Another salesman who doesn't know his product. I called several places to find the black pipe that was recommended I use as a sleeve over the short strut. I measured the struts width and it was 1.08 inches. I told the salesman exactly that and he told me no problem, that it was standard one inch pipe of that type. Not so, as it turns out, one inch pipe is not one inch ID. When I got to the place, no one would own up to talking with me, so they gave me a two foot piece of drop pipe, or cutting from some other job and didn't charge me. Whoop D Doo!
I figure on spitting the pipe length wise, so I can get the strut pieces to fit, then weld down along the cut line. I hope I can live up to my talk of welding a pretty good straight line and all. I did however get the NO. eight hardened nuts and bolts I needed to swap out the questionable ones that came with the CJ sidecar. Also I was able to fine the right tap to clean up the threads on the strut, after I get through welding on the strut.
Through the great offer from Marcus at LRM U.S.A. I am soon to be the proud owner of a CJ Pin tool. His generous off to ship before payment arrives and the reasonable price he asked for, I could not pass up such a deal. If anyone has a CJ motorcycle sidecar rig, I would recommend you give him a try. If how he has treated me is any indication of his service, then I am glad to refer anyone to him.
Today was so hectic and exhausting, I won't be able to do any work on my sidecar project today, it saddens me to say, but with some rest and a frest day ahead, I should have things worked out, I hope by the end of this weekend or at least down to just the wheel bearing swap out.
I told you that with my disabilities, what takes an average person a day, takes me a week, and so on. It's all coming together, but oh so slowly.
Stay tuned for futher updates.
QUESTION on the STRUT:
When I measured the distance the Rear upper strut should be, it was 19" from eye bolt to eye bolt. The end on the sidecar is not adjustable, so how much play and/or adjustment should I allow for, on the end that is adjustable?
The front strut is pretty much without any available adjustment and the front of the sidecar is approximated at 50" from mid tire on the bike, to mid tire on the sidecar. So any toe in/out adjustment would probably be made from the rear mounts, by moving them in or out.
Any recomendations is always most appreciated.
Adding, that the front upper strut would either have to be shortened or the sidecar frame would have to be moved out, a little further away from center tire to center tire, to get back any adjustment, should the front need to be adjusted as well.
It is best to have ajustment on both ends,top and bottem
There are many more sidecars around that have struts that only adjust on one end than not. I too prefer the ones that adjust on both ends as they do make fine tuning adjustents easier.
One way to check for strut lenghts needed is to simply install the lower mounts with the track width you desire.You can even get the toe in somewhere close. Mock up the bike with a little lean out and then take some measurements for the struts. Toe in is adjusted with the lower mounts and lean out with the upper mounts (STRUTS). This is not to say that leaning the bike in and out will not affect toe in because unless the subframe is spot on toe will change some when the bike is leaned in or out.
Dunno if you have done so or not but hooking up a sidecar with the body off is a lot easier.
Note that 'tubing' is measured by the OD and comes in various wall thicknesses. There are also metric sizes which is probably what your struts are. 'Pipe' is measured by the ID. 1" pipe may or may not fit over 1" tubing as the I.d. of pipe is not real consistant and there wil be a seam inside of it.
Since we now know you will only have ine end that is adjustable maybe you shoudl keep the sleeve down enogh so that you will not be welding near the threaded portion of th eexisiting strut. That way you will not have to be concerned with chasing any threads or anything.
Yes, both struts should have some adjustment to them.
I am still a little curious why you could not just get a longer threaded rod portion for the one strut to b eable to make it longer and be done with it...no welding or anything if you do that. Are you sure ther eis not enough adjustment to make it work as it is? Screw it all th eway out and then reinstall it so you are sure there are enough threads inside the tube.Shoudl have an inch or two there. Take a look inside the tube if you can and see how far the threads go into it.
It is beginning to sound like from all of the running around you have done including purchasing taps and stuff you may have been ahead of the game to have sprung for the 60 bucks or whatever it was to get another strut from Jay. Kinda surprised he woudl not exchange it actually.
Rough sidecar set up from scratch.
Sit on bike and measure length of rear shocks. Pad seat or remove it then use a rachet strap to pull down rear suspenson to measurements taken. This will mimic the suspension setting you had when you sat on it.
Move sidecar up to bike to install lower mounts. I like to have sidecar body off of sidecar. Toe in can be eyeballed if you are confident to do this. If bike frame is parallel with centerline of engine then a quick coupel of measurements from bike frame to the sidecar frame at front and rear shoud get you in the ballpark. Other wise just measure from some reference point on the bike or make one up with somethung simple to use.
Also verfy what th elead will be. Some rigs can be adjusted a lot here and some not. 10" or so is in the ballpark.
Check sidecar frame and make it level side to side. Set fore and aft level as you desire..soem put the front down, some prefer level and some raise the front...whatever.
Prop up bike with a little lean out to it. Install lower mounts.
With rig close to being what is wanted for initial setup you can then determine the strut lenghts required.
No,I don't follow this procedure myself to the 'T' but it MAY save you a lot of hassle if you are not that familar with installing sidecars.
Sidecar rigging and installation may never be a real 'bed of roses'for many folks but if you take your time and think out what you are doing in some kind of sequence it makes things a lot better and can be fun too. Other wise it it can be more of a brier patch.
Sorry: I deleted post #25621. since most of the answers on the strut question have become mute. On further study and a photo supplied by Jay at Dauntless Motors, it has become quite clear, that the reason the rear upper strut is to short, the position of the mounting post on the sidecar is in actuality, to far away and to close to the center line of the sidecar frame, front to back. This extreme angle doesn't allow as much bracing action with the lean of the motorcycle in the present configuration. So I have decided instead of taking the chance of ruining a perfectly good strut, I am going to make and reposition the current sidecar mount position. I will leave the current mount in it's current position, in case my assumption turns out to be wrong, which I don't think it is, but I will use the mounting post off from it.
All I got to do now is find some flat stock of the right size and width and find some to cut it for me or how to cut it myself. Will quarter inch flat stock, be good enough for the job? Can I use a smaller size of flat stock? Will a metal blade in a Saw-All/Reciprocating Saw be able to cut this width of flat stock?
Welding the lines for a new mount will be a lot easier than trying to weld around a pipe slightly bigger than one inch in diameter. Also I have less fear of a straight weld braking, than I do ruining the piece I am welding, such as the strut in question.
--Y-----------------------------------------------Y
L_I____X_________T_____________I_T
The silly diagram above represent the current and suggested position of the mounts on my CJ sidecar. The two (I)'s represent the lower mounts and the relative corners of the sidecar frame. The two (T)'s represent the current configuration of the mounting positions on the sidecar. The X is the proposed position as near as I can position it without interfering with any other part of the sidecar. The (L) is another postion I have considered, since it is the closes to a right angle from the bike and may prove to provide the most strength for the side to side tilting forces of the motorcycle. The (Y)'s represent the upper mounts postions on the motorcycle relating to the position of the sidecar.
Mind you, these are approximate postions and the best I could demonstrate using this format. I am just saying that the rear upper mounts extreme angle and distance from the existing mount is to extreme and the overall stability of the sidecar would be best served should I reposition the mount at the sidecar rather than cutting and welding a perfectly good strut, just to make it longer to fit or possibly damaging beyound any further use in the process.
Additionly. The nuts and bolts have been the highest expense, I have thus far had to spend. Given their sizes, strength, quality, and combined cost. I have spent more on them than I have on the strut problem, even counting the other tap, I used on a hole on the motorcycle mount. How much more could an appropriate size flat stock be, should I not be able to find some around my misalanious stuff?
Any input and or suggestions would be appreciated. Sorry for the new train of thought, but I do think it is a better approach to my problem.
