ballast

I add ballast to my rig with lead shot. You can find it at a gunsmith it was in 25# bags. Lear gives you a lot of # per space.

Get a biger passanger

Hi Wayne:
I use the wrist and ankle weight belts. They lay flat, are easy to manipulate, and the weight is incased in heavy plastic and canvas which helps keep lead dust from contaminating gear, groceries, kids or dogs. I believe four belts = 40 lbs. The canvas is not slick, so it helps keep the location of the bags stable. I usually make sure they stay in one location (over the axle) by containing them in a cargo net.
Good New Year and safe driving.
GP

As a cheapo fix only:

I went to Cabella's recently, and the lead shot there was about $22.00 per 25 lb. bag. Way too expensive for the weight I wanted, so I then went to Tractor Supply Company (TSC) and purchased their black sandblast media (dont recall the actual name of it) for less than $7.00 for a 50 lb. bag of the stuff. I took it home and rounded up a couple of pairs of old socks to pour it into. I stretched the sock around a small funnel with a large opening to fill each sock to the desired amount. I can make them as big or as small as I really wanted. Once I filled them to the desired size, I twirled the end and then used a zip tie to secure it closed. I then cut off the excess sock. I took the plastic bag that our local paper comes in and pushed the loaded sock down into it. I then twirled the end of the plastic bag and used a zip tie on it to seal it off. I cut away the extra part of the plastic and I had a nice bag of weight to use as I choose. I made up about 4-5 of them so I can eliminate weight or add more as I see fit. I couldn't find any cloth bags to put the old sock into, so the plastic bag on the paper worked ok to keep any moisture out or keep any sandblast dust from excaping from the bag. Needless to say, don't use an old sock that really needs darning. The bags stuff nicely just in front of the hack seat or into the trunk area where the weight may come in handy.

I guess you could get creative and use a pair of those funky Christmas socks that you'll never wear in the first place, but I had a ton of old Navy kaki socks, so I just went the cheapo route to solve the problem of ballast. When I get done with them, I can always use the bags as sandbags if the creek in our back yard begins to rise. 🙂
Huey

Thanks for all the input. I've gotten a lot of good ideas. I was considering lead but I'm a little concerend about eventually getting lead dust.
I'll be looking into all the options. Thanks again, everybody.

Wayne

With my RoadKing/Spyder combo I used two pieces of 3" solid steel round stock wrapped in visqueen, duck taped and placed under the seat of the Spyder. They just fit and weighed about 50# or so. Easily removable. These also work well with other cars and don't take up much trunk space.

Lonnie
Northwest Sidecar

Solo1:

Here is what I did with my Spyder when I was a newbie and afraid of "Flying the Chair" which I'm not now so I have since removed the weight.

If you lift the seat cushion in the tub, underneath is a roughly rectangular space between the internal frame tubes with the brake lines and electrics of course. I took a slab (for want of a better word) of 2" thick die plate and cut it to fit the cavity. That gave me right around 100 pounds of ballast down low in the center of the tub right where it belongs.

Die plate is easily obtainable at any salvage yard in a variety of already cut/machined to size slabs. After you are done with it, take it back to the salvage yard and resell it. With the price of scrap going up every day, you'll probably make money on it.

I have a lot of die plate here at all times so I used the blue point tool and cut a chunk and then machined the edges sooth with a chamfer, but that's not needed, just me.

i like make sure it is removable ......just in case i come acrost some extra heavy cargo.......

mp in az

Weld or bolt a handle on the die plate and it's removable. When not in the tub, you could use it as a paperweight to keep your empty milk cartons from blowing away.

Solo1

I see you hail from New Haven. I'm in Butler twice every day. Over at SDI delivering scrap.

The farther away from the bike you get the weight, the less weight you will need. Harley used to sell a 46# cast-iron weight that sat on top of the outer spring, outside of the sidecar body. Those were OK, except they got about $150 for them. That's $3.00 pound for cast-iron! They don't even make them anymore due to poor sales, I guess.

On my last Harley rig a few years ago, I copied the shape of the Harley weight form in 1/4" mild steel plate and arc-welded it together so that it was hollow. I also collected a whole bunch of old tire balancing weights and scrap fishing weights and I melted those down right inside of my weight form while it was upside down using a propane burner, the kind that's used for hot-roofing. When it cooled I drilled four holes in it and the result was a nice sidecar weight that was about 70 pounds. That was more than enough given it's outside location. It improved the stability and handling quite a bit.

When I get my new sidecar, hopefully this month, I'll be making another one. This time, I'll melt down two old lead theatrical curtain weights that a friend gave me some time ago.

Oh, BTW, if you melt lead, don't wear sandals! Ha.

If you melt lead, don't have your nose over the crucible either. Lead fumes are BAD. Just remember the Romans and lead pipes.

Originally written by SCT100 on 1/1/2007 12:52 PM

If you melt lead, don't have your nose over the crucible either. Lead fumes are BAD. Just remember the Romans and lead pipes.

Man, that's the truth. Lead and other heavy metals emit fumes when heated. They are truly bad. Fortunately, I seldom have any contact with molten lead.

It's also basic common sense to wear gloves, boots, long trousers, long-sleeve shirts and a face shield when doing such endeavors. Also you need a helper with a garden hose handy.

In 1955 I was cutting the top off a '41 LaSalle to make a custom hardtop for a Buick convertible. I had strap sandals on and when I reached a leaded seam the molten lead dropped on my foot and through my sock making a pad of lead on my instep. Amazing how long it seemed before I got the sandal unstrapped and off.
FYI: I've never worn sandals for any reason since.
I had an ugly experience with flip flops a few years later but that's another story. I don't wear them anymore either.

Lonnie