This is SOOOOOOO me. I'm in love with this trailer. I'd drape it with a UJ when parked.... ooooooo......ahhhhhh..... oh, my wife is gonna KILL me.....


But then she can bury me in it.... Hmmmm..... I may have to build me one of these.....

 

Ken,

Is that a '07 MCS?
What kind of trailer hitch did you get? (MiniFini, Minidomore?)

 

Yes, it's an '07 MCS. The trailer hitch is from minidomore. I bought it from:

brent@minidomore.com of: http://www.minidomore.com/

He's a good guy and easy to deal with.

 

Yes, He's really helpful. I go biking a lot and before I bought my MINI my top priority was, how do I bring my bike (the bike rack(s) MINI offer, in my opinon, sucks). And upon doing my research I found minidomore.com, minifini & NAM and I've been searching the forums for 07' MCS owners who has a trailer hitch insatlled and getting their opinions about their hitch. So when you're not towing the "Little Guy" it doesn't look like you have a hitch, right?

 

Yep - the MDM hitch is totally and completely hidden (on the '02-'06), very stealth. Installation is very straightforward, my wife and I did it in 52 minutes, including prep and clean-up time, but that was the third time I'd done it. First time was maybe an hour and a half, but once I got the knack for the plastic philips head pop rivets Mini uses (and knew where they all were - which is clearly illustrated on the MDM instructions) it was a snap.

The Cabrios are a little harder because you need to remove the tailgate (at least the hinge covers) to get the bumper cover off, but even that's not a big deal (maybe adds 5-10 minutes and the necessity for a clean padded place to set it).

I towed this trailer (pictured behind the MSV Mini Support Vehicle) for a week in WV with no issues at all, aside from self-limiting my speed to <80MPH. Really couldn't much feel it, except in hard accel. When behind the Mini I had no roof box on it, it's 40x55 or so inside, about 2' interior height, and when it's repainted (likely with a brush and roller) it'll match my Mini's colors....


Just noticed that coffin one is still for sale on eBay...

 

I sat in a T@b trailer last weekend. Reaaaally cool.

I like that "little guy" one too.

 

Here's what it looks like without the trailer hitch in place:

 

Can you post a photo or two of the hole in your rear facia? The 2 pix they have on their website don't clearly show the cut-out.

Did you cut your stock facia, or did you buy one of there's already modified?

Thanks,

 

I bough the already modified fascia that has a square hole cut in it. The hole is slightly smaller in diameter than the plug shown in the picture above. When I choose to trade up to a new MCS I'll want to remove the trailer hitch and put it on my new car. I'll then put the original fascia back onto this one.

I have the plug (shown just above the tail pipes) in place and fastened in a manner that assures it won't fall out on the road. I'd rather not get under the car right now to remove that plug for a picture. But when I travel again (which will be sometime soon) I'll take the picture and post it here.

 

Outstanding.. unless you knew that the facia didn't come with a hole in it, you'd think that was factory. That's probably the way I'll go...

Oh, BTW, love the color of your MCS..

 

Dude.. A trailer, two car-top carriers and a van..???? Have you thought about buying a bus?..

 

Wow the things you find when you search for your user name. OK here is a picture.



With all the talk of using tears for a place to stay at the Dragon I decided to post my idea from this year. Anyone up for "Tears of the Dragon" 2008? Maybe some special shirts for us tear owners.

 

Yeah, plenty of times! Note also that there is a large Rubbermaid container NEXT TO the trailer's car-top carrier!

That was taken during a charity trip to WV - we were bringing down TONS of donated items for some families that our church group had helped the previous summer, and had an extra person in the van (total = 6)... ON the way back the car top carriers were nestled inside each other INSIDE the trailer. Looked better, but I didn't take a picture...

This summer in WV with the Mini, I had maybe a total of 1000 pounds of trailer and tools back there, and the MCS/trailer combination was totally smooth. Actually really liked driving it... (I know, that sounds perverse) ... but liked it even more when I dropped that weight and the car really MOVED...

BTW - Dragon Wagon is COOL...

 

I saw one of these at a gas station being pulled by a Goldwing, I asked about it and they gave me a tour, really roomy and fun, They should make a MINI replica,


http://carreplicatrailers.com/index.html

 

I just sent 'em an email.. we'll see what they say.

 

If you need a BIG trailer....

 

Check out my gallery and see what we did for towing my husband's Ducati motorcycle. He didn't like the trailers at Harbor Freight, he didn't think they were sturdy enough, of course, we were towing a motorcycle. We bought our trailer at TSC for a few hundred dollars. It worked great! I ended up having to drive with the trailer on the Dragon, not with the motorcycle he wanted to drive it one last time on the Dragon, but we also carried our duffles on there and it followed behind me like it was part of the MINI itself.

 

That looks like a nice, heavyish trailer for transporting a bike or large cargo.

 

That "General Lee" classic was on eBay recently...

It does seem that the trailer it's on is heavier than the car that's on it.

 

I added a pic of my MINI towing the Ducati on the trailer. I'm going to try and post it here, without it being the size of a pea. If it doesn't work out check out my gallery again. I like the size of the pics from the other post, but mine hasn't come out like that before. It worked!!! I figured it out! I'm good, I'm good





I was within a couple hundred pounds of tow weight capacity. I still drove normal highway speeds, which I would not do again. My tail end was hot, hot, hot!!! But the temp gauge NEVER ran hot! The MINI did great! I would definitely do it again, but taking it slower. If you notice the front end of the trailer, we did have to modify it a bit for the bike to fit with it's front end weight. Without the modifcation the bike still fit, but there wasn't enough weight on the front end to drop the trailer.
This TSC trailer is great for the MINI. It followed me like it was apart of the car, with and without the bike. It didn't hop around much, even without anything on it. If you are looking for a utility trailer for your MINI I would reccommend this one.

 

If by saying your rear end was "hot hot hot" you mean the tail was wagging the dog, get a little more weight on the tongue of the trailer. Too much weight on the back makes it unstable at highway speeds. A properly loaded trailer, even a small one, will track better if it's ~60% front end loaded (keeping tongue weight under the 100lb recommendation, of course).

If you mean it was hot from the exhaust, well, there's not much you can do about that! I was thinking of making a heat shield for back there but, after a week or so of towing in WV, the grease on my ball was not carbonized, so I think I'm good.

 

Free Spirit, that's a nice setup. Any idea how much the trailer and bike together weigh? I'd love to be able to haul my Harley, but it's 700 lbs. by itself, so I don't know if I could find a trailer heavy-duty enough to do the job without putting me over the weight limit. I believe the minidomore hitch has a 1,000 lb. limit?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

1000 lb is correct for the MDM hitch.

 

DixonL2, we had to modify the trailer to get enough tongue weight on it. The trailer didn't sway at all. It followed me perfectly, like it was one with the car. The exhaust is what was hot! It was even hot in my trunk. When I realized how good the MINI was towing and the trailer was going to follow I ran normal speeds (we averaged 80-85 on the interstates). I would certainly slow down while towing that much weight! I believe that's why my exhaust ran so hot. The MINIs engine and everything did awesome towing that weight, even at that speed; but I wouldn't recommend it.

jbroughton, the Ducati weighs around 450 and the trailer, after the steel mods, weighed about 300; before the mods it was about 250. With all our luggage and stuff we were towing about 800 lbs. The major towing problem with the MINI is there is not enough hitch options. After towing what we did and how well the MINI did, I believe the MINI could handle the weight and then some. But there is not a hitch for the MINI that would support the weight. With your Harley I would be concerned on how well the rear end with the trailer attached would hold up to the weight. Of course, somewhere on NAM I saw a picture of a new MINI towing a classic mini. I wonder how much that weighed? You might want to check into motorcycle trailers. They're great, but cost more than what we were willing to spend. That would be the ideal way to go! There are a bunch of different kinds. Eventually, that's what we want to do.

The tongue weight on the MDM hitch is only 100 lbs, that was one of the tricky parts.

I do want to make one point - if you use fabric tow straps with a metal trailer put something between the strap and the trailer. As we were heading to Deals Gap with the bike on the trailer, one of the straps got sawed in two on the ride. Thankfully we had it strapped in quite a few places and there were angels sitting on that bike. The bike 'GENTLY' fell over; I never even felt it move. I was watching it in my mirror, one moment it was there, the next it was gone. The only result was a small tear in the seat. Thank God!!! That could have been a very, very bad situation. :impatient Everything from just scratching the bike, to dumping the bike, or even causing us to wreck. So make sure you strap things down really good and put something between the straps and the trailer so the ride doesn't cut the straps.

 

Yep, those straps cut easily...

That Mini towing the classic may have been Bill Schmidt from Mini of Pittsburgh, and that "classic" is his "Grill Car" - the engine is out and has been replaced wth a propane grill! We use it all the time for PittStopMini gatherings. It's being towed using the SportLink and MiniFini tow attachment. It likely weighs more than 1000lb, but not by much - and the tongue weight is very low.