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Thread: noobiest noob: 185s towing cap?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
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    noobiest noob: 185s towing cap?

    Hi all.

    Super noob here, so please excuse me if I color outside the lines a few times. I'll try to catch on as quickly as possible.

    Dear old dad bought my sister and me a 185s back in 1983. He stored it around 1990, after my sister and I decided we were too cool for family vacations in the RV. Pops died last year, so it was my duty to empty out the garages. One of them contained the atc.

    After bringing it back to life (new seat, new tires, new light, etc.), I had it shipped from CA to VA where I now live on an 8 acre plot that includes a very small young orchard. In addition to riding for fun, I'd like to get some utility out of the atc. I'm thinking of getting a small trailer to move firewood, haul chopped trees up the hill, etc. I'm also considering getting a water tank that I can use to water the young trees in the orchard and elsewhere. There will many more trees around the property soon. We are reforesting some areas.

    Any thoughts on: 1) how to get a hitch onto the atc; 2) a decent trailer (mfr, size, weight); or 3) the largest water tank I should carry in the trailer? I'm also curious to know if the towing capacity of the 185s has ever been calculated. I searched for it but couldn't find anything specific.

    Thanks, in advance, for your time.

    Cheers!

  2. #2
    barnett468 is offline FACT ! I have no edit button Arm chair racerThe day begins with 3WW
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    I only have a couple minutes this morning so this will be short but others should have some ideas as well.

    I have never put a hitch on an atc185 but it will be simple, and as far as towing capacity goes, I was a project engineer at Kawasaki in the 80's and had to do a towing test with a KLT250, and part of that test included towing our 7,000 lb box van for 100 feet in the parking lot which it did, although the clutch wasn't too happy about it. Your 185 has a centrifugal clutch which will severely limit the amount of weight you can tow, plus being only a 185, it won't have enough power to tow anything extremely heavy anyway but here's a few suggestions.


    1. Install a 10 tooth counter shaft sprocket. This will reduce the load on the engine and the clutches and will make it easier to tow anything.

    2. Welds around a 3" x 3" 3/16" mild steel or chromoly plate to the rear of the axle housing. Make the plate narrow enough so it does not extend over bearings are inside because the welding might warp the housing slightly which could deform the machined area the bearings are pressed into if you weld over that area on the outside of the housing.

    3. Weld an "extension" around 1/2" thick x 2 1/4" - 2 3/8" wide by around 4" long (you can make the length to suit your needs) to the center of the plate and housing. Grind a 45 degree chamfer on the top, bottom, and sides of the plate where it will weld to the housing then fill the chamfer with weld.

    4. Make a "triangle" shaped piece of metal from the same 1/2" thick material that is around 1 1/2" high by around 2" long. grind a curve in the 1 1/2" high end that matches the curve on the plate that gets welded to the housing. Weld this to the bottom of the plate and the bottom of the "extension for support. Make sure you have at around 1 1/4" of the extension extending beyond this "triangle" part so you have room for the nut on the tow ball and room for a wrench to tighten the nut with.


    The hitch will be strong enough to tow several thousand lbs if what you are towing rolls easily enough, so the main limiting factors will be the engine power, clutch, and the brakes. I think I set the recommended maximum towing capacity of our KLT 250 at around 300 lbs (but it might have been higher), and think that around 300 would be the maximum you should tow with your 185 after you change the counter shaft sprocket, but you should work up to that capacity by towing maybe around 200 lbs first and do some stopping and turning tests.

  3. #3
    barnett468 is offline FACT ! I have no edit button Arm chair racerThe day begins with 3WW
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    ANOTHER POST TO MAKE A POST CORRECTION CUZ I AINTS GOT NO EDIT BUTTON


    "2. Welds around a 3" x 3" 3/16" mild steel or chromoly plate to the rear of the axle housing."

    Should read:

    "2. Weld around a 3" x 3" 1/8" mild steel or chromoly plate to the rear of the axle housing."

  4. #4
    barnett468 is offline FACT ! I have no edit button Arm chair racerThe day begins with 3WW
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    Oops...another post to make another post correction


    "4. Make a "triangle" shaped piece of metal from the same 1/2" thick material that is around 1 1/2" high..."

    Should read:

    "4. Make a "triangle" shaped piece of metal from the same 1/2" thick material that is around 1 1/4" high..."

    Grind a 45 degree chamfer on this piece also on all edges that get welded.

  5. #5
    barnett468 is offline FACT ! I have no edit button Arm chair racerThe day begins with 3WW
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    If you don't plan on towing anything much over 300 lbs, you could easily get away with making the extension out of 3/8" or 7/16" thick material if you wanted.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by barnett468 View Post
    I only have a couple minutes this morning so this will be short but others should have some ideas as well.

    I have never put a hitch on an atc185 but it will be simple, and as far as towing capacity goes, I was a project engineer at Kawasaki in the 80's and had to do a towing test with a KLT250, and part of that test included towing our 7,000 lb box van for 100 feet in the parking lot which it did, although the clutch wasn't too happy about it. Your 185 has a centrifugal clutch which will severely limit the amount of weight you can tow, plus being only a 185, it won't have enough power to tow anything extremely heavy anyway but here's a few suggestions.
    Sounds like my KLT200 does have limits. lol
    I just wanna go fast. If your not first, your last!!
    Reproducing the Tecate CDI. Contact me if you need one. I'm most accessible on FaceBook. You can find me on the 1984-1987 Kawasaki Tecate KXT250 Group.

  7. #7
    barnett468 is offline FACT ! I have no edit button Arm chair racerThe day begins with 3WW
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    Yes you can probably only tow a 5,000 lb vehicle with that.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
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    I've seen a guy tow a pickup truck with a motorcycle before, not sure the make or anything, same guy tried to jump the hill my dad jumps, but he went at it the wrong angle and jumped the hill right into the woods and broke his hand. His nick name was Re-Pete because his name was Pete, and he kept going to jail, getting out, then doing the same thing to go back to jail.

    Anyway, the 185 engine and the ATC200ES engine are pretty similar, just shaft drive vs chain, and 200cc vs 185. I've towed half the woods with my machine no problem at all, it did have a factory hitch though. One down fall of the 185 is no reverse, something to keep in mind. My uncle had a 1986 TRX125 and it could pull around his 14 ft boat around the yard, and his landscaping style trailer empty, probably around 1500lbs or so. Looks a bit like the one below, I think he modded one or something I can't find anything thats a match on google.

    https://www.deridderrentals.com/imag...iler-large.jpg

    The biggest problem like barnett says is engine power, stopping, and clutch wear. Also if you got a rear rack for the machine, or modified one to fit, you could put the water container on the machine directly.

    I kind of feel a machine out what it can do than look at manufacture specs, you don't want to be driving around with the clutch slipping, it should only be slipping when taking off, too much weight it slips more and is harder to get fully locked up. For a trailer, I'd think pretty much anything with "normal" tires should be fine, like a 4x6 trailer would probably be a good general use atv trailer. With my 200ES I was pulling around an old 8x8 pop up camper trailer with a steel door laid in for a bed, worked great to hull like 10ft tall or so loads of brush. Also the 200ES has low range, I don't think the 185 has that feature. I think the TRX125 has low range, but my uncle never knew about it lol.

    If you want to stick with what Honda would say for recommended max capacity, 200-300lbs sounds about right. The 450 Honda foreman is rated for something like 800lbs and we were hauling a yard of sand at a time with it no problem, but you could tell it was kind of the upper limits for the clutch. Google says 1 yard of sand is about 3000lbs + the trailer. I think it was a 4x6 trailer and we filled it heaping full. Same machine/trailer has hauled plenty of ash fire wood out of the woods too. I'm sure this is probably counted as machine abuse lol.

  9. #9
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    Oh just found this, I guess the atc200es has a towing capacity of 700lbs. I wonder where the source of that info is.

    https://www.atvriders.com/atvmodels/...g-red-atc.html

    They don't have any specs for the 185 sadly, but they mention the racks from Hondaline.

    https://www.atvriders.com/atvmodels/...0-atc-185.html

    I also looked up the towing capacitiy of the 450 foreman, and based on this site it's 850lbs. Kind of weird they list it as air cooled, but it's air and oil cooled with an electric fan.

    http://www.atv.com/specs/honda/utili.../s/detail.html

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    Monroe MI
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    From the owner's manual.
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  11. #11
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    ^^^MonroeMike^^^^ for the save!

    **Hat tip**



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  12. #12
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    Never even dawned on me to look in the owners manual, figured that kind of spec would be listed in the service manual. I have to remember that owner's manuals can have nice info too, thanks for catching that one MonroeMike.

  13. #13
    barnett468 is offline FACT ! I have no edit button Arm chair racerThe day begins with 3WW
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    Quote Originally Posted by ps2fixer View Post
    Oh just found this, I guess the atc200es has a towing capacity of 700lbs. I wonder where the source of that info is.

    https://www.atvriders.com/atvmodels/...g-red-atc.html
    That's hilarious. Typical honda, being overly optimistic.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by barnett468 View Post
    That's hilarious. Typical honda, being overly optimistic.
    Might be something to do with the low range, doubt the brakes would be too great though lol.

  15. #15
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    Jun 2019
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    With my 82 185s I have flat dragged 6 foot logs that are well over a foot in diameter and have done 3 of that size in a trailer. Towing with these machines do stretch your chain out if you haul to much tho I've taken at least 3 chain links out

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