Beyond question, the best ballast is movable
Phelonius
Agreed
Never seen ballast looking that good!....I'd move on that for sure....lol... 😉
Mighty nice looking Triumph rig for sure, the little one is adorable....bringing her up right!
Thanks. She's 12 now. Her and her two brothers, (in the sidecar behind her) are coming up to see me and grandma this weekend.
The Triumph belongs to Jim Rockow from Madison. It is all original with the exception of a headlight switch surround that looks factory until you see the lettering. "Dim, Flicker, Off"
I use 75lbs sand bag (1). I keep in even when my son is riding along. I never plan on "flying the car". The sand comes in handy if you get stuck in the mud too 😉
Hi Guy's:
Let me tell you what we used when I was building my Sweet SL 110 sidecars. We built 450 units. When a new customer first picked up there new Sweet sidecar, and they where going to drive it without a passenger in the sidecar. We would take and place a 40 lb. bag of cement sand in the trunk of the sidecar. The reason for the 40 lb. bag was placed in the trunk and not in the seat was so that if the sand bag moved forward while braking all the extra ballast wasn't in the nose of the sidecar body. We found if the moment was to far forward the unit could, and sometimes did shimmy. Once they had driving time they would take out the extra ballast, and drive without any extra weight. Our units only took around forty pounds of weight to be safe.
Something else that may help some of you. Your sidecar may lift when your entering a right hand turn, but under 40 MPH there may not be a problem. If any of you ever flew airplanes you would know about the markings on the instruments. What we did if the customer wanted it was place a small fine line on the speedometer. We took different color electrical tape and cut a semi circle around 1/8" wide. Above 40 MPH the color was red, and below 40 MPH it was green. When the driver was rolling along and entering a right hand turn with no one in the sidecar if they looked down and they where in the red a quick action on the front brake to slow them down into the green zone. Some of you know it all's don't try and tell me this does not work. We installed it on over 100 units without a mishap. In fact the customers would come back and tell us how great it worked. When they would meet another sidecar guy with a different type of sidecar they would show them the red and green small line of tape. I don't know how many other guys copied this, but we would see it at the different sidecar events. Sometimes what's old is new.
Johnny Sweet Sweet SL-110 Sidecars jsweet450@yahoo.com
I use two r 45 lbs tractor weights. They fit perfectly under the seat. I purchased mine at a John Deere store. I would think any tracotr retailer would carry the weights.
The problem with loose hard ballast is when it shifts it can do severe damage to the sidecar body.
Hard ballast should be firmly attached or welded to the frame of the sidecar.
I've used wet sand in plastic gallon milk jugs, sand bags, wheel weights in a milk jug and lead shot for soft ballast. Steel plate, steel rod, tractor batteries and gym weights for hard ballast through the years. Hard ballast welded, or bolted down.
BTW: Even a heavier car will lift at way under 40 mph in a tight right turn.
L.
Thanks for infor. I have mine secured under the seat and they do not shift.
I use the seat belt to secure ballast. It does not shift at all.
