TOPIC:

either of the styles that i posted above could prolly get away with using .065 wall 1" chrome moly tubing.

i would be willing to bet most of the guys building the trike swingarms for harley's use 1" .120 wall dom for the safety factor.

considering the weight that your trike is going to be when finished i would have no problem or a second thought about using 1" tubing in .080 wall up to .120 wall thickness.

so if you have enough tubing in the crate i would by all means use it.

that's my .02 fwiw,

leon

I've been high centered trying to find a likely set of wheels and tires so that I can start mocking up my trike.

I need as narrow a rim as I can get with a 5 by 4.75 bolt pattern. I'm told that this is also a 5 by 120 metric pattern. I know it's a standard GM pattern. To get started I'm looking for a 15" rim diameter but could change that as long as I can change the aspect ratio to end up with a 27" or 28" over all diameter. I'm hoping to end up with a tire that has only 5 or 6" of tread on the ground.

It seems that every where I look they want to know which vehicle I'm wanting to fit to which goes nowhere fast. I did find an Ultra brand 15X7 050-5761K but it's a 7" wide rim. I can get these wheels for about $113.00 each.



Does a 7" rim mean that I'd end up with a 9" wide tread pattern? Can a narrower tire be fitted to a wider rim?

If any of you have any experience with custom wheels and tires, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance
Bill

Most car tire's will list a rim size of +/- 1 inch of the tread with so yes a
6 inch tread would work on that rim it'd just look a little ballooned out at the bead.

Hell the Mexican's around here will put a 185/75/15 on at 8 inch wheel
on their the low rider car's.

I took some time to make sure the bike I'm thinking of converting had a good motor and found that it's in fine shape. Spent some time drilling and removing two case bolts to adjust the clutch, that worked out fine, as well.
I ended up cheaping out on the wheels and tires got some 15X5 wheels with a 4.75X5 pattern for $232.00 complete including free shipping.
I started the mock up today. I could make it a total bolt up project and avoid chopping up the swing arm but that will increase the wheel base by about 10" so I think I'll go ahead and sacrifice the swing arm. It'll be the only part I'll have to weld together.
Here's the bike with the axle and tires setting behind it.







Bill

That is going to look very cool

So are you going to stay with the original wheel base?
I think that will help keeping the original geometry as far as the ride goes.

I do like the way it looks stretched out but I think it would need to be raked and longer tubes and who knows how it would handle then.

KZQ wrote: I'm sure it's not going to be fast, not with all the extra weight. I'd read somewhere that the 750 twins do well when mated to a sidecar because of the good low end torque.
So here I go.
Bill

Love what you are up to on this build! Here is a Z750 that a local bike shop I used to live near used to do all their bike pick ups with. I hadn't seen it in years and then it reappeared in the carpark at a bike show. They used to load up with rider, side chair, and a big cc bike and haul off no worries.

bluej58 wrote: That is going to look very cool

So are you going to stay with the original wheel base?
I think that will help keeping the original geometry as far as the ride goes.

I do like the way it looks stretched out but I think it would need to be raked and longer tubes and who knows how it would handle then.

I'm going to keep it as close to the original wheelbase as I can. Lacking a reverse it's already going to be a bearcat to turn around. If I let it get too long I'll need a whole parking lot to get it maneuvered around.

I laid out the cuts on the swing arms and drew the spreaders with my CAD program. I've got to go to Boston next week but not before I send the drawings off to the lazer cutter. Hopefully they'll be done when I return home.
Thanks
Bill

nice to see some progress bill!
keep us posted,

leon

Finally got some time to get back on the trike.
Here I'm fitting up the dogbones to the swing arm. I'm mocking it up backwards just to use the pinch blocks for alignment.

I'll have it all welded up later today.






Bill

Looks strong enough to me. Is that a differential rear end?
Steve

Hi Steve,
It's gonna need some bracing and I've got to weld in the bottoms of the loops. You can see the notches below the swing arms. Yes it's a chain drive differential.

Here's a question: After the swing arm is all welded up. Does anybody see anything wrong with just welding two of the pinch blocks to the axle tubes?
Others who have used these axles have added bolt on spacers to keep the differential correctly aligned/centered and also to account to the twisting forces that result from accelerating and braking.
This axle uses greased bearings instead of gear lube so the axle tubes are not full of liquid.
Bill

Distortion is the only thing I can think of. I had a small one bolted to a 350 Honda frame. The PO used it on a small dirt bike. He welded a cage around it to keep it from flexing in the middle. It worked great.
Steve