Modern Vespa

Here is the link to the original tread on this topic: First time ever making a Trailer for my MP3 400

Some of you wanted to see the final MP3 400 trailer project. It is all completed except for the cargo box I may put on. The only thing stopping me now is the funds to build the cargo box. For now, I will just have to use a good set of straps to tie done the cargo on trips.

In the picture the fenders are high so if I decide, I can put on larger 12" rims. For now I'm using 8" rime and tires. The fenders are bolted to the torsion bar so when the tires hit bumps the fender flow up and down with it. The finish flatbed motorcycle Piaggio MP3 Trailer set about 8 inches off the ground at the lowest point. This height of the ball receiver is at the height of the the ball on the Scooter. The choice of 8" rims was made the save on the total weight of the trailer, it had 12" rims at first, they were just to large for this size of trailer.

The tongue weight is right at 12lbs. The total trailer weight is right at 110lbs as a flatbed. When I add the cargo box I plan to make it from diamond plate aluminum. So not to add allot more weight on top of what I have now.

We tested the trailer out with my friend Matt on the back. We strapped him on it and away we went. I got it up to 45 with him on it and went over some bumps. The trailer was very smooth and Matt felt the bumps a tiny bit, basically it was smooth as glass for the most part. With matt on the back the total pulling weight was about 300lbs. I will be putting a swivel ball on later, for safety reasons very soon.

The lights work very well. It took some time to figure the wiring out on the scooter, but it all works now.

This trailer was registered as a home built, the Florida Tags and Registration was about $69.00.

I call my first trailer build a major success at the total cost of $290.36 for a flatbed! I just wanted to see if I could build one or not, I can.

Well done!!!

Thank you, it was a fun project and I have a well built trailer for traveling or just hauling some object here and there.

Straped Matt to the flat before y'all sound like my kind of people sounds like something OAD and Fuzzy would do after a little moonshine. BTW good job on the trailer

How about some pics and description of the hitch on the scooter? That's a nice looking set up.


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Great job. Wish you had a video of you pulling Matt. When I first saw the hitch I thought it would really limit your lean but you mention a swivel ball. Would like to see that.

In an old thread Maksor posted pics of how his swivels. It this what you mean?







Here is the thread. mp3 trailer

I'm going to get the "Freedom Pivot Ball Trailer Hitch". I neighbor down the street has one and it works very good. I just use the standard 1 7/8" ball because I had it on hand, so we use it to do our test rides.

I will be posting some more pics soon of the simple box idea I used on the trailer bed. (Pool Deck Box with small wheels) reinforced and removeable.

Keep in mind that my whole trailer project was done basically with thing I had laying around the house, bed frames, scrap metals, flat bar, used stainless steel bolts, nuts and screws.

That said, Matt and fabricated the Scooter hitch from bed frame angle steel, some metal plates and a 5" wide piece of tube metal. Finished peice weighs about 4 lbs.. It's a little crude but it work well.

I priced getting a scooter hitch made at a frabrication shop and it would have cost around $300.00 or more. I couldn't afford that amount so I did the best I could. What matters my homemade one works very good.

In one of the photos it shows that the back fender has been cut out in a round shape so the fender doesn't hit the ball.

Here are some photos of the hitch.

I hope it works OK - in the UK, motorcycle trailers shouldn't form part of the unsprung weight, so the scooter hitches I've had in the past have been mounted to the frame rather than the transmission. I'm not sure quite why, there are pros and cons to each approach.

Here are some photos of a temporary box I'm using to haul some equipment around to my live on the spot radio shows I do. It has been reinforced with stainless steel screws and 3 L-Brackets on each inside corner. On each outside side middle of the box I attached it the trailer. I used wing nuts on the inside so the box can be removed from the trailer and rolled to the site or motel room I stay at. Also, on each inside corner of the boxes floor there is a wing nut as well. A total of 8 wing nuts and bolts that hold the box to the trailer. To remove the box from the trailer I undo the 8 wing nuts and off I go with the box. The box has 2 little wheels built in for rolling it around. The box is a perfect size for my sound equipment, speakers and 2 small folding tables.

I plan to paint the box a the same color as the frame of the trailer (Dark Navy Blue) with Krylon X2 spay paint for plastic. I used the paint on plastic before, it works very good.

I noticed what looks like your home-made trailer hitch, but I was wondering where you found a trailer hitch wiring harness and how you connected it?

When I get a chance, I will post how I did it. I will have to think about how I did it first and check wireing on the scooter. I do know that I used a Standard four connector, five wire trailer light harness. Also I wire one end into the MP3 400's tail lights system. I just have scrape paper notes I need go thru.

Might want to reconsider that purchase ...It's generally regarded as a worthless product at best, and a safety hazard at worst ...One review says it feels like towing a trailer using only a short chain (eg Trailer has freedom to bang side-to-side, due to insufficent lateral restraint)

Given that you already have a swivel hitch, then you have no need for this product.


ref: I regularly tow a cargo trailer with my goldwing, weighing up to 400 lbs; no swivel hitch or swivel coupler

Yikes, having the trailer attached to the transmisison means that there will be a Varying Load on the rear wheel of the bike, which will Affect Control.

I'd be afraid of going over a bump while in a turn, then having the bike's rear wheel become unloaded on the down side (due to trailer hitch 'holding' the bike's rear wheel up longer than normal, due to inertia) ...causing a rear wheel slide, and resulting laterial sway / loss of control.

Even with "Normal" trailer setups, it's quite common for bikes to crash due to a Change in the (10-15% recommended) trailer tongue loading, as often happens when cresting a sharp hill ...that tonque loading drops to zero, and the trailer suddenly starts occillating ...by the 2nd or 3rd slap, down you go.

That freedom ball hitch really looks like a risk to me. The forward and reverse weight transfer of moving and slowing down will see saw the hitch ball in the socket. Believe it will create a hammer effect. Assuming the motion is mounted in line with tow bar. If across tow bar, I withdraw my 2 cents. Second concern is the scooter mount on rear swing arm load, instead of upper frame structure. The new added force of the 200 lb trailer and speed will add stress to swing arm bushing alone ! Best of luck, nice build.

When I first tested the trailer as far as pull weight I took a scale used in a feed store to measure pulling weights at varying speeds. The findings were that on take off the pull weight was about 110 lbs. unloaded for a few seconds, and as soon as the trailer began to roll the pull weight drop of dramatically to around 27 lbs. and would vary depending on road conditions and the only time the weight would increase somewhat was at stop lights take offs, hills and when I throttled up it increased. Over all not that bad when rolling.

I have been using the trailer loaded with my audio field equipment for well over a month now, I would says loaded about 180lbs max. I have gone over many speed bumps, a few pot holes, even unleveled road where road crews are working and even in turns at speeds of 20 - 55 mph and haven't had any problems at all as far as handling. The hitch connected the the swing arm, I don't plan to be a Speed Demond or take it up hills that I feel would be to much to handle. I really haven't had any problems at all. I may some day rebuild a bracket for the ball that attaches to the frame, but for now it seems to work.

Two days ago I had to put a new tire on the back, a Michelin City Grip. After using the trailer hitch for about a month, five days a week to haul my audio to my job sites. I decided to take a real good look at the swing arm, bolts, wheel bearing and motor mount just in case the trailer hitch was causing problems. I couldn't find any wear on any parts at all, it all seems normal. I also call the Piaggio dealer locally and told them how I did the trailer receiving hitch. I was told that the swing arm can handle weights up to 981 lbs., be it passengers, cargo or towing. They also told me that it is recommended to attach the ball hitch to the frame but they did say it was a bad idea using the swing arm either.

I have only been thinking about getting the Freedom Pivot Ball. For now I've just been using the trailer hooked up normally with a standard hitch. However I do slow down on turns so the lean is not as bad.

A standard ball and hitch can swivel to 45°, more than the bike will, so it should be fine as is. I wouldn't bother with the Freedom Pivot.

http://www.openroadoutfitters.com/swivel-hitches

What I did is I removed the back lights and used the following wires to connect the part of the standard 5 poll wiring harness the goes to the Vehical. The short of the two. This is the basics of how I wired mine.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
WIRES ON MP3 400ie AT THE BACK SIDE ON BOTH TAIL LIGHTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Black = Ground
Gray = Left Turn Signals
White/ blue stripe = Right Turn Signals
Black With White Strip = Brakes
Yellow With Black Strip = Running Lights
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE HARNESS WIRE COLORS AND CONNECTIONS ON THE HARNESS I USED
------------------------------------------------------------------------
White = Ground (to Frame Of Trailer)
Doubled Browns = Running Lights and Brake
(1 brown wire used as brakes and the other as Running lights, explained)
Yellow = Left Turn
Green = Right Turn
------------------------------------------------------------------------

WIRES AT TAIL LIGHTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Black wire at tail lights = White on Harness for ground to trailer frame
Gray wire at tail lights = Yellow on Harness for left turn
White/ blue stripe at tail light = Green on Harness for right turn
Black With White Strip = 1 on the brown slips with RCA for brakes
Yellow With Black Strip = other Brown Wire on Harness for running lights

The turn light wire may need to be switched around!

(See photo hard to explain)

I hope this helps I had the do this up from memory, but it should give you and idea of how I did mine. It work great for me.

Here is the photos of the finished painted trailer now. It took a while to finished, had to do a little each month when I got paid.

You could use this harness to get it all in one connector

http://www.reeseprod.com/content/products.aspx?lvl=3&parentid=1500&catID=1555&part=118215

If you used regular trailer lights with a combined filament for the brake/turn you would need to install an adapter on the scooter outputs

http://www.reeseprod.com/content/products.aspx?lvl=3&parentid=1500&catID=1545&part=119130

Haven't checked this thread in awhile. Excellent job and thanks for sharing it with us here.

Digging through the achives I found this

http://reddogscooter.blogspot.com/2009/12/dec-31-2009-plodding-along-with-uni-go.html


Frames are the same on 400 & 500

Thanks 14Perry, that is a real good harness and it would eliminate the extra RCA wire. I just ordered one, great find. I just used what a had on hand. I live on Social Security so money is tight. My trailer project was built from item I had laying around and what friends donated as well as a few dollars from each of my checks. The project is now done, it is licensed and works great.

Down the road I will make a receiving hitch that connects to the frame instead of the way I have it now.

Thanks everyone for all the great advise and the great support! I hope this posting can help others if they every want to take on a trailer build.

Glad I could help. Keep the link to the frame hitch. It may save you some $$ when it comes to getting it since the research is done.

Nexnuster, thanks for following thru with the wiring harness details. I appreciate it. Looks like you've done a fine job.

You've given me the confidence to wire my vehicle. My 160# trailer has a flat 5 pin connector already on it, so I'll use a female version of one like that on my MP3 also.

I don't plan on using a swivel hitch however. After pulling this trailer with my Goldwing for years, I agree with others who say it is not really necessary.

Thanks again.

Your welcome, I hope that it works for you.

The wiring maybe a bit different on the 500 as to the 400, not sure. But if you just start where the wire connect to the bulbs i.e. Signals, brakes, running and ground you can get your own color code from your wires. I just drilled a hole in the inside back case to the right side lights to run the short part harness thru and wired in at the point where all wires came together. So from the right side I spliced into the brakes, running, ground and right turn light. The I ran a single longer wire over to the left side turn signal. I used a tool that only cuts the wire casing and not the wire it's self. The tool basically just spreads the casing. After testings the connected wires I next soldered the harness wires to the tail light wire and you can either tape them or use heat srink tubing. By having the short harness part inside the case it is easily stored away and not be hanging on the outside of the scooter. This worked well for me and was easy but takes a little time.

I went on you tube and looked up "Piaggio MP3 - How to replace rear bulbs". Something like that. It help in getting the tail lights off.

I decided add one more cargo box to my trailer using my easy connect system I made. It is a dog kennel (see Photos). As money permits the kennel will have 12" high bumper pads around the outer inside of the cage plus a dog bed using 2" Velcro strips to hold it the bedding in place. On the very front on the kennel on the out side will be a windshield made from a piece of clear polycarbonate the wraps a slight bit around the muffler side. The windshield will be form fitted around the front using a high heat air gun. I had a special muffler extension add-on made that clamps on to direct the fumes away from the kennel. The trailer and the kennel are 24" wide, center point is at 12". The add-on muffler extends the exhaust 3" beyond the side of the kennels edge. With the kennel windshield in place, the fumes will be diverted away from any animals.

I will post more photo as the kennel project takes shape, I want it to be safe. The kennel will be used locally and at lower speeds to go to dog parks and friends and such.

The dog kennel cargo box is done. I padded the inside with 1/2 inch foam type pad that is normally used as a fatigue floors pad. The foam pads are 11" high and cover 3 side, the 2 side and the front. Finally I used a 4" outdoor chair pad to lay on inside flooring and covers the back side of the kennel as well. The flooring holds the sides up so they don't fall. Works great and somewhat keeps my 2 small dog safe when traveling short distances.

14perry, the 5 pin harness you suggested came in the mail. I got it installed the the trailer and it is much better than the four pin, again thanks.

You are welcome.

I'd love to have something like this! Then, my family and I could just be riding our bikes up to Napa to move my daughter in/out of school instead of having to rent a truck to carry her scoot.

I was curious if the MP3 could tow and then I though I recalled this post, so I'm glad to see it's working out. I would want something a bit more easily detachable though. Are you able to detach it all and return to your normal scoot when you don't use the trailer for long periods of time?

Yes, the hitch ball stays on the scooter and the trailer is removable like any other trailer. I can use the trailer on any vehicle.