pulling a airstream trailer with a hornet

duncan

I was wondering if there has been or is anybody pulling a 22-24 ft airstream travel trailer with a hornet. Does anybody have pictures of a hitch to install on a hornet. Strong enough to cary the trailer. Ray

54SuperWasp

Hi Ray, I think you will find all of your answers on this site:
http://www.coasters2010.com/page1.php
They are The traveling Coasters from Canada. Every 10 years ( but the next one will be, by exception after 7 years in 2017), these folks go from Newfounland to British Columbia or, for 2017, from BC to Newfoundland. The first one was 1967, the year of the famous Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to celebrate that event. The deal is, in 2017, if you live central like, Ontario or Quebec, you go with your car and trailer to British-Columbia, there, a group of 100 antique cars and trailers will cross Canada until they reach Newfoundland. And, from there, you go back home. You already live in Newfoundland? You must go for the start in BC and come back home after. This way, everybody do the same mileage. I met these guys in 2010 in Chambly, Qc when they were invited by our provincial club the VAQ. One of them ( 54 Mercury
with a 52 trailer from New-Brunswick,Canada) was to his second tour and said that, if he was healthy enough, he would join the 2017 tour. What was interesting on his car, his traler hitch was connected to the rear axle instead of the frame or bumber. This would be the perfect guy to talk to. By the way, the 2017 event is already complete! There is a waiting list! Michel
P.S. It takes 3 years to organise this event. Imagine, when you make a reservation of a ferry-boat in Newfoundland for 100 cars and trailers..

54SuperWasp

I'm lucky, I found the pictures about the event and the hitch. If I remember well, he would put his foot on the hitch, and could swing it up and down without any problem. Michel

duncan

Thanks Michel For the pictures. Now if I could only find a hitch installed on a hornet for a pattern that would be great.I have a brother and nephews that are owsome welders. Thanks
Hudsonly Ray

Lee ODell

Here is another picture. The airstream was pulled from California to the International meet at Detroint and back home by Jack Edmondson.
Lee O'Dell

PaulButler

Great picture Lee.

That's one on my bucket list : having an Airstream hitched to the back of my 112 and going off on a break somewhere.

Not sure what the 112 would make of it and the top speed wouldn't be great but what a nice way to get around!

Park_W

Ray, we pulled a 36' mobile home with our Hornet back in the fifties. Used a hitch that extended way under and attached to the rear axle housing, so no load at all on the chassis or springs. Only negative was that something causing trailer sway, such as a passing semi, would "steer" the rear axle a little, so one had to be on the alert for that. Email me and I can send you a sketch of the construction.

duncan

thanks everybody for the posts. I went to a airstream sales office and they told me that there is a hitch atatchment made to stop sway from wind. I want to restore a airstream in the 50s hopefully . Ray

duncan

Park I sent you a email Ray

hudsontech

PaulButler - I'm not sure a 112 would be able to tow a trailer - maybe a small trash trailer to the dump. That 175 cube engine is, at best, anemic just hauling the car. It wasn't one of Hudsons better ideas. You might not get it out of your driveway.

PaulButler

Alex ; I did say it was a "bucket list" wish :-)

Yep I might have better luck getting the airstream to pull the car :-h

duncan

anybody with pictures of a hudson pulling a trailer would you please post them. Thanks Ray

hudsontech

PaulButler - I can't resist saying this, but I think if you check really really close you're gonna find your bucket's got a hole in it!!!!!!!!!

Hudsonly
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN

hudsontech

My wife and I went on vacation, back in the late 60's, to Newfoundland. We spent an ejoyable week enjoying some really great scenery. When we got back to Channel-Port aux Basques to catch the ferry back to Nova Scotia we were informed we would be guests of Newfoundland for a while - the railroad which ran the ferry was on strike!!!!!!!!!! Try calling your military unit and telling them you need some extra leave because the ferry was on strike. My division officer, when he stopped laughing told me to get back when I could - and that was an excuse he'd never heard before.

Hudsonly,
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN

[Deleted User]

Paul,

Don't let Alex "rain on your parade"! LOL
You might not get there quickly but what the heck!
It also depends on how big the Airstream is.
If you do try it you might want to upgrade the brakes. You can upgrade the front brakes by playing mix and match with Hornet front brake parts!
We 112 guys gotta stick together!

Kevin C.

EssexAdv

OK, Here is one. I know for a fact, the late Jack Smith of Canada pulled a travel trailer... about 18 foot, to several National Meets with his bone stock 29 Hudson. He was in Detroit and reticently I heard he took it to Washington state. If a 29 H can pull a trailer half way across the US, why can't a Hornet pull one (or a 112 for that matter) on occasion

Lew

[Deleted User]

Have you ever seen the engine in a 29 Hudson ? ? .. .. .. Its big enough to run a half track or army tank.
Roger

RL Chilton

Most Hudsons would not have any problem pulling trailers. O.k., I'm sure there's a limit on weight, but most smallish travel-trailers should not be a problem. One thing Hudson's do not lack in is torque, which translates into pulling power. Gobs and gobs of torque, far exceeding the hp ratings. Hornets especially, will have no problem pulling a travel trailer. And, for the most part neither would many other models, perhaps, except the 175, which really was not Hudson's best effort.

lsfirth

I would love to see the attachment sketch to the rear axle. There must be another attachment to the chassis somewhere either fwd or aft of the axle too. Seems to me that the loads transfered into the tongue on the trailer when hitting bumps in the road would be much higher.
Pulling my '52 airstream with my '49 Brougham is on my bucket list too :-)
Both are huge projects, so it'll be a number of years....

EssexAdv

From Alex Burr's Technical information

1929 Hudson Engine Spec's
Piston Displacement 288
No. of Cylinders 6
Type of Head F
Cylinder Arrangement Vertical
Cylinder head Detachable Bore
3½” Cylinders cast En Bloc Stroke 5”
Crankcase Separate
Rated H.P. 29.4
Upper half Aluminum
Firing order 1-5-3-6-2-4

288 CID, 29.4 HP. cool for it's day but not very powerful when compared to a Hornet.
I love them though. I have put many a miles on a 29 H LWB Limo. Neat car.... I wish it were mine, but at least I got to drive it frequently, sadly though, not recently.

Lew M

Park_W

Isfirth, imagine a long extension to the trailer tongue that would go all the way under the car and fasten under the center of the rear axle housing. That's basically how the one I had worked. Load on the axle was considerably reduced because of the long lever arm involved. Of course the main hitch bar had braces on it to keep the bar firmly in place laterally.

lsfirth

Oh...I get it. So the ball was actually up near the axle instead of somewhere between the rear bumper and the front of the trailer as usual. Hmm....hitching/unhitching might be a challenge, but sounds like it would work. Still seems like with the rear end following every pothole in the road that the vertical accelerations (thus loads) would be high going into the tounge, but it evidently worked. Very interesting.....

Lee

Park_W

Isfirth, the ball was in the normal location, just aft of the bumper. The rig is hard to visualize without a sketch, especially if one isn't familiar with the typical load equalizing hitch design, where the trailer tongue and the car's hitch assembly operate as a single, slightly springy structure. I'll try to work up and post a decent sketch.

duncan

Hi Park Where did the 2 horizontal bars conect too. Under the bumper at the bumper brackets for lateral control. Was the ball welded on the end of the 3 incn bar after it curved up behind the bumper. Did you have 6 volt brakes on your 36 ft trailer. I went the other afternoon and looked at a 24 ft airstream 1964 but was not for sale. Ray

Park_W

Ray, the "horizontal bars" attached near the ends of the heavy plate under the differential and went to "ears" on the seide of the 3" main drawbar. As said earlier, there was no attachment to the bumper or frame, except for the little chain that supported the end of the drawbar when the hitch wasn't connected to the trailer. And yes, the ball was at the aft end of the main drawbar, mounted atop the fixture for the spring bars. And again, you've got to look at and understand a typical Reese or other brand "equalizing" hitch system to fully get how the spring bars work to create essentially a semi-rigid extension of the trailer's tongue.

[Deleted User]

I remember Jack bitching about being pick up for speeding in that 29 pulling a trailer. Going up the mountain at 70 MPH in a 55 MPH speed zone. The 112 with a trailer well----good luck. lol

lsfirth

I completely understand how load leveler bars work.... but without a sketch I don't understand what the layout is.... all the talk about "horizontal bars", "bumper brakets", "ears on the side of the drawbar", etc are just confusing me. Does anyone have a picture or a diagram of this set up. Or a sketch would even be nice... I'm very intrested to understand how this set-up works. I feel like I'm being teased :-)

Thanks,
Lee

Park_W

Sorry, Lee, I can understand the problem. Drop me an email and I'll send you a copy of what I sketched for Ray. It's a bit too crude to post here on the Forum. Sure wish I'd have taken photos of the rig when we were using it back in '56-'58. Dang! That said, I think the cost of having a hitch like this fabricated might be prohibitive. hetpwald@comporium.net (drop the het)

lsfirth

Hi Park_W....don't be ashamed of a sketch....just post it up!

Thanks,
Lee

Park_W

OK, OK ... geez! (LOL) Here's a sketch. I don't honestly recall if there were diagonal braces from the ends of the under-axle mount plate to somewhere on the drawbar. I think not. Were I fabricating a hitch like this, I'd terminate the drawbar with the standard 2" square Class III hitch socket, so I could just plug a standard equalizer type ball mount/spring bar setup into it. The hitch I had was made of really heavy stock, as it was rated for trailer tongue weights of 700 lbs. or so. One wouldn't have to use such heavy material for a lighter trailer.

[Deleted User]

Now whats so embarrasing about that Park ,thats a very nice drawing,
Roger