I bought this sidecar from VA. on the rear upper mount is a motor and gear drive that adjust the lean angle now the catch hear is there is only a three point mount.I know some year back in the past Vern Goodwin had made some of these.Does anyone know more about this than that would like to know how well it works.
Thanks for any help you can send me.
John Hurt
Carson City NV.
This type of hookup was popular for a while and did work quite well. Craig Vetter Terraplane design was similar but was a manual version. Vern did do a lot of experimenting with linear actuators and such to create an electric and quick way to adjust leanout on the go as did J R Ewing and others. Hannigan also offered an electric lean for a while. 'Carve the Curves' was part of their ad on this. Yes, they do work buit also have their down sides. Probably most importantly is the concern of a failure of the actuator, switch or wiring at a bad time.The idea of apower elaner is valid but th econsequences of an electrical glitch could be devistating. Also, the necessity of a three point mounting system is a concern to some.
Today I do not think any company is offering such a device. Liabilty concerns? You decide.
For rhwat it's worth I would suggest you go to a 4 point mount and if you want the benfit of electric lean sustitute an electric tilt device. This system is popular today and allows th euse of a 4 point mounting system. It is called differen tthings by different manufacturers but all work similar. The idea is to use a linear actuator to jack the sidecar suspension up or let it down. This tiults the whole rig left or right and gives about the same result as far as driving goes as a true electric lean system. They are really mean tto b eused to compensate for road crown varibles and varible sidecar loading etc and are quite effective and safer overall then a true power elaner system.
The electric trim is on my 2010 Hannigan GTL. It works quite well. At highway speeds the adjustment of the trim will actually take the bike through gentle curve. The trim motor is the same motor used to lift the blade on my snowplow.
Sassicat,
Yours is the four point mounting with an actuator that raises and lowers the suspension to adjust for road crown and load.
Johns' setup is a three point mounting where the actuator is the only upper mount which changes the angle between the bike and the sidecar, leaning the bike toward or away from the car.
The trim adjusters aren't really designed to be a steering device and shouldn't be depended upon for this service. The handlebars offer less chance of a surprise in a decreasing radius turn.
Lonnie
Bluebike, I used to have the same system installed on my 1989 GL1500, you have to watch out, I had my system quit on me at full speed with the bike leaning towards the sidecar, I was lucky to be able to pull on the side of the road and do a temporary fix, there is a company in Michigan that can overhaul the whole unit for $300.00 inside this actuator you have an endless screw and the top of the actuactor riding up and down this screw, the top can become lose and fail you. PM me if you want more info. I sold my rig 3 years ago in VA I wonder if you ended up with my old sidecar, it was champagne color.
