I recently purchased a 2003 Ultra Classic side car rig and need to replace the car's tire. The owner's manual does not address this procedure. Can someone tell me if I must remove the fender in order to remove the wheel?
Thanks.
Bob Hester
Do you have the anniversary ultra? Blk/silver or black.
I bought my two tone 03 ultra off ebay for 27 grand in 04 with 1000 miles on it. I added 10,000 more miles.I have replaced the rear tire 3 times and the front once, but didn't really need it and I have never changed the hack's tire. I have just changed brake pad on all three wheels. The sidecar wheel had always scheeched and I tried the goo to put behind the brake pad, worked for ten minutes... then I replace the pads and so far no noice. Have U had any problems?
Ours is the Pearl White Shriner Anniversary edition. The original owner is 86 years old and buys a new rig every three years. We've had zero problems with it during the 10,000 miles my wife and I have put on it since purchasing it from Dale's Harley Davidson in Mt. Vernon, IL, in '06 (the rig had 30K on it then). It's our "grandkid mobile!"
After I spent some time looking at the hack last night, it became obvious that the fender and caliper had to come off, before the wheel could be removed. It was a simple job in my shop, but I sure wouldn't want to do it along side a road somewhere with the stock HD tool kit! I'll now be carrying a 15/16" socket and wrench in the car.
Regards,
Bob
Glad u got the tire off. My grandson is 7 months old, hoping he'll be in our Christmas Parade after our Toys for Tots run in december. I'm going to bike week in Mrytle Beach next month and look for a tot 's helmet.You don't have trouble with the rear tire wearing out? What brand do u buy?
I go thru rear brakes and tires.
I neglected to say initially that I'm disappointed in the rear tire life--3,500 or 4,000 miles is about all I get. Brake pad wear does not seem to be so ill-affected as the tires. I run OEM Dunlops. I would like to put Metzeler Marathons all around, but my local independent shop cannot match Metzelers to Dunlops. On my BMW K1200 (no sidecar) I get over 20K on the front and 11-12K on the rear.
Metzeler Marathon tires are a great rain tire and have a deep tread design but they are softer rubber than the Dunlop 401's and 402's and probably won't give you better mileage with a sidecar.
No comparison between a solo bike rear tire and a rear hack rigs rear tire. One leans and wears round and one doesn't and wears flat and takes the middle out.
With proper alignment I would expect to get around 6K on the rear without agressive driving.
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
Love this site, as there are no other hacks to talk to around here. I glad to hear it's normal to wear the rear tire out around 6k. I am not gentle and being in the mountains can't help. Have you ever heard of the Venom tire?
A two wheeler told me it was the best around??
Totally agree with your assessment of this site--great information. My next project (long term) will be to attempt to mate an off-road sidecar to an early '90's BMW GSPD for a post retirement extended Alaska/Canada trip.
I ran Metzs on my Heritage for a couple of years. I read how much milage they got, and with the look of them I belived. What I found through experiance was different. I went back to the Dunlap 402s for a few reasons:
1) the Metz tires got just about the same mileage, (maybe and extra 1000)
2) I had a lot of road noise from the Metzs, I ride a lot of chip seal and they tires were could be really loud on the different types of surfaces
3) The final straw was when I needed a tire change on the road. It was really difficult to find someone who stocked the tire in my size. Most shops would have to wait a week to get a tire, and they had little luck calling to metric dealers for the right size.
I decided that, especially how we go through tires with the riggs, that I will stick with whatever the bulk of the dealers are stocking. In the middle of Montana, or Utah, you don't want to find out you can't locate a tire to replace a damaged tire during a trip.
Hi rehester,
I'm down in Anna. Would like to meet up with you sometime. I have a 95 Ultra and run one of the state trooper type dunlop's on the rear. getting decent milage but still would like to change over to a car tire. the cost of a custom rim's holding me back right now.
dick
