Damper - PLEASE HELP

Champion the maker of your sidecar sells a damper kit. Try http://www.championsidecars.com

Good luck

I build my own from scratch and a VW beetle damper. I make a universal joint that gets welded to the sidecar frame and a fitting that incorporated a heim joint on the fork leg.

And the site again refuses to let me post photos

What have you done to try to diminish the wobble? Are you just diving into a damper without trying other fixes? A couple of cycles when you start off is not at all uncommon. Make sure your steering head bearings are in good shape and adjusted on the tight side. I set mine so that with the front wheel off the ground it will SLOWLY flop to the side. If it moves fast your bearings aren't tight enough. Also, experiment with air pressure in the front tire. Most folks seem to go with air pressures that are on the high side.

The point is, try some of the common remedies before you spend the extra bucks.

Good luck!

Not only does this site refuse to allow me to post photos, it won't let me edit my post to tell of it.

Phelonius - 8/2/2015 11:13 PM

I build my own from scratch and a VW beetle damper. I make a universal joint that gets welded to the sidecar frame and a fitting that incorporated a heim joint on the fork leg:

Well there's one of the photos I was going to post. How did you do that?

We have a "universal" type damper kit that uses a VW damper $250 however we have found that if the steering head bearings are in good order or slightly over tightened, just enough to put a little drag on the bearings but not enough to bind and if the front tire is in good condition by playing with the toe settings 1/8 of an inch either way you usually can make a head shake go away. Also often if you are just learning to ride sidecars a slight head shake may seem like a big issue but after you have some miles and are asked if there is a head shake you may have to stop and think about it. Remember a damper makes the steering harder all the time which if you have not reduced trail to lower the steering effort can be an issue.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793

Check out my damper ad in Misc. sidecar related parts, here.
I have several at reasonable prices.

Lonnie
nwsidecar@aol.com
Boise, Idaho

Phelonius - 8/2/2015 10:22 PM

  Not only does this site refuse to allow me to post photos, it won't let me edit my post to tell of it.

Gee, it works for most of the rest of us. Maybe it just doesn't like you. Have you tried sending it flowers?

My 2 cents worth. I have tried a VW steering damper (Bus type) I found it made the steering as hard or harder than before. I use the snug head bearing method and the only time I have a wobble is when it gets a little loose. I jack up the rig so the front wheel is off the garage floor and tighten the head bearing until the front end falls slowly to one side or the other. If you have to push it to get it to move it is probably too tight.

I greatly appreciate everyone's responses!

As far as what have I done to correct the head shake, nothing yet since I haven't really known what to do. It is great advise to try out the free fixes first like tightening the steering head bearing are on the tight side. My tires are in great shape, so that isn't a factor yet.

I have been riding like crazy and put a thousand miles on the bike in 4 days. As Jay G. mentioned, I have already gotten more used to the head shake, however why I really want to fix it is that at most speeds I have to have both hands on the grips otherwise the shake will begin. It would be nice to be able to let an arm down without worry as needed.

I have heard about using a VW damper, but until reply here I didn't know which one, nor if custom mounts were required. Now I know. Im very glad you mentioned Will Short the fact about the difficulty in steering by adding the damper to the rig. I have to say, driving with a sidecar has been a bit of a workout and made me find (and feel the aftermath) a few new muscles I didn't know were in my arms and shoulders 🙂 Since that is the case, I am really hoping that tightening up the steering head will do the trick. If not, at least I have a good starting point now, and a few different options.

I'm going to try and see if I can post a few pictures of the setup and hopefully don't have the same problem as Phelonius

Oh well, trying to post my pictures was worth a shot

Phelonius - 8/3/2015 1:42 AM

Well there's one of the photos I was going to post. How did you do that?

Phel, I was working my first post from a re-habbed (from a virus) laptop using Internet Explorer in Windows 7 by way of the little tree icon under Rich Text Editor, same as I've done for several years now.

However, our new home office computer runs Windows 8 and I haven't been able to post pics using either Internest Explorer or Google Chrome. I hav not figured out why a pic will show in the preview but disappear on the "submit post" - frustrating.