I'm trying to figure out a way to make it easier on my ol' back in helping Luke to get up and out of the hack. Once he's on his feet, all is fine. The problem is getting his butt up off the seat. The hack (for those who don't know) is an old Calif. flip nose. The seat has been replaced with a Jeep aftermarket which raises Luke off the floor a couple of inches more than the original. Two current ideas are to have my friendly body shop cut the side of the hack back to the seat back and reattach that piece to the nose to make kind of a Motorvation Formula II arrangement where Luke could swivel his legs around. This may be doable but costly.
The other idea is to mount a 12V car jack in the trunk and with some kind of lever arrangement, get it to tip the back of the seat up. (It tilts at the front just like the original ones.) Since there's no trunk lid, I'm not sure how one could go about getting in there to rig this up.
Anyway, I appreciate your reactions to these two ideas and welcome any other creative thoughts.
Ron
Ron,
I would suggest selling the tub and just get a FII flip nose SC...solve all your problems. My wife loves it .....just swivel feet out to right, as you mentioned, like a car and stand up.
Bob, but, of course, the issue then is $$$ and finding a used Form II seems to be nearly impossible - especially with a flip nose. Spring's a coming, so I may need to do something. Maybe some physical exercise for me is in order.
Ron
$$ is the issue for most of us...me included. :o(
I found my FII on ebay, last fall..was a brand new 2001 model flip, with 100 miles on it. loaded, top, chrome, tilt, rack,lights, etc. for $3000.I sold my other SC for$1400, so the new one cost me $1600...good deal!
Standard SC's are selling for around $1500, used.
another solution for you would be to cut out the side where passenger gets out, and put hinges on it, and latch, like a small door. that shouldnt be too hard to do, and very low cost mod .
Yes, a friend and I were talking about the door idea. I may get my body shop neighbor to give me a quote on that, too.
Sounds like you got a great deal on your hack. I've been trying to keep my eyes open for one. What bike are you pulling it with?
Ron
?
Ron,
I have it hooked up to a '73BMW R75/5.[as in my sig]
I had a bigger 1000CC '77 R100RS engine put in it a year ago for more power, pulling the SC, passenger, and loaded cargo trailer.
I also installed BMW Earles leading link forks, fo much easier steering.
Bob,
Daaaaa, sorry for not paying attention to your signature!
Ron
We make seat lifts using a similar linier acturator to the one we use for TILT. Our set up goes for $1000 and is not sized for your sidecar. You should however be able to figure out some thing similar. I saw one once using a 12V winch. Harbor frieght has a winch that would work for about $50. If you made a trake the winch cable could be set up to lift the seat.
Jay Giese
Dauntless Motors Corporation
www.dauntlessmotors.com
866-638-1793
Hey, Ron
Would a rubber air bladder, say the type that may be inside a water well pressure tank work? A small onboard air compressor or a small compressed air storage tank to fill the bladder and raise the passenger high enough to assist an exit.
duck
Thanks Jay for the lead.
Ron
Duck, interesting idea. Keep 'em coming guys and gals.
Ron
Ron, try this site for air suspension bags and controls.
http://www.accessconnect.com/air_lift.htm
David
Thanks David. Wonder how small (in height) they are when deflated. Maybe I'll contact them. Of course, I'd also need to mount a compressor in the trunk. What do you guys think the pros and cons of this idea are versus a 12v car jack?
Thanks again,
Ron
Ron,
Lets say you can round up a 20 gallon air bladder [something say 18”x 20” cyclical shaped] and a 4’ mullet cast net, inflate the bladder and sew or fashion the cast net tight to the bladder, a valve to deflate and one to inflate, with this apparatuses deflated it shouldn’t be but maybe a couple inches high tucked under the seat, you may need to guide the upward direction say with a draw guide or something along those lines, anyway all you guys put your heads together this might work and get it done for less than 100 bucks… check ebay for the parts?? I have a Zepplin seat on my hd classic that has 10 little air bags integrated into the seat and is controlled with 6 separate small switches and an onboard compressor [ I really don’t know where the compressor is other than it’s hooked to my aux. switch] the seat is very comfortable on long trips cuz you can adjust it going down the road—I don’t have one of those iron asses.
I have another idea---what about using an unused crash air bag [get it at your local bone yard steering wheel and all ] put it under the seat and when you take the mother in law for a ride in the hack and she starts going on about what a bum you are--------- hit the switch an boom she’s gone, [recommended at high speeds]
duck
I was just e-chatting with a friend in Champaign about this and I mentioned to him that if I got Luke high enough to make it easy for him to stand (with a little help from me) he'd have no problem. He'll step out of the hack (with assistance). Often he'll lie on the floor and to get up, he'll get on his knees and them I just hold our my hands to help him get on his feet. In fact, if I could get in front of him when he's in the hack, I could help him up with little effort because his grip and arms are VERY strong -- but I can't straddle the hack with the nose up. We're kicking around crazy ideas like somehow raising the seat so high that it's easy to get him on his feet -- or even a raise and swivel seat idea.
Thanks guys for helpng on this. Guess I should talk with Kurt too.
Ron
