My Tow-Pac 14" InstaTrike Install on Ultra Classic Harley

[HarleyBob]

My Tow-Pac 14" InstaTrike Install on Ultra Classic Harley

I started this New Thread to do a Step by step build, so others can see how I did it.

The ups and downs, also to ask for help because this is my First crack at this.

My kit is just 50 miles away and should be here Monday or Tuesday.

Today is Saturday 11-4-2017. Tomorrow I turn the Big 70!

Here are pictures of my shop ready for the kit!

I cleaned out one of the bays for the room in case I have to roll on the floor

Fighting the parts! LOL

 

[HarleyBob]

My shop is 24 X 40' not including the 12 X 24' wash rack.

 

[HarleyBob]

Junk is in piles everywhere. My other bay can't be walked in! LOL

 

[HarleyBob]

Bike in shop ready. As you can see I have lots of room to lay the kit out before installation!

 

[HarleyBob]

I just had New Tires front and rear, New Drive belt, and a total service done! Oh I'm a U-Haul dealer and I didn't steal this appliance dollies! LOL! Sure came in handy to move stuff around!

 

[Tynker]

I just had New Tires front and rear, New Drive belt, and a total service done! Oh I'm a U-Haul dealer and I didn't steal this appliance dollies! LOL! Sure came in handy to move stuff around!

View attachment 50880

I put that kit on my buddy's Street Glide,2008, last year. 3,000 miles later he needed a new rear tire, and we installed a Car tire on it. He say's it stops much better and with 7,000 more miles on the new tire, it shows very little signs of wear.

 

[HarleyBob]

I pot that kit on my buddy's Street Glide,2008, last year. #,000 miles later he needed a new rear tire, and we installed a Car tire on it. He say's it stops much better and with 7,000 more miles on the new tire, it shows very little signs of wear.

3000 miles is not much. How many miles on the tire before the install? Also how did the guy drive?

I got 12,000 miles on my last rear tire and it was a Harley Dunlap. It still had rubber but in the rain my azz would try to pass me in curves.

I may have to go over to the dark side for my next rear skin change.

Not knowing anything about outriggers, it would seem to me that if they carry too much weight then the rear

tire would take a lot of abuse try n to stop! Fast take off's would also do this and not using the right amount of front brake!

The shipping weight is 330# not sure what the kit weighs???

I'm just throwing this out there, as I said " I know 0 about outriggers!"

Thanks for your input, got me thinking!

 

[Tynker]

3000 miles is not much. How many miles on the tire before the install? Also how did the guy drive?

I got 12,000 miles on my last rear tire and it was a Harley Dunlap. It still had rubber but in the rain my azz would try to pass me in curves.

I may have to go over to the dark side for my next rear skin change.

Not knowing anything about outriggers, it would seem to me that if they carry too much weight then the rear

tire would take a lot of abuse try n to stop! Fast take off's would also do this and not using the right amount of front brake!

The shipping weight is 330# not sure what the kit weighs???

I'm just throwing this out there, as I said " I know 0 about outriggers!"

Thanks for your input, got me thinking!

He had about 6/7 K miles on the tire before the kit. It was a Dunflop stock tire. After the install, he said his braking was very bad, and worse in the rain. Car tire cured all that. Makes sense, seeing as how the bike no longer leans, rear tire is always flat on the ground.

 

[dadztoy]

Your shop looks great Bob - love the floor!!! Mine is about the same size - 30'X36' and I can devote 2 bays to the bike if necessary... I'm guessing the weight of the 12" tire kit at just under 200 pounds... The larger tire kit, probably a bit more, but that is a guess, not a factual answer...

I run double darkside on my bike with a Yokohama Avid Envigor ZPS (run flat) on the rear and a Bridgestone Battlax BT-45 on the front... On my last tire change I had 17K on the Yoko with a bit of tread left on the edges but the center was worn flat, and the Battleax had 23K on it with a bit of tread left as well... I changed them both because I was leaving on a trip shortly after the change...

When running a run flat tire, TPMS is highly desirable and although my bike is equipped with the Honda TPMS system, I use a pre-production Tire Watch system that actually gives me pressure and temperature readouts using the bike's TPMS sensors... Unfortunately, this system never made it to market but works great... In any case, if your considering a run flat tire, think seriously about a TPMS system of some type...

I find the bike rides better with the car tire in the rear - a softer more supple ride, even the wife thinks so... It gets a bit twitchy on tar snakes and road seams but other than that handles well and is great in the rain too...

For what it's worth, I added a Traxxion 4.5 degree rake kit last year and the bike as a trike handles great - much less effort in the turns and the fatigue factor is greatly reduced... On 2 wheels the bike is still quite manageable, but there is a slight tendency to tuck in on the turns... So I now have the best of both worlds... The 4.5 degree rake kit works well on the Goldwing, but you would have to try it on the HD to see how it would be on 2 wheels, as I do not know the stock rake angle of the HD... As you may well know, these so called "rake kits" do not actually change rake angle, but rather actually change the trail angle, which can effect bike stability, so caution is advised if your considering doing this...

I will be following your install and will offer any help I can, even though yours is an HD and mine a Honda... I'm sure there are more similarities than differences...

Les

 

[Gorilla]

sound like you are ready have fun

 

[HarleyBob]

Your shop looks great Bob - love the floor!!! Mine is about the same size - 30'X36' and I can devote 2 bays to the bike if necessary... I'm guessing the weight of the 12" tire kit at just under 200 pounds... The larger tire kit, probably a bit more, but that is a guess, not a factual answer...

I run double darkside on my bike with a Yokohama Avid Envigor ZPS (run flat) on the rear and a Bridgestone Battlax BT-45 on the front... On my last tire change I had 17K on the Yoko with a bit of tread left on the edges but the center was worn flat, and the Battleax had 23K on it with a bit of tread left as well... I changed them both because I was leaving on a trip shortly after the change...

When running a run flat tire, TPMS is highly desirable and although my bike is equipped with the Honda TPMS system, I use a pre-production Tire Watch system that actually gives me pressure and temperature readouts using the bike's TPMS sensors... Unfortunately, this system never made it to market but works great... In any case, if your considering a run flat tire, think seriously about a TPMS system of some type...

I find the bike rides better with the car tire in the rear - a softer more supple ride, even the wife thinks so... It gets a bit twitchy on tar snakes and road seams but other than that handles well and is great in the rain too...

For what it's worth, I added a Traxxion 4.5 degree rake kit last year and the bike as a trike handles great - much less effort in the turns and the fatigue factor is greatly reduced... On 2 wheels the bike is still quite manageable, but there is a slight tendency to tuck in on the turns... So I now have the best of both worlds... The 4.5 degree rake kit works well on the Goldwing, but you would have to try it on the HD to see how it would be on 2 wheels, as I do not know the stock rake angle of the HD... As you may well know, these so called "rake kits" do not actually change rake angle, but rather actually change the trail angle, which can effect bike stability, so caution is advised if your considering doing this...

I will be following your install and will offer any help I can, even though yours is an HD and mine a Honda... I'm sure there are more similarities than differences...

Les

Les

Thanks for all the info. and all your help now and in the pass!

I'm glad you like the floor, looks good and cost about 2K, I designed and did it myself.

But you can't weld and cut on it without a welding blanket! I do most of the welding, cutting and sandblasting out on the wash rack, I don't do much of that now. But plan on it when I retire in a year.

I'm adding a 12 x 24' lean-to for stuff like a lawn tractor, tiller, 4 welding machines that all weld different stuff, cutting rig, plasma cutter, Air compressor, sandblaster, pressure washer, wood working tools etc.

 

[dadztoy]

Sounds great Bob... I only have a small 130amp Mig setup and I'm not all that good at it but I can usually manage to stick 2 pieces of metal together... You have a few more toys in the shop than I do and I'm a bit jealous!!

Will anxiously await your first pics on the TP setup...

Les

 

[HarleyBob]

It came in today. I found the Kit to be well built out of heavy square stock, better than expected. All the parts are heavy. The finders are beefy and pictured on a

4' x 8' sheet of plywood sitting on my bike trailer. also better than expected.

It was well packed, despite the freight company's very effort to destroy it with the forklift at every dock!

Even made it out of the New Orleans dock! LOL!

 

[HarleyBob]

Everything except the finders was bolted to a 1/2" x 4' x 4' board on top of a pallet in a cardboard Box. Finders well packed in another box!

 

[HarleyBob]

Reverse

 

[HarleyBob]

 

[HarleyBob]

 

[HarleyBob]

14" polished aluminum rims.

 

[dadztoy]

Hey Bob,

Looks good and a bit different than mine... I see you bought the reverse option - good move IMO - you won't regret it... My Wing of course already had reverse so not needed for me...

I will be interested to see how TP treats the parallel wheel adjustment on your kit... On mine, there are 2 large plates that can be moved about for adjustment - see below



The kit looks good - bet you can't wait to get started... Be sure and keep us updated with plenty of pics...

Les

 

[HarleyBob]

Up date, I'm working on it. The installation manual is a manual in the sense of the word only, that is it has pages and pictures and has manual written on it! Other than that it is closer to toilet paper! Very Very Very vague to say the lease! It was apparently written for another kit! None of the brackets look like anything in the manual and none of the bolt kits are numbered and match nothing in the manual!

They did tell me this was the latest, grates best kit. But they failed miserably on updating the manual for the New kit! I understand they sell kits for many different bikes but this is sad!

It is as thought they want you to go to a dealer for the install!

Going to take some time to figure this puzzle out!

 

[HarleyBob]

After a Full day of trying to figure this out, it's starting to come together, slowly, after talking some time with the

factory Via cell phone with parts in hand! Seems this Manual covers 15 years of all Harley touring bikes,

from 1993 to 2008. They could do it with one Manual if they added lots more pictures and descriptions.

Some parts of the manual pretty much say. Just do it!

There are pretty much only two things to assemble.

1. The Receiver Hitch, The part that stays on the motorcycle's frame.

2. The Hitch Cart, The part you take off to go back to two wheels.

I kid you Not, here are the instructions for putting together # 2. word for word out of the Manual.

"Assemble the axles, wheels, and finders onto the tow-pac hitch cart."

That is it!

They have a few pictures in the manual but nothing like my kit!

On top of all the confusion, I had missing parts. Two spacers that go on the rear foot rest. They will send them out to me.

 

[HarleyBob]

Finally got it installed but not tightened or torque down, I'm waiting on spacers!

Then I will go over everything with Factory Rep. to make sure it is correct.

Before Red Lock Tite and Torque! Although all the nuts are all 'lock nuts'

I'm still using Red Lock Tite! As these parts will not be removed!

 

[HarleyBob]

:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

 

[dadztoy]

Sub-frame looks good Bob... Sorry to hear your having so many issues... FWIW, I had Tow Pac mount my kit as at the time, I lived only 90 miles away from them in Illinois... After inspecting their installation job, I was pretty disappointed with it and spent an entire day correcting problems that I thought may cause issues in the future, so despite all your install stumbling blocks, you are probably better off doing the install yourself...

The only issue I have ever had with my TP kit is wheel bearings... I had to replace bearings and races a while back and there seems to be an issue with water infiltration into the bearings, especially on the left (driver's side)... Not sure why this is happening but I just repacked the bearings with Bel-Ray waterproof grease this time... We'll see if this performs any better than before...

Oh, the other thing I discovered about my kit was that the 1 1/4" receiver was a bit over size and I had to add some metal shims to my regular 1 1/4" stinger to take out the slop - a minor annoyance but shouldn't happen...

Keep those pictures coming...

Les

 

[HarleyBob]

I'm putting the axles, wheels, and fenders together.

The fenders and the back frame cover, in primer in the picture, are at the paint ship now!

 

[HarleyBob]

Sub-frame looks good Bob... Sorry to hear your having so many issues... FWIW, I had Tow Pac mount my kit as at the time, I lived only 90 miles away from them in Illinois... After inspecting their installation job, I was pretty disappointed with it and spent an entire day correcting problems that I thought may cause issues in the future, so despite all your install stumbling blocks, you are probably better off doing the install yourself...

The only issue I have ever had with my TP kit is wheel bearings... I had to replace bearings and races a while back and there seems to be an issue with water infiltration into the bearings, especially on the left (driver's side)... Not sure why this is happening but I just repacked the bearings with Bel-Ray waterproof grease this time... We'll see if this performs any better than before...

Oh, the other thing I discovered about my kit was that the 1 1/4" receiver was a bit over size and I had to add some metal shims to my regular 1 1/4" stinger to take out the slop - a minor annoyance but shouldn't happen...

Keep those pictures coming...

Les

Thanks, I just got back from the painter, He said three to four weeks, he will paint and pin strip to match my bike. So I left the finders and other parts with him. He will try to work me in between jobs. So I have time to pack the bearings with water proof grease. They use that around here on boat trailers along with bearing buddies, they have a spring on them with a grease fitting, they replace the outer bearing cap. The spring keeps a little pressure on the grease so water can not get in. You can also grease them without pulling the bearings out, I put them on my motorcycle trailer so I never have to pack the bearings.

https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=bearing buddy

You just look at the spring to see if it needs grease.

 

[dadztoy]

Hummmm, I know of bearing buddies and have used them on rare occasions before, but maybe the TP wheels would be a good candidate for them... When I bought my TP, I bought a "demo" version so I'm not sure exactly what it went thru during it's life cycle at Tow Pac... I had to change both races and bearings when I first did them so I keep an extra set of bearings and races in the cabinet just in case... Only takes an hour or two to change everything out so why not eh?? I just started using the Bel-Ray waterproof grease so we'll see how that works out...

I have been chasing a problem whereby my fenders vibrate violently above 70MPH and haven't found the answer yet... Going to play with tire pressures and wheel balance although I have tried normal wheel balancing and also Centramatic balancers without any success... I normally run my 12" tires around 32PSI but I'm going to try and increase the pressure to see if that makes a difference... It's usually not a problem for me as I don't run that fast normally but it's nice to have the extra speed just in case I have to jump on the Interstate... My tire down force seems reasonable and I don't want to increase it to the point where the main rear tire begins to lose traction so a bit of playing will be involved...

My kit is pretty well dialed in and I've had it for nearly 5 years now and have approximately 20-25K miles on it or so but I continue to try and make improvements on it as time goes by...

I also haul my TP equipped bike in the back of my truck on a Rampage lift and have made the fenders "quick disconnect" (using captive 1/4-20 nuts) to accommodate quick loading and unloading of the bike, as the trike will not clear my truck bed walls with the fenders on... Here is a pic of the trike in the back of my F-250SD shortbed...



Having ridden for the last 50 years or so in all kinds of weather, I have nothing to prove anymore, and these days the bride and I ride in comfort and unload the trike when we get to destination... We'll be heading to the west coast in 2018 to visit Sequoia, Napa Wine Country and points west...

Les

 

[jim bob]

Mr. Bob

Sir my name is Jim and i just joined the forum. I need to do what your are doing and am enjoying your post. I have a 07 sportster and i was considering the ETrike. Did you order yours through the factory or did you go through a dealer. The dealers seem to add a bit more to the delivery charges than the factory and there are no dealers here in Colorado. I was thinking of the ETrike because of the rear bar for the trailer hitch. I do not plan to ever ride two up or pull a trailer so thought the cheaper kit might be the way to go. If you or anyone else have any words of wisdom to impart sure would appreciate it.

Have to add my admiration for you garage as well. Awesome.

Thanks for letting me butt in here, hope I am not stepping on any toes

jim bob

 

[HarleyBob]

Hummmm, I know of bearing buddies and have used them on rare occasions before, but maybe the TP wheels would be a good candidate for them... When I bought my TP, I bought a "demo" version so I'm not sure exactly what it went thru during it's life cycle at Tow Pac... I had to change both races and bearings when I first did them so I keep an extra set of bearings and races in the cabinet just in case... Only takes an hour or two to change everything out so why not eh?? I just started using the Bel-Ray waterproof grease so we'll see how that works out...

I have been chasing a problem whereby my fenders vibrate violently above 70MPH and haven't found the answer yet... Going to play with tire pressures and wheel balance although I have tried normal wheel balancing and also Centramatic balancers without any success... I normally run my 12" tires around 32PSI but I'm going to try and increase the pressure to see if that makes a difference... It's usually not a problem for me as I don't run that fast normally but it's nice to have the extra speed just in case I have to jump on the Interstate... My tire down force seems reasonable and I don't want to increase it to the point where the main rear tire begins to lose traction so a bit of playing will be involved...

My kit is pretty well dialed in and I've had it for nearly 5 years now and have approximately 20-25K miles on it or so but I continue to try and make improvements on it as time goes by...

I also haul my TP equipped bike in the back of my truck on a Rampage lift and have made the fenders "quick disconnect" (using captive 1/4-20 nuts) to accommodate quick loading and unloading of the bike, as the trike will not clear my truck bed walls with the fenders on... Here is a pic of the trike in the back of my F-250SD shortbed...

View attachment 51220 View attachment 51221

Having ridden for the last 50 years or so in all kinds of weather, I have nothing to prove anymore, and these days the bride and I ride in comfort and unload the trike when we get to destination... We'll be heading to the west coast in 2018 to visit Sequoia, Napa Wine Country and points west...

Les

Every year we have our Nationals for the CVMA Combat Vets Motorcycle Association.

I trailer my bike or fly and rent a trike from Harley. Some of The crew I ride with like to go 85 MPH. Us older guys like 65 MPH, been there and done that!

 

[HarleyBob]

Mr. Bob

Sir my name is Jim and i just joined the forum. I need to do what your are doing and am enjoying your post. I have a 07 sportster and i was considering the ETrike. Did you order yours through the factory or did you go through a dealer. The dealers seem to add a bit more to the delivery charges than the factory and there are no dealers here in Colorado. I was thinking of the ETrike because of the rear bar for the trailer hitch. I do not plan to ever ride two up or pull a trailer so thought the cheaper kit might be the way to go. If you or anyone else have any words of wisdom to impart sure would appreciate it.

Have to add my admiration for you garage as well. Awesome.

Thanks for letting me butt in here, hope I am not stepping on any toes

jim bob

Jim I got it shipped to me from the factory. Took about three weeks only.

I'm still checking it out and I will post my finding as I get them here!

You have to call the factory to order!

Not sure about ETrike.

People love my floor, you can drive an 18 wheeler on it, but can't cut and weld on it without a fire proof blanket! I did my office and music studio with this floor connecting it all to the shop floor but just changed the colors of the 12" X 12" tile!