california sidecar

California Side Car is out of the Side Car business for the forseeable future due to a major fire that distroyed their molds etc.
While they are able to keep on building Trikes I doubt that they will ever re-enter the Sidecar business again, just not enough sales to justify it.

The Electric Lift or TILT that most use nowdays changes the anchor point for the swingarm allowing you to tilt the rig to the left or right on the fly as needed for changes in road camber or wind resistance drag at higher speeds. Don't know how easy it is to retrofit yours.

Perhaps someone with the same vintage Chair will come up with the wiring info for you.

As far as removing the Chair to ride in 2-Wheel mode from time to time I do that on a regular basis with my GL1800. Note that it only has 4" of Trail and doesn't have any steering mods.
However with a 1500 many had to put on a "Rake Kit" to reduce the 6" of Trail and could have ended up with 2" or so depending on which Tripple Tree Kit was used. If your's was converted to a short trail then don't try riding the bike without the Sidecar attached or you could have a 900 lb Trials Bike on your hands and on your butt PDQ.
One consideration on riding a bike with Sidecar Brackets on it is wheather or not they will catch the pavement on a corner and flip you. Use caution and remove any Sub-Frame or Bracket the prevents safe operation.

If you have Stock Steering then removing the bolts on the bike side of the struts and the Brake Line if equiped along with disconnecting the Wire Harness should be fairly easy. If you have the Quick Release Brake Line it will likely need to be bleed every other time or so when the Hack is re-attached.

If you get to the point of removing the Hack get someone localy who does it on a regular basis to give you some OJT to prevent dropping the bike on it's side. Once you have done a R&R it will get easier each time.
For my R&R I put bolt on dolly wheels under the sidecar frame to support it and allow it to be moved easily later. You can use a couple of cheap Harbor Freight Floor Jacks.
Then I put the bikes Sidestand Down to help catch the bike when I lean it outward.
Next I remove the two top strut bolts on the bike side and put a screwdriver or drift in each hole for quick removal later.
Next I remove the Lower Strut bolts on the bike side.
This sets me up to remove the two drifts from the top struts while holding the bike up firmly, use help the first time or two to keep from dropping it.
With the Sidestand down you should be able to simply lean the bike to the left and away from the sidecar.
Assuming all the other things like wireing and brake line are disconnected the sidecar can be easily rolled away with the two Floor Jacks or home made Dolly.

Note that it only has 4" of Trail and doesn't have any steering mods.
However with a 1500 many had to put on a "Rake Kit" to reduce the 6" of Trail and could have ended up with 2" or so depending on which Tripple Tree Kit was used. If your's was converted to a short trail then don't try riding the bike without the Sidecar attached or you could have a 900 lb Trials Bike on your hands and on your butt PDQ.

yeah, i dont know if theres any steering mods or not. its a 'factory set-up' or so it was advertised. i know it all LOOKs factory. there isnt anyone around here that i know of whos done any sidecar work. i had heard of a guy down detroit way but last i checked (wanted to see about a car for another bike) it was reported he was all done with that sort of 'playing around',..

i havent got the electric lift thing but thats okay. i dont think im going to need it. i can manage pretty good. we had forest gump rain the other day (coming down sideways at 1,043,249,245 mphs and i handled that with aplomb...

i guess im kinda stuck with it as a 3-up rig. ive got an 01 kawasaki ZRX (with muzzy pipe/erione can, pods and jets) for 1-up riding but id just sort of like to ride a solo version of a La-Z boy recliner without buying a SIXTH bike...

Dave take a look at the bottom of the Tripple Tree.
Most custom Tripple Trees have a machined aluminum piece on both the top and bottom that are not painted and look very nice while the Stock Trees are painted Black with a Cast piece on top and Forged Steel on the bottom.
If the bottom is not Forged Steel but Aluminum it is a custom Tree for reduced trail.
If the bottom of the Tree is Forged Steel look for any sign of Custom Welding that may have been done to it to modify the angle. If you find signs of Welding on the Forged piece it is a Reduced Trail unit and the top Aluminum piece may have been re-machined after some Filler Weld was done which may not be visable.

Try comparing your Tripple Tree to another 1500 that is a 2-Wheeler to see if it matches. Measure the distance from the rear of the front wheel to the engine cases on your bike and compare to a known stock bike to verify. A modified bike will have 2" to 4" more distance between the wheel contact patch on the ground and the frame which will be somewhat less between the rear of the tire and engine cases. Once you have seen the increased distance from Wheel to Frame on a Reduced Trail set up, on a Trike or Hack, it should be an obvious visual clue.

A reduced trail GL1500 rig will likely be fairly easy to steer without the 'Lectric Lean or TILT but a real Bear to muscle around without it.

Let us know what you find.

Jerry

Often when told it is a "Factory Installed" outfit, they mean the manufacturer installed it. If that is the case, CSC would have installed one of the Power Trak systems if something was done to the front forks. The power trak forks are about 6 inches longer than a stock 1500 would have.

Original forks in first photo

PowerTrak in second