International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2021 Vol. 6, Issue 5, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 17-23 Published Online September 2021 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com) 17 DEVELOPMENT OF A MOTORCYCLE TRAILER HITCH FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES Riliwan A.Adebayo 1 , Olorunshogo B. Ogundipe 2 , Oladeji G. Bolarinwa 1 1 Department of Research and Development, National Engineering Development Institute (NEDDI), National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Anambra State, Nigeria. 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria Abstract— The motorcycle trailer hitch is a device used to secure a motorcycle trailer unto a motorcycle for the purpose of towing. The hitch serves as the medium of bringing both the motorcycle and the trailer together to function as a single unit in motion. This paper has described the features and importance of the motorcycle trailer hitch. Furthermore, a locally made motorcycle trailer hitch has been developed, tested and analyzed to show its commercial purposes. Keywords— Trailer hitch, Motorcycle, Commercial, Locally Sourced Materials, Design. I. INTRODUCTION In many parts of the rural areas and some urban parts of the country especially in the northern part, the use of the vendor trailer or utility trailer for transporting goods and materials from one place to another is drastically becoming louder. But pulling this trailer has always been done manually with the hand, making it a very difficult and time-consuming exercise especially when fully loaded. This makes the beauty and importance of the trailer obscured to many intending users. One of the challenges faced by those who uses the trailer especially for business purposes like clothe, shoe, food- stuff, and water vendors is that the pulling effort required per full trailer load is usually very greater than what is expected of a single man [1]. The vendors tend to get tired in no time and also find it difficult to meet up with time as they could not move over a long distance at a stretch. But since there is a need for the vendors to survive and maximize profit on every of their daily sale, they tend to take the risk of pulling the loaded trailer to their various destinations with their hand but the fact remains that they find it very difficult to ascend hilly roads, pull over some few kilometers before getting tired, takes longer time and effort to pull for long, they cannot reach out to areas that are far from where they are, thereby, limiting the availability of the products transported in the trailer to only the nearby areas and leaving those far areas in scarcity of the same [2]. They also find it difficult to pull the truck over a rough terrain and many of them get fed up in such situation as when they get stuck in sandy, muddy and water-logged areas and they get to ask for the assistance of passers-by to get out of the ditches most times. Many also decide not to carry up to the full trailer capacity due to the effort required. But this will only lead to taking more trips than normal and thereby reducing the efficiency of the process which in turn frustrate the vendor. All these challenges make the trailer to be considered as in-efficient, local and un-applicable industrially [3]. The motorcycle trailer hitch is a device used to secure a motorcycle trailer unto a motorcycle for the purpose of towing [4]. The trailer being an un-powered vehicle requires a powered vehicle to pull it around. The hitch serves as the medium of bringing both the motorcycle and the trailer together to function as a single unit in motion [4]. The hitch is made very flexible in such a way that the motorcycle can perform all its normal modes of movements without any adverse effect apart from the higher drive power demanded from the motorcycle, which in turn causes higher fuel consumption. The hitch connects the trailer directly to the motorcycle without any need for modification. Unlike many other standard motorcycle trailer Hitch that have existed, this does not request any further work before the trailer is towed. All that is required is to simply attach it to the motorcycle and the trailer utilizing the mounting plates and the grip plates respectively. After use, it may be disassembled and kept in a proper safe or taken unto another utility trailer for use due to its portability. The hitch assembly is made in parts and not cast as a unit to allow for easy replacement, repair, and service of any of the parts over time [5-9]. William E.F.(1986), according to this invention, a swivel connection adapted to be interposed between a motorcycle, or other small vehicles, and a trailer being towed thereby to isolate any variation of the vertical orientation of the motorcycle from the trailer. The swivel connection comprises a channel member secured to the usual hitch assembly normally provided for the motorcycle, and a box member secured to the channel member for receiving a spindle member therein. The spindle member is rigidly secured to the box member and extends axially outwardly therefore for rotational connection with a sleeve member secured to the usual tongue provided on the trailer. The rotation connection between the