Loking for towing advice..

[LaZyDayZ]

Hey all,

I'm in the market for a wheeler to pull around my fish house. The local Arctic Cat dealer was nice enough to let me bring it up to his shop and he hooked it up to a 500 and it pulled fine. Only problem is that it sat right down and only allowed about 2" of clearence.

My tounge weight is approx 450 lbs.

Some options that will help:

Remove propane tanks and put in back when moving.(free up

100LBS) or better yet somehow attach to front rack on wheeler for additional front end weight)

Load all I can in back, coolers, riders, etc to help it balance.

I think I am still gonna have around 300lbs is there any after market suspension or tips you have for me?

I looked at straight axel wheeler too but the hitch is so low to start out with.

Advice appreciated.

[Eric Wettschreck]

When you say it sat down, do you mean the tounge of the house?

If that's the case and the wheeler has a receiver for a slide in just get a drop down slide and put the ball on it upside down. When you slide it in upside down you'll have given youself clearance room for cheap and a lot less work than taking your house apart.

[LaZyDayZ]

Actually the both sat down.

The suspension on the wheeler was maxed out (could not go any lower without lifting front tires off ground) We did flip the receiver over to give max clearance but at best it was 2".

[Mopad]

Straight Axle. It may be low but its not going to go any lower, any irs machine is going to squat and be the same or lower than a sra if you go with some heavier suspension. An idea to make the straight axle higher would be to go with a after marker hitch.

[78cj5]

I believe that most of the ATV's in the 500 range have about a 85-120# limit on the tongue weight. With a tongue weight of 400+lbs, I am wondering what the total weight of your rig is...

Be careful not to exceed that max tongue or capacity rating. It's not that it cannot pull it, more importantly, it's the fact that the ATV might not be able to control the weight, ie braking etc.

I bought a straight axled ATV (Kawi Brute Force 650) for pulling my house around, plowing, etc. I found the tongue was too low also so I had a guy in my shop weld a receiver with some rise. I have also seen products online where the tongue is mounted considerably higher through some kind of after-market frame mount.

[LaZyDayZ]

Thanks 78cj5

I am aware of the safety issues, braking, turning.

I have no intention of moving faster then walking speed while towing and even then knowing breaking will be over a great distance.

Total weight is going to be approx 2 ton.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I have a Big Bear 400 with a sraight axle.

Tows my big house fine but don't go fast. Like we're gonna race on the lake anyway.

[npsmokefan]

I had the same problem with my Sportsman 500ho. What I did was get some spring rubbers or donuts they call them and put 3 on each side. This helped alot for me, was able to tow the fish house anywhere with no problem. I looked into making a ski for the front of my house but tried this first and work fine. Good Luck!

[LaZyDayZ]

Quote:

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What I did was get some spring rubbers or donuts they call them and put 3 on each side

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Do you have or could you take a picture of this and post it.

[npsmokefan]

If you go to any atv retail store, they should have them. Some guys use them on the front suspension to if they have a plow on the atv. I'm not sure if it was the right thing to do with the atv. I got mixed answers about it. Some dealers said that's to much presure on the suspension, others did not see it as a issue. But it did work for me, and I think a pair cost about $15.00. I do think if somebody would come up with a ski for the fish house, that would be the best. Then you control the amount of weight on the atv.

[LaZyDayZ]

Well I bought myself an ATV.

I got a 2004 Actic Cat 400 off of the forums here.

I succefully pulled my FH around the yard after removing the propane tanks and putting a lot of weight on the back end of FH. I still only managed a couple inces of clearence and like the one at the dealer the suspension on the wheeler bottomed out.

What ya guys think of something simmiliar to this?

Obviously it would needs some modifications to hook it up to ATV. A guy can pick these up on hsolist for about $50 with shipping. They are rated for 600LBS of weight.

Anyone see any problems with this idea for low speed travel across the ice?

[Eric Wettschreck]

I've seen that kind of set up.

A dude cut the handle and welded a coupler to it. He'd couple the modified trailer tower thingy to the wheeler and the house. It worked on ice and not much snow. In deeper snow it was trouble. However, deeper snow causes trouble for just about everything.

[Dave]

LD, I see your wheels are turning after the portable shelter get-together huh I still say if you can figure out a swing down tire from the frame, much like a tongue jack, that'd be the way to go.

[norm]

Duct tape a hockey skate onto your toungue jack. PROBLEM SOLVED!!!