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Post by ferrabusa on May 12, 2014 18:37:01 GMT -5
Another question -- If the swing arm pivot point and the location of the front drive sprocket differ (is it really 6 inches?) what happens to the chain tension during rear wheel travel? Thanks. JBB
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Post by Liteway on May 12, 2014 18:52:57 GMT -5
You guys might consider ATV shocks. They are made for vehicles much closer to your weight than auto shocks are and obviously made for abuse.
I ordered a set of YSS gas shocks for mine about 5 yrs ago. I did not know what the spring rate should be so I gave them the weight carried at the front corners and they selected for me. They were too soft but they exchanged for the next increment stiffer with no hassle, even paid shipping.
Something made to hold up the back of Harley or Goldwing would work too. Find any bike with a two shock rear that approximately matches the weight you have on the front and you are going to be in the ballpark. Fine tuning can be done with the bell cranks.
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Post by ferrabusa on May 12, 2014 21:25:31 GMT -5
Never mind the last dumb question. Over 3 inches of wheel travel the difference is less than .040" duh. JBB
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Post by Liteway on May 12, 2014 21:42:04 GMT -5
Not a dumb question. I refer you to pages 6&7 of "Bandit Trike Project" under build projects.
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Post by mtntech on May 12, 2014 22:21:49 GMT -5
I do get wheel spin at any range of speed (0-90mph) Andrew You have encountered the classic problem with rear wheel driven reverse trikes that are designed with too little rear weight bias for the HP they are trying to put to the ground. |
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Post by jim99 on May 13, 2014 17:25:02 GMT -5
First trike I built I made my own coilovers with a $20.00 Monroe gas shock from the front of a Chrysler Cordoba (remember the Corinthian leather), a $20.00 coilover spring and machined a threaded sleeve to mate them together.
That shock was easy to work with, as it has a threaded stud on each end. As they were cheap gas filled units they had to be mounted top pointing up.
Used them on all four corners, worked great. Did not have a sway bar and when overpowering the tires the trike would do a nice flat sideways slide with very little body roll.
Shock and spring possibilities are endless.
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Post by ferrabusa on May 14, 2014 14:59:56 GMT -5
Triplethreat--
I read the pages you suggested. Thank you. I have always thought keeping a constant tension or slack in the chain is important and agree the distance between the drive sprocket and the pivot point should be as small as possible. Of course that doesn't affect how long the swing arm can be. I haven't determined what arm length is best for my project yet but am glad to read other's experiences. JBB
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Post by captainamerica on May 14, 2014 18:28:12 GMT -5
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Post by mtntech on May 14, 2014 20:30:45 GMT -5
Gotta love those Quik Grip clamps! I have found them to be invaluable. Even the mini Harbor Freight ones work great.
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Mick
Full Member
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Post by Mick on May 22, 2014 2:14:34 GMT -5
Hey Captain, back after taking time on my Ducati, Ouch, you could have been in serious sh!t if that failed while you were giving it some wellie! Was it a slow progressive fail or did it just happen on a drive out?
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Post by captainamerica on May 23, 2014 7:16:13 GMT -5
I am actually not sure, it was something I didn't notice until it was already quite twisted up. My guess is it was progressive but the road work on the my drive to work every day really put the nail in the coffin. They ground out the asphalt on either side of a bridge I drive over to make way for the new pavement, for a few days there I was hitting a good 2" lip up to the concrete of the bridge at 55mph which is quite an impact. The fix has shown no issues yet so I think it will be more then strong enough. I also installed a sway bar last week which totally changes the way the thing drives for the better, sadly is was hastily thrown together and ended up failing after 80 miles, but I have the real deal coming soon with a blade type adjustable setup so that will be nice.
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Post by Harish Ranjan on Jun 11, 2014 10:27:16 GMT -5
June '11 Shop Pictures At some point you have to decide that the model is good enough and make the jump to the real world, so after 5 months of staring at the CAD design, the fabrication process was started with the purchase of a Miller 180 MIG welder and steel for a 4'x3' fab table. The table is 30" off the ground, and uses 3"x3"x.125" Legs. Being 6'4 I am still undecided on whether I should have made it a few inches taller, but its flat and level which is all I really cared about. For those of you interested, I always use my Miller weld mask, but I also own the $35 knock off from harbor freight and it seems to work just as well. It is really nice to have when I am trying to show other people how to weld. The rest of my shop is shown in my new member thread as I don't think it applies nearly as much to the build process. NOTE: I get all of my steel from ProtoFAB Inc. in Reno, NV. The company is family owned, they donated an entire fab table, 8'x4' as well as 1000ft of 1" tube steel to the University of Nevada Formula SAE team when I was there. If you are building anywhere near Reno, give these guys some business. They have onsite CNC plasma cutting too. www.protofabinc.com/   Cost Breakdown Steel $200 Used Welder $500 Gas Bottle (50/50 mix) $180 (refills are $70, but I am only down to half a tank after 6 months) Miller Weld Mask $140 Total ($1020) |
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Post by captainamerica on Jun 11, 2014 20:01:53 GMT -5
It doesn't rain a lot here in NC but it does rain often, haven't driven it to work at all this week as thunder storms seem to roll in every afternoon. I do have time to work in the garage on the weekends though so I am pushing ever closer to stripping it down for paint, seam welded the mirror mounts and made a hole in the back side behind the mount structure that allows for wiring and mirror nut removal, before they were permanent attachments unless I cut the mount structure off. I have one head light out, apparently its crappy and broke internally at some solder points, so i fixed it but the solder didn't hold overly well so now the light blows the fuse if its on for more then a few minutes in parallel with the other side. Legally i can forgo it, and I will, until I get the motivation to hook it to the high beam circuit so it has its own fuse and power wire. I rolled through 1300 miles this past weekend without an issue. In other news the state would like a title bond before they give me an actual title, apparently me saying I built it wasn't enough for them, I feel like showing them this forum page and saying here! give me my title! Finally got my new sway bar put together, badly again, I am in fact lazy sometimes especially when I have the choice between driving it and working on it and so it broke again. Only noticed it when I took the nose cone off to take the photo. It had almost zero stiffness anyway through that 1/2" tube from the feel of the car so I was planning on replacing it anyway, probably with 3/4" and maybe some better steel.     And to whoever reposted my weld table comment above with zero questions or reason...wtf mate? |
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Post by Liteway on Jun 13, 2014 9:39:43 GMT -5
As I look at your anti-roll set up I just don't get it. It looks designed to bust welds loose or twist the vertical tube to a point of permanent deformation. How can there be enough give in a 1ft (or less) length of tubing to accommodate independent compression, rebound in the front wheels? If you beef it up enough not to break, you will greatly limit independent movement.
I can see how it might work for racers, where there is little regard for suspension travel, and anti-roll is paramount over compliance, but it looks ill suited to street machines working in the real world of potholes and broken pavement.
You might try moving the attachment point on the bell cranks closer to the main pivot, decreasing the amount of motion at the ends on the top of the T, and therefore the amount of twist asked of the vertical member.
Mild steel? Most homemade bars are of 4130.
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Post by nedkelly on Jul 3, 2014 2:19:00 GMT -5
I am having withdrawals, need more, stop having fun and post some more please Captain |
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Post by captainamerica on Jul 6, 2014 9:55:04 GMT -5
I've actually been lazy as of late. I have a video to upload of me strippin the spartan of all parts prepping for paint. Now I am waiting for the powder coating shop to have time so I haven't had the chance to drive in almost three weeks. Trying to get everything together for the one time rebuild, getting all the switches soldered, wiring harness wrapped and so on.
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Post by captainamerica on Jul 11, 2014 23:34:58 GMT -5
July '14 For those of you with time on your hands, or just super into trikes here is the full length version of the spartan being disassembled for paint. In total it took about 6 hours from drive able to bare chassis. Sadly I took time to finish all the little things and then primer it and now I am paying the powder coating shop to sand blast the whole thing. Going gloss black for the chassis, still trying to decide if I want to make the suspension parts a different color. Hoping to be back in the drivers seat in two weeks. Part 1 www.youtube.com/watch?v=S09LCm5xyLIPart 2 www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldzBjwRLatgBelow is the time lapse link, much more entertaining. I plan to edit the video this weekend and time lapse it down to about five minutes instead of five hours. |
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Mick
Full Member
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Post by Mick on Jul 12, 2014 13:27:25 GMT -5
As much as I love your project, I'm sorry to say that I couldn't watch you for 5 hours ;-)
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Post by captainamerica on Jul 13, 2014 18:33:17 GMT -5
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Post by mtntech on Jul 13, 2014 19:58:27 GMT -5
As I look at your anti-roll set up I just don't get it. It looks designed to bust welds loose or twist the vertical tube to a point of permanent deformation. How can there be enough give in a 1ft (or less) length of tubing to accommodate independent compression, rebound in the front wheels? If you beef it up enough not to break, you will greatly limit independent movement. I can see how it might work for racers, where there is little regard for suspension travel, and anti-roll is paramount over compliance, but it looks ill suited to street machines working in the real world of potholes and broken pavement. I agree. That design will continue to fail. Take a look at Triplethreats setup. The part that has to twist must be made of the correct materials and be "supported" properly. |
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