Freewheeler "Chopper" Project

[Tucci]

Inspection

Some inspection mechanics will hand you the inspection sticker as you ride by.

 

[MDO]

Free Bird, I was at Doc's HD today, getting my clutch recall repair done.

I saw your trike there. They were putting the rear wheel back on. They had all your painted body parts off. It looks like it's ready to ship for paint.

They had a great BBQ lunch for Veterans & handed out some nice Doc's coffee mugs. Very cool!

Beth, the owner, was there greeting everyone . Overall, a very nice afternoon, considering how cold it was.

 

[MDO]

Duplicate Post.???

 

[Free Bird]

Free Bird, I was at Doc's HD today, getting my clutch recall repair done.

I saw your trike there. They were putting the rear wheel back on. They had all your painted body parts off. It looks like it's ready to ship for paint.

They had a great BBQ lunch for Veterans & handed out some nice Doc's coffee mugs. Very cool!

Beth, the owner, was there greeting everyone . Overall, a very nice afternoon, considering how cold it was.

HA! I was there too!!! How funny. We may have been in the same room but didn't know it. Yep the trike is torn down and I was going through the details of the crating for shipping the parts out for paint. I am WAY pumped about JoAnne Bartel doing the flames.... she is a Master at them. She is doing a mural on the trunk lid of the Mater Dolorosa as well. Check her work out and Crazy Horse Painting....

Anyway, My wife and I had BBQ and some of the cookies the DAR were passing out. A good time (as always) at Doc's

 

[Free Bird]

Well.... as MDO pointed out... the trike is torn down and headed for paint. Thought I would share the fender fab details... There is how they were done... I bought two caliper mounting brackets from the MoCo and they served as the hard points for attaching the fender to the axle

 

[MDO]

Free Bird, I was wondering how your front end build up went today?

In a 1/2 hour this evening, we had a thunder & hail storm, then a very high wind, possible tornado blow by. Now rain and snow are coming. I'm glad I rode yesterday.

 

[Free Bird]

Free Bird, I was wondering how your front end build up went today?

In a 1/2 hour this evening, we had a thunder & hail storm, then a very high wind, possible tornado blow by. Now rain and snow are coming. I'm glad I rode yesterday.

Yes... Tornado warnings out earlier this evening and snow now... Welcome to STL

I have issues with the front end. Machining is good on alignment but neck post and bearings are different. I actually caught these issues prepping for today's session at Doc's and called it off until it is resolved. Kinda feels like going to the hospital to have a baby and it is just not time yet.....

 

[Free Bird]

Thanks... I am REALLY looking forward to more riding than building.... but I like building

 

[peteg59]

A word of caution on your rear fender mounting points, from real world experience: As you are likely aware, there are serious vibrations on the axles due to road surfaces. This potentially leads to fender brace weld failures as well as metal fatigue on other parts of the fenders.

From experience, the axle fender mounts tend to fail prematurely due to the excess vibrations. Even when using triangulated bracketry.

I know the look is right as you currently have it but if there is any way to mount your fenders on the "sprung" side vs "unsprung" as you are doing, I'd highly recommend going the extra steps necessary to avoid headaches down the road.

Unless this will be more of a show piece, vs a daily rider...

Good luck, either way you go.

 

[Jack Klarich]

I am waiting to see the finished Trike

It is going to be a 1 of a kind

 

[Free Bird]

A word of caution on your rear fender mounting points, from real world experience: As you are likely aware, there are serious vibrations on the axles due to road surfaces. This potentially leads to fender brace weld failures as well as metal fatigue on other parts of the fenders.

From experience, the axle fender mounts tend to fail prematurely due to the excess vibrations. Even when using triangulated bracketry.

I know the look is right as you currently have it but if there is any way to mount your fenders on the "sprung" side vs "unsprung" as you are doing, I'd highly recommend going the extra steps necessary to avoid headaches down the road.

Yes, great comment and very true. It is always a problem on hardatails. Sissy bars and fenders take on every piece of gravel, tar stripe, and pothole. I re-welded and or replaced them routinely on my old panheads and pan shovel chops. Gusseting on these is intended to improve the vibration fatigue by spreading the load over a wider area. The reaction brackets still pose a potential stress riser area, but I will keep an eye on it. The main reason for the approach was to avoid having to elevate the flat surface the amount required to clear vertical tire travel. I did mock it up using TerraHaute's body mount approach. I ended up with something that looked like a baja ready 3 wheel dune buggy.

So your point, it is something to watch...closely. It is a riding bike, so inspections at the welds will be a common thing. If they crack... I will go back to the drawing board or run fender "naked"

 

[peteg59]

I ran axle/swingarm mounted rear fenders similar config.as yours, and experienced bracket weld failure on it's first road test.

My rear fenders were probably a bit heavier than yours, as I used a set of stock FXST/Deuce units. I started out with 2 fender struts/supports as you currently have. After both broke at the welds, I added another to "triangulate" the load in hopes of having the look as well as the setup that would work on the real world roads around here.

It took a couple 50 mile putts, but unfortunately even that added structural support couldn't handle all of the nasty road vibes and it failed again. Could it have been the welds, welder, machine &/or operator? Sure, but I doubted it at the time, (still doubt today), & moved on to relocate the mounts.

I was lucky enough to have room on the flatback deck of my trike to mount the fenders to that, without sacrificing too much of the look over that of the axle mount.

 

[Free Bird]

I ran axle/swingarm mounted rear fenders similar config.as yours, and experienced bracket weld failure on it's first road test.

My rear fenders were probably a bit heavier than yours, as I used a set of stock FXST/Deuce units. I started out with 2 fender struts/supports as you currently have. After both broke at the welds, I added another to "triangulate" the load in hopes of having the look as well as the setup that would work on the real world roads around here.

It took a couple 50 mile putts, but unfortunately even that added structural support couldn't handle all of the nasty road vibes and it failed again. Could it have been the welds, welder, machine &/or operator? Sure, but I doubted it at the time, (still doubt today), & moved on to relocate the mounts.

I was lucky enough to have room on the flatback deck of my trike to mount the fenders to that, without sacrificing too much of the look over that of the axle mount.

Yeah. I will not know until it has been ridden more miles than I have ridden with the bare ones on (~150mi). We will see how it goes.

 

[Free Bird]

I ran axle/swingarm mounted rear fenders similar config.as yours, and experienced bracket weld failure on it's first road test.

My rear fenders were probably a bit heavier than yours, as I used a set of stock FXST/Deuce units. I started out with 2 fender struts/supports as you currently have. After both broke at the welds, I added another to "triangulate" the load in hopes of having the look as well as the setup that would work on the real world roads around here.

It took a couple 50 mile putts, but unfortunately even that added structural support couldn't handle all of the nasty road vibes and it failed again. Could it have been the welds, welder, machine &/or operator? Sure, but I doubted it at the time, (still doubt today), & moved on to relocate the mounts.

I was lucky enough to have room on the flatback deck of my trike to mount the fenders to that, without sacrificing too much of the look over that of the axle mount.

PS.... Thanks for the comments. I appreciate the input

 

[MDO]

PS.... Thanks for the comments. I appreciate the input

Good luck my friend, your braver than I am to take on such a project.

Personally , I'm too selfish to give up the riding time.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Yep, always gotta be checking.I've had good fortune with my swingarm mounted fender on the DK Sporty, it's some heavy gauge off a Military Hummer.

I have really reinforced the fender on my rigid Sporty, have not ridden it yet, but hope it holds up well.

Kevin

 

[Free Bird]

Yep, always gotta be checking.I've had good fortune with my swingarm mounted fender on the DK Sporty, it's some heavy gauge off a Military Hummer. I have really reinforced the fender on my rigid Sporty, have not ridden it yet, but hope it holds up well.

Kevin

VERY NICE!

 

[Free Bird]

Good luck my friend, your braver than I am to take on such a project.

Personally , I'm too selfish to give up the riding time.

Yep... fully understand... I have been without one since 2010... So the few month downtime in exchange for the fun of the build is ok by me.

 

[MDO]

Hey Free Bird, any updates on the build? The painting should be close to done. Any news on the front end.

 

[Free Bird]

Hey Free Bird, any updates on the build? The painting should be close to done. Any news on the front end.

My bike is still "neck-ed" as some like to say. All stripped down and waiting for paint. The crated parts were shipped out in early December via Estes Transport to South Carolina... via Phoenix, Arizona! Three weeks en route to the painter. So I sorta lost my place in line. No hard feelings with the painters, lots of frustration with Estes. It is a long story, but the short version is Estes Traiffic planner got The crates cross-docked on the wrong truck and they went West.... once started... no stopping until it caught an East bound route. They arrived safely..but very late. So early February is the estimate for paint completion now and I am flying out to Charlotte and driving the parts back myself (no kidding).

The front end is a worse tale. I cannot go into detail as there is a conflict underway that won't allow detailed discussion but.... Changes made by the machinist resulted in it not fitting the trike. VERY SUPER EXTRAORDINARILY KINDA LIKE GETTING IT CAUGHT IN YOUR ZIPPER FRUSTRATING (Swearing). But the issue is getting worked out....

And now here's something you'll really like.....

I have a new front end partner and this is what we are doing....



Sort of back to the original plan for a springer with better engineering support. Here (as always) is the bad photoshop of the concept



We are building the trees in Cad and 3-D Printing them for trial fitment and mock up on the bike.



The trees will be at zero rake to the fork neck and we will achieve necessary rake and trail through the rocker design. Hoping for a product ready for the chrome platers in Mid- to Late February. But, as Ole Paul Mason used to say..... "We will finish no Chopper before its time..."

More to come as progress is realized....

:AllGood:

 

[Free Bird]

PS....

In case you thought I messed up the Ape placement in the springer picture, I am "benchmarking" a trick Arlen Ness did a while ago in the 90's...here is the idea...



Note the bars bolt on just above the lower trees... I like the effect. This was the original idea I had, but had trouble finding a fabricator... Here is that crappy photoshop....



The jury decided on the fender.... To look good... no fender.... to be practical....mount it. So we will put it on something like this.... (With the brake calipers of course)



So as those keeping score can see.... still lots to do. Building this way is a time consuming process, and yes it interferes with the idea that you ride these things.... but that day will come soon enough....

 

[Free Bird]

Hiya everybody.... Long time no post (at least on this thread)....

I am in wait mode on the project ....Waiting on the new front and waiting on paint.... So I have been thinking... what can I do to a torn down bike that is just waiting for stuff to show up....

The answer... ENGINE UPGRADES

So here is what I am thinking….. I can make my own Stage 4 Upgrade (Comments are welcome….)



Maintain stock displacement and the MoCo Jugs and Pistons

Add:

S&S 475G Chest kit (get the gear drive, oil pump, and pushrods with that)



Stock Cylinder Heads - Pro Polished and Ported

58mm HorsePower Inc Max Flow Throttle Body (to replace the plastic Mikuni)



Cobra Pro-Chamber Head Pipes with Cobra Neighbor Hater Slip-Ons (these are made JUST FOR THE FREAKIN FREEWHEELER!!!! Yes Virginia! THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS!!!)

.... seriously.... it is nice to see things popping up for FLRTs.... we all have become to used to the "Except Trikes" on just about every aftermarket thing....









AIM Light Force Clutch Slave Cylinder (too many good reviews to pass up)

(There is a whole thread dedicated this thing... check it out)

Retain my S&S Air Cleaner, but modified to incorporate DK’s External Breather to keep the mucky muck out of the combustion chamber



That's it.... Not a profueler... but a little peppy-er for funnin around

Thoughts and input are always welcome.....

 

[Jack Klarich]

Jeff, I would check those HD cylinders real good

I have heard many horror stories about out of taper

 

[Free Bird]

Jeff, I would check those HD cylinders real good I have heard many horror stories about out of taper

​

I hope not..... but thanks for the heads up

 

[Free Bird]

Well.... all this waiting makes a fella nervous..... gotta do SOMETHING with the trike..... So I shed a brief tear and paid my final respects to the factory warranty and took the jump.... All the "stuff" for my engine upgrades got ordered today. Here are the goodies:

 

[MDO]

Very nice!

Any update on paint & are you still picking it up in N.C. yourself ?

 

[Free Bird]

Yes. Current forecast for the paint is early April.

I am going to Louisville next weekend to take all of the "stuff" for the springer mock up. (I think) we are going to employ a special made set of Nash Pudgy Gimps that are made to a 29" rise and then cut and employed on the springer to get to the equivalent 18" on the trike.

Lot of fun.... but LOTS of waiting....

 

[Jack Klarich]

Jeff, are you changing the cam plate with the S& S oil pump?