Removing the Tri-Glide Body - Photos & Video

[DK Custom Products]

Before our upcoming summer trip I wanted to replace the heim joints on my panhard rod. To do this, removing the body is required.

There are only 8 bolts and some wires that need disconnecting.

Here are some photo's from yesterday-

...body sitting on some sawhorses...yeah, it's filthy, needs a good cleaning, and some wax.

Here you can see one end of the panhard rod, where the dealership sprayed some sort of lubricant that really attracted a lot of road dirt.

Panhard rod removed-

Panhard rod reinstalled with new heim joints.

The old heim joints had quite a bit of play in them, so it will be nice to ride it without that slack in them.

I also left the body off, sometime in the next few days I'll be mounting the video camera to the rear of the frame and taking some video to watch the 14" Trike Series Shocks in action while riding. Will post it up here when done.

Kevin

 

[MDF48]

Good Info

Kevin, as usual a very good and useful post. I think the video from the rear with the suspension working will be very interesting and informative. :clapping:

As you said, good time to give all that rear area a good cleaning and wax on painted stuff. It does appear that changing the Panhard bar is very easy with the body off. Do the heim joints come installed on the rod? I suppose they are easy to adjust?

 

[ultrafxr]

Kevin, as usual a very good and useful post. I think the video from the rear with the suspension working will be very interesting and informative. :clapping:

As you said, good time to give all that rear area a good cleaning and wax on painted stuff. It does appear that changing the Panhard bar is very easy with the body off. Do the heim joints come installed on the rod? I suppose they are easy to adjust?

Kevin, how heavy is the body? I'm assuming Devin helped or did you recruit Mary!

Jerry

 

[DK Custom Products]

Kevin, as usual a very good and useful post. I think the video from the rear with the suspension working will be very interesting and informative. :clapping:

As you said, good time to give all that rear area a good cleaning and wax on painted stuff. It does appear that changing the Panhard bar is very easy with the body off. Do the heim joints come installed on the rod? I suppose they are easy to adjust?

Yeah, I think it'll be a fun video.

I used the same panhard rod, just replaced the threaded in heim joints on each end. Taking apart and putting back together is simple. The manual outlines a relatively simple method for adjusting it to the proper length, via how far the heim joints are threaded in.

Kevin, how heavy is the body? I'm assuming Devin helped or did you recruit Mary!

Jerry

I would guess less than 100 lbs. Devin and I carried it, but Mary and I would have no problem. Did not even bother emptying the Tour-Pak.

Kevin

 

[Jack Klarich]

Good info Kevin

I have not heard the word pan hard rod for a long time

Moog engineering wanted us to call it a trac rod BUT I am old school like you

 

[arnie]

Hey Kevin I replaced my heim joints on my 2011, & 2014 before & never removed the body. I don't really remember but it was less then an hour todo. I'm sure it's easier to get to though by removing the body.

 

[Capt.Bob]

Kevin, Those rear tires look a bit worn or maybe it is an illusion of the camera angle? I have a Panhard rod (bar or stabilizer) that is used both in my Tri Glide and also have one in my kit-built street legal race car. It will be interesting to see a video on how those shocks work without the body structure to obscure the movement.

I didn't know until I looked it up that the Panhard automotive group in France was the developer of the device to reduce lateral longitudinal movements of the rear axle in coil spring applications and so it is named after the company that invented it.

 

[hocnsoc]

Photos tell it all

Thank you Kevin, for posting the photos. Made me think twice about lifting the trike from the cross members.

That frame appears to be marginal as far as supporting the weight. We all do it for lift kits but those photos

make me wonder.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Kevin, Those rear tires look a bit worn or maybe it is an illusion of the camera angle? I have a Panhard rod (bar or stabilizer) that is used both in my Tri Glide and also have one in my kit-built street legal race car. It will be interesting to see a video on how those shocks work without the body structure to obscure the movement.

I didn't know until I looked it up that the Panhard automotive group in France was the developer of the device to reduce lateral longitudinal movements of the rear axle in coil spring applications and so it is named after the company that invented it.

Yeah, tires are worn...near the wear marks. Dunno if I'm going to replace them before the trip or not.

Thank you Kevin, for posting the photos. Made me think twice about lifting the trike from the cross members.

That frame appears to be marginal as far as supporting the weight. We all do it for lift kits but those photos

make me wonder.

They're pretty stout. I've lifted mine there, well over 100 times (testing different prototypes). Never heard of them failing or bending.


Yeppers!

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Duplicate post

 

[DK Custom Products]

Triplicate post. :laugh:

 

[Capt.Bob]

Kevin, I think the reason that you have not had a crossmember deform is that you put your scissor jack under both crossmembers. I used a hydraulic jack on only one crossmember and slightly bent it when I was putting on my DK Customs Custom Lift Kit on my 2017 TGU. I also had not used a block of wood which I subsequently did after calling you about the slight deformation of the crossmember. I think the trick is to use both pieces of metal and I would agree that then and only then can the whole back of the trike be supported by crossmembers without any concern for deformation.

In terms of tires, I find them to be relatively cheap insurance and replace them before I see any wear bars. How many miles have you gotten on this first set of rear tires? You ride pretty aggressively and sometimes two-up for long distances with Mary and a fair amount of gear. Having a blown tire on a long trip would be a real bummer. Bob

 

[DK Custom Products]

Too bad it is so dirty...

Here are the photos of the mounting points for the body.

Four on the bottom of the trunk, under the liner-

Two more against the front wall of the trunk-

One on either side of the Trike, under each side cover-

Photos from different angles coming soon.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Kevin, I think the reason that you have not had a crossmember deform is that you put your scissor jack under both crossmembers. I used a hydraulic jack on only one crossmember and slightly bent it when I was putting on my DK Customs Custom Lift Kit on my 2017 TGU. I also had not used a block of wood which I subsequently did after calling you about the slight deformation of the crossmember. I think the trick is to use both pieces of metal and I would agree that then and only then can the whole back of the trike be supported by crossmembers without any concern for deformation.

In terms of tires, I find them to be relatively cheap insurance and replace them before I see any wear bars. How many miles have you gotten on this first set of rear tires? You ride pretty aggressively and sometimes two-up for long distances with Mary and a fair amount of gear. Having a blown tire on a long trip would be a real bummer. Bob

Hey Bob,

Yes, thank you. Got to use a piece of wood, between jack or jack stands and the cross members. We do have that in the instructions, but I forgot to mention that above. Most of the time I jack it up and then use jack stands, under just one cross member (with wood), but for this project we did it this way.

Yes, I probably will do the tires....I have 50K miles on those tires...was thinking to go another 8 or 9k, then decide if I am going to trade it in. (they still have 1/32" before hitting the wear bars. )

But, you are right, they are relatively inexpensive and will make for a safer trip, and better traction in the rain & possible snow. Plus, one of those tires has a plug in it that has close to 25K miles on it...and I've never taken the time to remove the tire and patch it from the inside....ok, you talked me into it. :laugh:

Kevin

 

[Capt.Bob]

Kevin, You are a smart man!!! I will feel better about Mary being on the back of the trike. You are too grizzly to get too hurt but she is a more delicate flower

Additionally, what came to mind was that if a rear tire were to shred on a blowout say from hitting a bad piece of metal debris that there is very little clearance as you know between the tires and the rear fenders and substructure of the trunk and I would think that a shredded tire could really do some significant damage to the body. That probably wouldn't do your trade-in any good:xzqxz:

Last month, I was going down I-75 in South Florida and saw a newer model Jeep Wrangler hit a large piece of debris (looked like about a 3 foot 2x4) and it literally instantly ripped off the guy's left rear fender which sticks out from the body. I had never seen that happen before and wonder who may have had to dodge or hit his big ass plastic fender assembly and/or block of wood travelling at about 80 mph?

 

[DK Custom Products]

Pics of the Tri-Glide from different angles with the body off.

Couple shots of the reverse motor-

Various angles-

Photo's of removing the axles, replacing the bearings, and a few other things we discovered in the process....all coming soon.

After all that is done I'll be mounting the video camera and going for a ride. Video should be fun/interesting!

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Kevin, You are a smart man!!! I will feel better about Mary being on the back of the trike. You are too grizzly to get too hurt but she is a more delicate flower

Additionally, what came to mind was that if a rear tire were to shred on a blowout say from hitting a bad piece of metal debris that there is very little clearance as you know between the tires and the rear fenders and substructure of the trunk and I would think that a shredded tire could really do some significant damage to the body. That probably wouldn't do your trade-in any good:xzqxz:

Last month, I was going down I-75 in South Florida and saw a newer model Jeep Wrangler hit a large piece of debris (looked like about a 3 foot 2x4) and it literally instantly ripped off the guy's left rear fender which sticks out from the body. I had never seen that happen before and wonder who may have had to dodge or hit his big ass plastic fender assembly and/or block of wood travelling at about 80 mph?

:laugh: Thanks man! Mary was happier too when I told here I was going to go ahead and replace them.

Tomorrow am getting the Goodyear Comfortreds installed, along with Dyna Beads for balancing. Will be interesting, have only run the factory Dunlops up to now.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Yeah! How open the belt is really stood out to me when I first got my 2011 TG. I've ridden a lot of gravel, and my driveway is gravel. Knock on wood, not had an issue to date. Luck of the draw I reckon.

Kevin

 

[Jack Klarich]

Kevin, you will like the comfort treads

They were 1 of our hottest selling tires before I retired

Never had any problems with them, they wear as good as Michelin's IMO

 

[520fd]

Before our upcoming summer trip I wanted to replace the heim joints on my panhard rod. To do this, removing the body is required.

There are only 8 bolts and some wires that need disconnecting.

Here are some photo's from yesterday-

...body sitting on some sawhorses...yeah, it's filthy, needs a good cleaning, and some wax.

Here you can see one end of the panhard rod, where the dealership sprayed some sort of lubricant that really attracted a lot of road dirt.

Panhard rod removed-

Panhard rod reinstalled with new heim joints.

The old heim joints had quite a bit of play in them, so it will be nice to ride it without that slack in them.

I also left the body off, sometime in the next few days I'll be mounting the video camera to the rear of the frame and taking some video to watch the 14" Trike Series Shocks in action while riding. Will post it up here when done.

Kevin

Kevin. Is that scissor jack that you are using, stout enough to lift a trike to install a Comfort lift kit? With the body on?

 

[DK Custom Products]

Kevin. Is that scissor jack that you are using, stout enough to lift a trike to install a Comfort lift kit? With the body on?

Yes, but it is not stable enough. I prefer to have two jack stands on the outside sides of a cross brace.

When working on the Comfort Lift™ install, you are cranking pretty good on the bolts on each side, and if you did that with just that one scissor jack, you would get some side to side teeter totter movement.

The link below is to the instructions on the lift kit install...that is how I do it.

http://www.dkcustomproducts.com/med...ble/ConvertibleComfortLiftKitInstructions.pdf

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Kevin, you will like the comfort treads

They were 1 of our hottest selling tires before I retired

Never had any problems with them, they wear as good as Michelin's IMO

Cool! I've read good things about them....looking forward to experiencing them.

Kevin

 

[nevtat]

I have a 2012 Triglide. What should I be looking for that tells me this sway bar needs service/new joints?

 

[DK Custom Products]

I have a 2012 Triglide. What should I be looking for that tells me this sway bar needs service/new joints?

If you grab hold of it, and try and move it right to left, or up and down, if it clicks or you feel the rod move independent of the trike, then that indicates the heim joints are worn and should be replaced.

Kevin

 

[Capt.Bob]

Tri Glides can sure be "knee knockers' when going over railroad crossings. The other day, I was coming up on a crossing and it looked fairly flat but when I went over it, the tank slapped the crap out of my knee caps. Yikes, it was as if I didn't have a Panhard bar and/or shocks. Ouch!

 

[DK Custom Products]

Video of 14" Trike Series Shocks w/ Comfort Lift™ in action coming later this week.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Below is one of the videos we made with the body off.

This photo shows how strange it looks.

Kevin

 

[Capt.Bob]

Is this the new DK Customs quick shock adjustment setup where you don't have to bend down much to change the shock settings? Sort of like your oil filter relocation setup? I bet the trike's mileage would improve significantly with this new strategy