There is a big chance that noone will notice this because of the similiar design but, it all depends on who ( if anyone ) pulls you over. If I understand correctly, they made it themselves and may have "improved" the design to make it more user friendly. with the potential gray area that a swivelwheel falls into, it may not take much to make it illegal. I am mainly refering to the connection and the tag.Even if the ball type connection doesn't change that because you remove the pivot point, if it is tagged as a trailer you are telling the officer that you are pulling a trailer with your camper. Then again, I may have misunderstood and should have just kept quiet. I didn't get much sleep last night. Since I made a platform without a wheel, and have never owned or looked deeply into the swivelwheel, I probably should keep my uninformed thoughts to myself.
Your is much prettier than mine was

The thoughts and opinions in this post are the potentialy incorrect findings of the poster, and are an attempt to provide information that may be overlooked.Any information in this post should be disregarded or used as a starting point for research, as it has no confirmed legal or other basis.
I would rather disregard something I am told and then have it become an issue against what I thought, than not be advised by someone and get blind-sided by a problem.

 

[stacktester]

In defense of the owner it looks like the driveway has a steep incline and the swivelwheel is on that making it looked all jacked up. The only thing I would have done different was to called swivelwheel and get the wheel assembly sent to me. He said he would sell that alone when I talked to him. The rest looks good.

 

[tellnotails]

With the little engineering background I have, one of my concerns would be with the wheel offset from the single fork. Does not look like it would handle 55+mph runs with bumps and pot holes.

Level towing is preferred and this is not level. Undesirable forces acting on the balls and hitches.

I will second this....

why not pull a utility trailer behind the 5er that is rated for the cart lbs.??.........

 

[big kahuna1]

Wow ..... please give that some serious test runs! If I were a betting man (which I'm not), but I am a mechanical engineer ..... my initial thought is that I would not want to be travelling behind you. The rear wheel support structure does not look nearly beefy enough.

Good luck with that.

I 2nd, 3rd and fourth that.

 

[lisa8200]

I will second this....

why not pull a utility trailer behind the 5er that is rated for the cart lbs.??.........

Unless I'm wrong ( which I often am ) the use of a swivelwheel is normally to pull your cart to Disney without violating the triple tow laws in Florida and other states.A swivelwheel is supposed to be considered a part of the camper not an attached trailer which keeps you legal in those states.

 

[Indianawdwfan]

It pulls level. our driveway does have that dip in it and I took the picture as he was driving out. It has alot of tie downs on it, plus it is also chained to some things in the floor that you cant really see, in the one pic you can see one of the chains a little by the front right wheel. He says it pulls fine. we also have a rear camera to watch it as we are going down the road. Im sure there are some fine tuning to do but this is his attempt at it. He got the the wheels somewhere different but got the assembly parts to it from the actual swivelwheel company.The metal we already had so the main cost was the wheels/assembly parts. We were told since it was an extension of the 5er, we didnt need a plate, but i think he put it on to not raise questions.

 

[LarryJ]

It pulls level. our driveway does have that dip in it and I took the picture as he was driving out. It has alot of tie downs on it, plus it is also chained to some things in the floor that you cant really see, in the one pic you can see one of the chains a little by the front right wheel. He says it pulls fine. we also have a rear camera to watch it as we are going down the road. Im sure there are some fine tuning to do but this is his attempt at it. He got the the wheels somewhere different but got the assembly parts to it from the actual swivelwheel company.The metal we already had so the main cost was the wheels/assembly parts. We were told since it was an extension of the 5er, we didnt need a plate, but i think he put it on to not raise questions.

I'm all for doing things myself, but what you have done I would never attempt so please don't take this post the wrong way.

There are just so many rules and regulations regarding things used on the highways and if something were to happen I'm sure some good attorney could find something/somewhere that I fouled up like having a certified welder do all the attachment welding with documentation. You wouldn't believe all the FMVSS standards and rules that are out there.

I won't get into the actual definition of the extension thing, but it does have a tag issued by the state of In. so I think you have to treat it on how it is titled and registered, since I think that is what a LEO would follow. In fact in states that don't allow triple tows seeing two tags (one on the cart hauler and one on the 5er) would IMHO attract more not less attention. You don't tag things like bike racks, or these platform carries including motorcycle carries that go into things like receivers.

Finally please be sure those tires are rated for the weight and speed that you tow at. One great thing is that you have that rear view camera to keep an eye on things.

Larry

 

[stacktester]

I was gonna say get a rear camera but you did that. If the tires are rated then go for it. It doesn't look like it will come loose, that's for sure. I personally would have skipped the ball and gone straight to the receiver. That's still an option. Another good thing is it's got 2 tires and not one. If that was the case I'd be against it totally.

 

[Indianawdwfan]

the cart weighs 900 lbs. and the tires each are rated for 1300 lbs. hopefully that is enough. It has pulled fine so far for the test runs.