5 Heavy-Duty Towing Tips for a Long-Haul Motorcycle Transport

Whether you’re headed for the Lone Star Throwdown or a pilgrimage to Sturgis, fans of the diesel are often in a unique situation, with you getting a big deal of bang out of a high torque and heavy-duty rig, transporting high-value two-wheeled cargo.

Your Cummins, Duramax, or Power Stroke can haul a trailer with sufficient grunt without you breaking a sweat, but to haul a 900-pound cruiser or a delicate custom chopper, physics dictates you need to go beyond raw horsepower.

Many long-haulers believe that since their truck can hold 20,000-pound goosenecks, a small motorcycle trailer can be a ‘set it and forget it’ job. The rigidity of heavy-duty suspensions, along with the tremendous torque of diesel engines, can be a source of certain risks when carrying a motorcycle.

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To help your bikes come in show-ready shape and to avoid the rubber side of the highway, here are five important things to do for motorcycle hauling over long distances.

Suspension for Lightweight Trailers

Heavy-duty trucks (e.g., Ram 2500, Ford F-350) are designed to carry a substantial amount of tongue weight.

For example, when you hook up a light motorcycle trailer, the rear leaf springs can cause the trailer to ‘hop’ over expansion joints and potholes. This vibration is the main reason for loosened tie-downs and ‘trailer walk.’

If you’re riding often, then you should think about getting an adjustable air spring or torsion-style drop hitch.

Those can be seen as the second layer of comfort – sort of a cushion – because they help absorb high-frequency road vibration, which heavy-duty suspension tends to dismiss.

Keeping such ‘chatter’ down on the hitch not only protects the bike’s suspension but also makes sure that your trailer tires maintain consistent contact/traction with the asphalt you’re cruising on.

‘Soft Loop’ & Tie-down Angles

Diesel trucks are constructed for ‘overbuilt’ solutions, but more tension is not always better for motorcycles.

Ratchet straps are often over-tightened and can blow out fork seals or even bend handlebars while traveling on a long trip. Always use quality, soft loops for the prevention of metal-on-metal contact with your bike’s chrome or powder coating.

An optimal tie-down angle is roughly 45 degrees. It gives you all the lateral stability, while the bike’s own suspension can adjust for a pinch of movement.

Keep in mind: the torque of your diesel rig makes acceleration very fast, and that G-force can cause a bike to shift backward if the forward-facing straps aren’t firmly anchored.

The High-Traffic Urban Corridors

Transitioning from open-shear interstate to dense metropolitan traffic is the most dangerous aspect of long-distance hauling. Your blind spots are massive when you are piloting a lifted dually with an enclosed trailer. Motorcycles are already hard to see; it’s you who transports them, creating a much larger ‘footprint’ on the road.

Travelling through busy traffic hubs requires extra attention.

Among all road vehicles, it’s motorcycles that are most in danger in these types of situations. This mostly has to do with the fact that they lack any structural protection for the driver (rider in this case), so even a minor impact from a massive vehicle like a heavy-duty pickup can cause severe (even deadly) damage.

In these dense areas, a Chicago motorcycle accident lawyer frequently deals with cases wherein hidden sightlines from towering trailers and an inability to account for increased braking distances cause accidents.

Another thing you should factor in is fault rules. Illinois (Chicago) follows a modified comparative negligence rule, which means that you can get compensation only if you’re less than 50% at fault. On top of that, if you DO recover any damages, the compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault/responsibility in the accident.

If that same accident were to happen in New York City, which operates under New York law/governance, you would deal with pure comparative negligence, which basically means you can recover damages even if you’re 99% at fault (but the compensation, again, is reduced by your percentage of fault).

You should give yourself twice the distance you think you need when you get inside any large city.

Tongue Weight & Load Balance

Weight distribution and load balance can throw your vehicle into a fit of trailer sway. If your diesel truckload is unbalanced, it can take the weight off the rear tires, which can lead to loss of traction, especially in wet conditions.

Approach the 60/40 rule: 60% of the weight should be positioned in front of the trailer axle.

Those using the ‘toy haulers’ you work with, however, must bear in mind that the motorcycles are a lot heavier at the rear end, and this can alter the handling of your truck on the road when using them, especially if carrying more of the heavy vehicles.

So use a tongue weight scale or a hitch with an integrated scale instead to prevent you from setting up an unsafe ‘pivot point’ where the trailer slides sideways during a sudden movement with a hitch-supported, sliding-apart position in the vehicle.

Tire Pressure & Heat Control

Owners are accustomed to monitoring EGTs and adjusting the pressure up to a certain level, but the weakest link in a tow is your trailer tires.

Most trailer tires are rated at 65 miles per hour.

If cruising at 75 mph with a diesel engine tuned very hard that doesn’t move much, your trailer’s tire carcasses are likely overheating. Check your trailer tire pressure at every fuel stop during the trailer tour. Heat is rubber’s enemy with a blow-out on the highway of the motorcycles on the road, a ‘total loss’.

While the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) for the trailer is a relatively modest item to develop, it’s for the protection of a high-value collection of bikes.

Conclusion

Then, when you’re riding a motorcycle (especially when you’re also towing a load), you should be closely familiarized with the equipment you’re using, you should know how it behaves, so that in the (let’s hope not) event of an accident or near-accident, you know how to best react to avoid injury.

Keep in mind that in long-hauls there’s always the risk of something happening that’s beyond your control. It only makes sense, really – the longer you’re on the road, the more chances there are of ‘something’ happening.

But yeah, if you’re well prepared, you’re focused and aware, the chances of that happening are minimized, and that’s where you want to be.