H-D reverse

The old Harleys I had all had reverse gears in the trans. A friend stopped by today with his new TriGlide. It has an electric reverse. That surprised me. I expected a gear drive.

The old Harley reverse setups used a starter ring gear, a starter motor and a battery in the trunk and few worked for long. A poor investment at best.
Champion has an in the case reverse for 5 and 6 speed Harleys. They aren't cheap but they do work.

Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars

Baker Transmissions makes a reverse for 6 spds. Currently distributed through Lehman Trikes. This is supposed to be a true reverse.
Champion makes a reverse kit for 5 spds. This is not a heavy duty system. It was installed by the previous owner on my rig. (Ask me how I know it's not heavy duty). It does work well. I think both are better than the electric systems.

I have a HD reverse on my Honda,,,,,2 Heavy Duty boots size 10 🙂

never so far been in a situation where i needed reverse always try to park nose up & if not someone will allways give you a shove. Hank

If I recall correctly, Harley built the reverse kit for a few years up to around 1997 when they dropped the drum brake as of the 1998 model. It had a starter motor, relay, cables and control switch. At close to $1,400 they were not a hot seller so Harley dropped them.

To answer your queston about a parts list for the reverse - I'd lke to have one myself. I wanted it for my collection of motorcycle curiosities. ALthough I've been looking for a while, I've never seen one. It's possible that a parts book from the 1980s' or early 1990's might have one but so far, no cigar.

At the same time, they quit selling their 46# cast iron sidecar weight. No one wanted to pay $195.00 for a piece of ugly cast iron with four holes drilled in it. They also would hit the body on the multi-leaf spring models. I had one and I welded up a cantilever mount that raised the weight 2 inches and moved it outwards 1-3/4" so tht the body would clear it on a bump. I later bult mny own nice weight out of 1/4" plate that holds 45 pounds of lead for close to 50# total.

There was a used Harley reverse kit that sold on eBay a few months back and it went for a few hundred. As mentioned, they would only work with the drum brake and the older pre-1998 frame.

I know several people with the Champion reverse who tell me that it works OK, although one fellow accidentally engaged his while in gear and damaged his transmission case. At $1,500 you could do a lot of getting off and pushing.

I built a bolt-on reverse setup for my Harley sidecar that powers the sidecar wheel but I removed it until I can figure out how to speed it up. The winch I used is geared 153:1 so it's too slow in use, although it does work. I now have a full sized Milling Machine so one of my first projects will be a 10:1 gear box for the winch motor. There's more than one way to skin a cat!

The original WLA 45" military three wheelers and sidecar rigs had a true reverse with three speeds forward. The three and reverse tranasmissions were also available in the Knucklehead and Panhead era. I'm not sure if there were any hand shift three and reverse in the Shovelheads. At least I've not seen one. In any case, those transmissions are highly sought after by collectors these days since Harley long ago quit building them and the associated parts.

As I said before, whenever I go anywhere and park my rig, the very first thing out of any bystanders mouth is "Gee, that's a nice rig......does it have a reverse?" LOL.

I have had a bike with reverse and one without. Personally, I wouldn't pay too much money for it if both my legs worked.

I spend several hours installing a Champion (3rd generation) reverse on my '95 Turbo RK/Spyder rig. (Three hours my a**). Find neutral, shift into reverse, burn your hand on the headpipe, back up, take it out of reverse and burn the hand again, shift into first gear and go. Nothing to it.
I only used it twice since warmed up 5 speed Harleys don't always drop into neutral easily.
I prefer to park like a solo does where I can drive out. If not, me or the monkey can give it a little shove if needed.

I've got one good leg and a beater leg.

Lonnie

Originally written by Hack'n on 6/5/2009 7:33 AM

I spend several hours installing a Champion (3rd generation) reverse on my '95 Turbo RK/Spyder rig. (Three hours my a**). Find neutral, shift into reverse, burn your hand on the headpipe, back up, take it out of reverse and burn the hand again, shift into first gear and go. Nothing to it.
I only used it twice since warmed up 5 speed Harleys don't always drop into neutral easily.
I prefer to park like a solo does where I can drive out. If not, me or the monkey can give it a little shove if needed.

I've got one good leg and a beater leg.

Lonnie

I'm glad to hear an unbiased report on the Champion. A friend who has one says that, yes it works, but about 50% of the time, he will burn his hand trying to shift it. That's not good.

The other principal complaint that I have is what you get for the money. The kit has three gears, some nuts and a few other little odds and ends......all for $1,500 with tax and shipping!!!!! That's a lot of jack, considering that you can actually get some complete six speed aftermarket HD transmissions without reverse for that.

I also don't lke the idea of shortening the shift sector shaft and the concept of milling some of the outer case out, but that's just me.

So I'll keep tinkering with the setup that I've cobbled for my rig. A few more changes and it will be fine.

Thanks, Lonnie for the "testimonial" LOL. You are right on about the Champion units.

the baker reverse is a true reverse like the old harleys had - the reverse is on the shift drum one down from first - there is a button solenoid to keep from pulling away from stop lights in reverse

the three speed with reverse was listed as a option into the middle 70's

the factory raked sidecar tree was listed as a option to 83 or 84

parts for the factory reverse are VERY hard to find.

to

Originally written by timo482 on 6/5/2009 1:22 PM

the baker reverse is a true reverse like the old harleys had - the reverse is on the shift drum one down from first - there is a button solenoid to keep from pulling away from stop lights in reverse

the three speed with reverse was listed as a option into the middle 70's

the factory raked sidecar tree was listed as a option to 83 or 84

parts for the factory reverse are VERY hard to find.

to

I would guess that the Baker 6+R is terribly expensive. Do you have any idea what the cost. I looked on Google and couldn't find a price. Maybe it's too new yet.

I'm a paraplegic so I need a reverse. I have put about 8K miles on my FLH/TLE rig with the Champion reverse kit and I'm very satisfied with it. I've never burned myself and I have never had any reliabiulty issues. I have once in a while accidently shifted the transmision while in reverse but it just locks up. When that happens I just put it back in neutral and all is well again.

A friend tells me Sakuma Engineering out of Japan sells a nice one for $799 and shipping. Unfortunately, their website is in Japanese.

<img src=" "

http://www.sakuma-engineering.co.jp/

Can't say I've burned my hand either with the Champion Reverse. I did gun it out of the garage once, don't know if I pulled in the clutch before I backed off the throttle but I stripped the gear off the shaft. The gears are only held on the shaft with a heavy duty loctite compound. When I called Champion that'a when they told me it wasn't "heavy duty". Apparently this happens often enough. Their instructions, (downloadable) say 7hrs to install although you get about halfway through and they tell you to wait overnite for loctite to cure.
I just took mine back apart, reloctite gears, (only one had broken loose), and reassembled. Kind of glad I did though, found small srcrews that hold plate and gear in trapdoor loose. Retightened them with loctite. Is it expensive, kinda, but a lot of engineering had to go into it, so I'm sure the price is to insure a return on investment.
Lehman Trikes is supposed to be the exclusive dealer for the Baker 6spd, no prices on their website though.