88 Blazer Trike

[vwbug72501]

I would think that you would have better luck with a new hole saw, slow speed, and lots of lubricant. Less likely to grab a flute and launch your piece. If the 3/4 holes in the 2" tubing are for pivots, axle, etc. consider using a sleeve to provide more load bearing surface. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Steel-Tubi...R40&rt=nc&_trksid=m570.l1313&LH_TitleDesc=0|0

With this you could just drill 1" holes in the tubing, align the bushings, and weld in place. This process could compensate for any "drift" in the drilling process.

 

[Fowler]

great ideas!!

 

[LarryA]

if you are welding in bushings, use a steel rod thru the bushing extended almost to the opposite bushing hole...keep the rod centered. you may have to intentionally tilt the rod and bushing to compensate for the pull of the first tack. Keep tacks small at first, or just a series of tacks. Tacking over a previous tack will relax the old tack and let the rod move in an opposite direction from a first tack, provided that you have a tack opposite to do the pulling! Sometimes when I weld in a bushing like this, the weld is just a series of larger/ longer tacks. When finished with the 1st bushing reverse the rod and use the same technique on opposite bushing...the rod will show you where to weld next, chase it around until centered! a little practice beforehand is a good idea.....hope this helps!

 

[Fowler]

another great idea

 

[stacebg]

yesterday I placed a bid on a set of Qa1 coil over shocks.

they have a 175lb spring rate

But the auction is not up until Friday.

Tomorrow I will order my grade 8 3/4 bolt

I have 3/4" and 1" drill bits but those are big holes to drill through thick steel.

I will need to drill 2, 1" holes through 1/2 plate and a number of 3/4" holes through through 2" thick wall square tubing

I have a drill press but not the greatest on

any suggestions

with a sharp drill an a pilot or two 1" through 1/2" plate should be no problem

depending on what you call "thick" a drill should be fine on the tubing as well generally holes saws will walk quite a bit i might use a hole saw on 1/8 or less .. anything over that gets drilled.. but needs to be held down and go easy as it breaks through..

 

[Fowler]

with a sharp drill an a pilot or two 1" through 1/2" plate should be no problem

depending on what you call "thick" a drill should be fine on the tubing as well generally holes saws will walk quite a bit i might use a hole saw on 1/8 or less .. anything over that gets drilled.. but needs to be held down and go easy as it breaks through..

thick wall = 1/4 inch

I have been out bid on the coil-overs I want so I am waiting until the last minute to put in another bid.

 

[Fowler]

I did not win the coilovers

I have some other ideas

bought a bathroom scale today from walmart

Its a 400lb scale

WIll try it tomorrow

 

[Fowler]

I weighed it at the very front about where the front wheel will be.

It weighed 391lbs

Need to find the right shocks. (at the right price)

How much travel do you think I need on the shocks?

I ordered the axle and the spacer that were suggested

Tomorrow I will start mocking up the upper and lower plates.

I am planning to use 2x2 tubing for the forks In a kind of a Earls fork design.

At least that is the plan for now

 

[LarryA]

I'm thinking ordinary motorcycle rear coil over shocks.....say harley flh or from a heavy bike would be a place to start.

A large bike must weigh near 500# on the rear axle with 2 people on board. used would be good enough to start with.

I'm using 750 honda rear shocks up front , carrying about 375# on front axle.

 

[Ray55]

Fowler

I have a set of rear air shocks that came off of a 2009 Kawasaki Voyager. You can have them if you pay shipping from San Diego, Ca.

 

[Fowler]

started the mock-up up but i ran out of wood

did not get to the lower part of the forks. (the part that goes straight down or even backwards)

The 2x4 above the tire is just there temporarily to hold the bottom of the forks in the right position

 

[LarryA]

a good way to mock up!.......however got to thinking lol, it would cause some 2nd or 3rd glances if when you finish your forks with the square tubing and steel trees.....that you give the front end a finish

that looks like wood tubes and plywood trees!

the inspector and insurance agent, may not find the humor in that situation!

 

[DeathBySnuSnu]

You know.........

I would seriously consider a Hossack front end for that.

 

[Fowler]

You know.........

I would seriously consider a Hossack front end for that.

What is a Hossack front end?

Never heard of it

Will have to look it up when I get home tonight. (if the internet works)

 

[Fowler]

a good way to mock up!.......however got to thinking lol, it would cause some 2nd or 3rd glances if when you finish your forks with the square tubing and steel trees.....that you give the front end a finish

that looks like wood tubes and plywood trees!

the inspector and insurance agent, may not find the humor in that situation!

I know it would not be strong enough but I would love to make my forks out of this industrial conveyor belt chain I just got.

I have a lot of it and it has big links. I just cant see it being strong enough. I even though about putting a 1/2 backing on the chain but again do not think it would be strong enough

I have another load of chain to get tomorrow. This stuff is heavy and I did not want to weigh down my sons S10 to much

 

[Fowler]

I'm thinking ordinary motorcycle rear coil over shocks.....say harley flh or from a heavy bike would be a place to start.

A large bike must weigh near 500# on the rear axle with 2 people on board. used would be good enough to start with.

I'm using 750 honda rear shocks up front , carrying about 375# on front axle.

what do you think about these. They are in my price range

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Chrome-13-...cat=0&_nkw=harley+rear+shocks&_from=R40&rt=nc

or theses

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-54509-7...cat=0&_nkw=harley+rear+shocks&_from=R40&rt=nc

 

[Fowler]

how would I figure the spring rate on these

Any ideas?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HONDA-GL11...ear+shocks&LH_ItemCondition=3&_from=R40&rt=nc

[h=2]ITEM SPECIFICATIONS[/h]Total Length: 355mmEye to Eye: 325mmEye Diameter Top: 16mm / 16mmEye Diameter Bottom: 16mm / 10mm*Other eye sizes available on request Eye Width : 21mmSpring thickness: 7.00mm Spring Width: 54.50mmWorking stroke: 60.00mmSpring Preload adjustment: 5 Way

 

[LarryA]

I'm assuming the harley shocks are adjustable like the honda ones? this will help fine tune the height. I needed to add a 1 inch spacer between the upper shock mount and the top tree to get my height right. I would recommend provisons to adjust this dimension when you build. As far as calculating spring rate.....cannot help there. using actual mock up preferred by me, plus weight changes may occur during build and modifications. I'd b tempted just borrow some used shocks to starts with.....shock not important but see what weight the used springs will support. my .02

 

[stacebg]

I weighed it at the very front about where the front wheel will be.

It weighed 391lbs

Need to find the right shocks. (at the right price)

How much travel do you think I need on the shocks?

I ordered the axle and the spacer that were suggested

Tomorrow I will start mocking up the upper and lower plates.

I am planning to use 2x2 tubing for the forks In a kind of a Earls fork design.

At least that is the plan for now

at 400 lbs i am thinking most any rear shocks from a say a 1000cc or bigger bike should work

if the spring rate isnt quite right change the lower mount and if the height is right you can move that too... keep in mind they seem to work best when the pivot point is about 1 inch below the axle... hope that makes sense

 

[Fowler]

I did not have time to work on it today.

I did order 2, 200lb coil rate coilover shocks

the shocks are 14.5" extended and 11.5" collapsed I hope that is enough travel

I got my 3/4 axle bolt and the 3/4 space in.

The spacer came in 1, 12" piece that i will cut spacers out of as needed.

 

[peteg59]

Good to see you're back on the project, Bob...:clapping:

Leading link is probably the strongest and best weight bearing front end, if you can get past the semi-ugly.

Never heard of a hossack, either, but I'd bet its stronger than plywood ...:Shrug:

 

[Sidecarbill]

I never heard of a hossack front end either. So I googled it, went to the site. Well flashed across the screen it says your ipad has a virus. Click this link don't shut your ipad down or risk damage! So I shut it down and got out of there. From was I saw briefly looks similar to tne new bmw front end.

 

[LarryA]

I looked on google images....what it looks like to me is an upper/ lower a-arm setup fastened to the front of the bike frame with upper and lower ball joints or a cross type joints, and the vertical part of an automotive knuckle without the spindle.

....the forks fasten between the ball joints with a cross bar then extend down to the axle.....almost the same as an auto front end.

it would need a coil over shock like an auto would use. looks like it would work quite well.

 

[Fowler]

Tomorrow I am replacing the alternator on my kids truck then working on the trike

I got my shocks in

I want to build something like a Earls fork but a regular leading like would be much easier.

I have the enough metal to do either

I have not decided yet.

From what I have read I believe a 2 inch trail would be best either way I go.

 

[LarryA]

Bob .....can't give any advice here, being the only trike I have ever ridden, is the one that I built. That said, with a front ax wt. of nearly 400#, 2 inches of trail gives me easy and stable steering. If riding on a road with a bunch of curves, I would not want steering that takes more effort, so all in all happy how it all turned out. Now the rake is 45 deg. And I understand your rake will be around 35 deg. What I am unsure about is, would less rake, steer easier or harder? or make no difference? Hopefully others with more varied experience will chime in!:xzqxz:

 

[TomyJ]

hossack front end

Is this what you are thinking?

 

[stacebg]

Tomorrow I am replacing the alternator on my kids truck then working on the trike

I got my shocks in

I want to build something like a Earls fork but a regular leading like would be much easier.

I have the enough metal to do either

I have not decided yet.

From what I have read I believe a 2 inch trail would be best either way I go.

earls is a leading link

i like 1.5 - 2.5

 

[Sidecarbill]

You do need to be careful when you build the front end. A friend of mine is a welder by trade. I stopped by his house one day and he said check out the leading link I'm building. So it was a nice lookin job. I said without measuring it looks like you have less than two inches of trail. And I said when they get under 2 inches they get a little to twitchy for my taste. Well he didn't know anything about that so he moved the axle forward about 2 inches. Now he had negative trail. So he called me to tell me about the maiden voyage. He said it felt kind of wobbly but thats not unusual at low speed. So he nailed it and hit second gear. At this point it goes into what he called the speed wobble from hell. Ripped the bars out of his hands dove right flipped upside down with him under it. So hes sliding down the street with a motorcycle with sidecar on top of him, ground a nice flat spot on his ankle before it finally got stopped.

 

[LarryA]

Ouch....bet he knows all about measuring trail now!! Might be over simplifing but, I just classify a leading link as any fork assy. where the rocker has the front axle forward of the fork tubes. As opposed to a trailing link where the front axle is to the rear of the fork tubes.... as some older Indians had.:xzqxz:

 

[stacebg]

Ouch....bet he knows all about measuring trail now!! Might be over simplifing but, I just classify a leading link as any fork assy. where the rocker has the front axle forward of the fork tubes. As opposed to a trailing link where the front axle is to the rear of the fork tubes.... as some older Indians had.:xzqxz:

AGREE about leading vs trailing link..

some call a springer type a leading link as the wheel is forward..

to me, it is not aleading link unless it has the "link" tying the 2 rockers together..

but thats me