Originally written by joejcr on 1/4/2007 6:32 AM
Would you be willing to provide the specs and design on the weight? I have an 06 harley w/ harley hack and would prefer to keep the weight on the outside rather than inside the car.
thanks
Hi, Joe.
Sure, I will do that within a few days. BTW, this morning I'm going to pick up my sidecar in the crate from my local dealer and I'll have some exact figures for you later this week.
First off, just for fun, go to your dealer and ask if they could run a check for you on possibly obsolete parts. That would be the OEM cast-iron sidecar weight. You could find it in parts books from the 1990s, which they always maintain. The original weight, which I used to have on my former rig, was cast iron and about 46#. It was about 12" by 4" X 4" and looked like a loaf of bread wit a slope on the inside, torward the sidecar. If you could get one of those, you woudn't have to melt the lead. The only issue would be the cost...they were almost $150 as I recall and I foolishly bought one around 1993 for my then 1993 FLHS and 1988 sidecar. I felt pretty silly when I looked at it. I said to myself, "Gosh, I could make one of those a lot cheaper."
That said, when I make my new weight, I'll give you the exact dimensions anyway so you can decide what you want to do. The last one I made was done out of 1/4" mild steel plate with my welding machine. I'm also considering making it hollow with a threaded plug so I could simply add lead or steel birdshot until it's full and then no melting would be needed. There's more than one way to skin a cat.
BTW, the Harley sidecar weight didn't really work well with the early HD sidecars. By early, I mean pre-1998. Those were the ones with the drum brake and multi-leaf springs. This placed the weight about three inches higher and the tub would bounce up and down and get scratched by the side of the weight.
Your 2006 sidecar has single leaf springs and thus, more clearance so there's no problem. The disc brake also allows more room to move the weight a little bit outwards. In any case, you need four holes drilled through the casing of the weight to pick up the holes in the spring and the frame. I think they use U-bolts but these are replaced with long bolts.
So stand by and I'll give you the dimensions when I am able to make actual measurements from my sidecar. I'll pm them to you.
Regards,
gnm109
I've actually seen quite a number of these on ebay over the years. They usually sell pretty cheap.
Ebay would be the best way to get a weight and would save making one and fooling around with lead. Harley's original price was not reasonable at all.
Good old eBay. It's become a public utility. I guess that's why they just raised their listing prices this week.
Just in case anyone is not aware of it the immediate concern with molten lead is that when it contats water it makes for a pretty violent reaction...hot lead all over the place is not a good thing for the fun meter readings.Bird shot as mentioned here a few times works very well. It has been put in vaious tube type things and has also been poured right into sidecar frames by drilling a hole in them. We used to cast weight using lead for the race cars by using a valve cover for a mold. You can actually cast in some bolts to secure it to whatever bracket being used or cast in a part of a pinch block to be able to secure it to a round or even a square tube. Don't try and use aluminum valve covers for this.Old wheel weights work well for a souce of lead and many garages may have a bucket full of them Personally I like a tube either round or square that can be bolted to the sidecar frame. One end can be removable to add weight such as birdshot or whatever. Black iron pipe can be had in shor elngths that are threaded on both ends and caps are avaiable to screw on. With a mounting bracket of some type welded on these can be made to work well and look good too. Grind around on the cap to make it smooth and a little paint and you got a nice deal. Add lesad shot as weight as you see fit and you got it.
I got an email message from my boss this week, and I happened to see that she had changed her signature at the bottom of it to read as the following quote: "In the majority of instances, all an argument proves is that two or more people are present." I laughed at the time, as I was thinking of some of the passionate reply threads and the passionate debate over the use of lead and water. I think "In the majority of instances" probably excludes schizophrenics, but who knows? 🙂
Ballast ideas that never succeeded: In years past, one of the tricks used by a few (few) circle track backwoods fellows, was the idea of using a hollow pipe filled with mercury. Apparantly, the stuff sort of does a counterweight movement all its own when pitched into one direction or another. The thought was to place it in the right area and the weight slings the opposite way when taking the sharp curves. A slight bend in the frame at the right area and it all could give an advantage against other racers in making the curves of the circle tracks. As best I recall, the idea was sprung by someone who claimed that some of the old amublances used such to keep them upright when making sharp curves during emergencies in the big towns. (I really doubt the factual nature of this) Still, the idea of something as heavy as mercury, and having the movement characteristics of it, seems at least interesting. Of course, cement seeks it's own level as well, so keeping it somehow liquified inside a hollow tube would be an interesting ballast concept as well. I still like the idea of using Elvis as non-traditional ballast weight best. 🙂
Huey
HELP WHY USE BALLAST UNLESS YOUR DRIVING TO FAST FOR CONDITIONS ,WHICH I HAVE DONE A FEW TIMES [REGRETFULLY]
Because sometimes, it is the destination and not the journey...and "flying" can really get expensive sometimes. :0
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HELP WHY USE BALLAST UNLESS YOUR DRIVING TO FAST FOR CONDITIONS ,WHICH I HAVE DONE A FEW TIMES [REGRETFULLY]
Ballast is quite helpful, especially if you ride solo on your rig from time to time. I really don't think it's necessary if you ride consistently with a passenger.
I certainly wouldn't use mercury!
All of the above suggestions will work. If you add ballast, I would recommend at least 50 pounds of something as far outboard as you can get it. That would make your rig a bit safer, especially on a right turn (sidecar on right).
In any case, it's best to keep your speed within limits on your rig.
Good luck to all.
