New Guy Here - Hello

[Stroke5]

Just joined up here. I'm a 50 yr old ex toolmaker, current IT guy & student (yeah, I had a little stroke or something & decided to finish college).

A friend is building a trike with a '75 Sportster frame in front of a Servicar back-half. This trike is so cool it's got me looking around for a complete Servicar myself. The fabrication work is first rate, he's through mock-up, powdercoat-paint-&-chrome, & is now assembling the nearly completed trike. Skilled as he is (35+ yrs as an engineering machinist/fabricator), my friend has little patience for tasks like wiring & that was holding up the assembly so I went over today to help with that.

We have no harness, we're working with a Sportster schematic, spools of wire, solder, a bag of heat-shrink, & limited electrical skills - thought I'd check around & see what kind of Trike Wiring for Idiots resources might be available. We'll get there in any case, but I'm at a point where I'm ready to RTFM.

Any help with that?

Thanks much.

 

[Nana]

I'm no electrical engineer -- we've got some great tech-knowledgeable folks here who will help you though. I just want to welcome you and your buddy to the forum!

 

[jimmy]

welcome,sounds like a great project.

 

[Lucky]

Welcome Stroke5 I am no help with your ?'s but you have come to the rite place.

 

[Gorilla]

Re: Hello - New Guy here

Stroke5 welcome aboard. no help but glad you joined us.

 

[Stroke5]

Thanks guys.

All we really need is a schematic for a basic electrical system ... no interest in turning the thing into a rolling boombox, etc. The Sportster schematic we have is for a single taillight, etc, & neither of us are comfortable with making assumptions.

Given our skill level, simple instructions would be very helpful. A table of wire gauges would be good as well - we definitely don't want to burn it down.

Surely this information is available somwhere-or-another.

 

[tis]

Re: Hello - New Guy here

Welcome aboard, I would check the H.D. forums, I'm sure you'll find your answers there, that is if noone chimes in here....:Biker:

 

[Stroke5]

Re: Hello - New Guy here

Welcome aboard, I would check the H.D. forums, I'm sure you'll find your answers there, that is if noone chimes in here....:Biker:

Yeop, thanks. I posted over there as well.

http://www.triketalk.com/forum/harley-trikes/6889-new-guy-here-hello.html

 

[Greydog]

Just joined up here. I'm a 50 yr old ex toolmaker, current IT guy & student (yeah, I had a little stroke or something & decided to finish college).

A friend is building a trike with a '75 Sportster frame in front of a Servicar back-half. This trike is so cool it's got me looking around for a complete Servicar myself.

Thanks much.

I have a friend in Northern Illinois, a few miles North of Waukegan, who has two or three old Servicars. If you're interested PM me and I'll hook you up with a name and phone number. Welcome aboard!!

 

[Stroke5]

Sure, I'm interested - if nothing else I need to get an idea of what that market's like. For the immediate moment, though, I'm after the information I need to wire a nearly-done custom.

I keep my friend's computers & network running, & I'm known for finding pretty much whatever I need online - these skills that my friend does not have seem to have had him thinking I'd be a wizard at wiring. I told him it'd have to be fingered out, but I still think he has expectations of a quicker, more seemless effort.

I know we'll get it done, but I'm really surprised by how difficult it's been to find information. Whatever - I just completed macro-econ 202 work for next week - time for more searching.

 

[Gorilla]

Type into a search engine sportster 1975 wiring diagram and start the searching. I found one on there. easier for you to go and just download it.

 

[Stroke5]

I have a Sportster schematic, What I'm looking for is a trike schematic that makes it absolutely clear how to wire the taillights w/ turn signals. That I haven't found. Probably seems like a silly problem for those who've done it, but we're both more mechanically inclined than electrical.

Before I power the system & let him turn the key, I want to be sure that it's right.

 

[Nana]

I wonder if you could find those details in the service manual for a trike. One of our members, kj5ix, wrote the online manual for Motor Trikes and here is a link to it:

http://www.junkmaster.com/kj5ix/MTServiceManual.pdf

I also easily found a downloadable installation manual for Champion trikes that you could go to for comparison.

 

[Stroke5]

Re: ty, tyvm

We got the trike wired on Friday. The total manhours involved in puzzling out such a simple system is a little embarrassing, but it works. Everything passed continuity & actual function tests - everything but the starter & a pair of plugs themselves. He doesn't have the oil tank plumbed yet, so we just bumped the solinoid & called that a passed-good starting system.

Now he can move forward with the rest of the assembly - the only other thing in his way will be the '57 Chevy build he's doing for a customer.

:Excited: