HARD TO STEER

Hi Bert, is it harder to steer left or right?

You have an asymetrical vehicle now. The slave wheel on the sidecar will have a tendency to lag behind the bike on acceleration which will pull the rig to the right and upon deceleration the extra weight of the sidecar will push the rig to the left.

If you have neutral steering at an even rate of speed the car is within alignment.

For easier steering modified triple trees are usually added to reduce trail. A steering damper wil not be needed with modified trees which will also lighten the steering.

Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars

ITS HARD TO STEER IN BOTH DIRECTIONS

This may not help but I'll tell you what I did to set my rig up. I have a 93 Tour Glide with a 96 sidecar. I used the manual's suggestions and started by making sure the sidecar wheel is vertical. I had more toe-in than the manual suggested when I first attached the sidecar. It did feel difficult to steer at first. I had to detach it to adjust the toe (drum brake sidecar). When I got the toe-in to 1/2" measured per the manual, it felt better. Be careful you don't end up toed out or it will really pull to the right. I started working on the lean of the bike then and now I have a slight lean out (away from sidecar), probably a little less than 1 degree but not vertical (best as I can measure it anyway). My rig still feels a little hard to steer to the left, but not that bad. Good luck, Dave

THANK YOU WHAT IF I TOOK THE DAMPER OFF WILL THIS IMPROVE THE STEERING

The damper offers some resistance to overcome the nose wiggle that is present with stock trail. Taking it off could cause a tank slapper if you hit a bump or pothole.
The trail must be reduced first.

Lonnie

Hack'n - 4/5/2013 5:41 PM
You have an asymetrical vehicle now. The slave wheel on the sidecar will have a tendency to lag behind the bike on acceleration which will pull the rig to the right and upon deceleration the extra weight of the sidecar will push the rig to the left.... For easier steering modified triple trees are usually added to reduce trail. A steering damper will not be needed with modified trees which will also lighten the steering....

+1. Pretty much all 3-wheel vehicles are hard to steer with the steering geometry for a 2-wheel single track motorcycle. Adapting to driving a sidecar takes some re-training and time/miles (like maybe a couple thousand miles for me). TxArt & I both found no damper needed with appropriately modified triple trees for sidecar duty -- greatly reducing steering effort resulting in a much more enjoyable ride.

Lee
MB5+TW200+CRF250L+GTV300+INT650
XL883R w/Texas Ranger Sidecar
Zuma 50F + Burgman w/Texas Sidecar<Mrs. SwampFox

 

Hi Bert, I rode my rig the first few times with a worn out damper. It was more prone to shaking than with a new one. I have heard that some people go without a damper and on smooth roads it may be ok but it does help on bumpy roads. A dangerous tank slapper is more possible without one. I would leave it on and make sure its working right. Some of the folks on here will tell you to get a modified triple tree but you should get things aligned right and put some miles on your rig before you decide to go that route.

.

I have 5° triple trees on my rig since new.
Only had a slight deceleration wobble at under 20 miles an hour, that was over come by keeping both hands on the bars.
I tightened the steering neck bearings to between 20 and 25 Ft# and that eliminated the wobble all together.
I find it very easy to steer, with the 5° raked triple trees.

Good Luck
Jay

Have you tried having the sidecar passenger help you steer?
Maybe you need the increased trail modification.

Wouldn't that be "Reduced trail modification"?

I know many of you guys are happy with your steering modifications, but I don't know how many stock Harley sidecar rigs are out there with modifications. It looks like Lonnie and Jay above have Liberty rigs with the "extra" upper rear mount. I don't know if that makes a difference compared to a standard Harley rig with three mounts. I don't want to hijack Bert's thread but any standard TLE Harley rigs out there with raked trees that could comment? Thanks, Dave

I had Liberty trees on two Harley/TLE rigs, both were 95th Anniversary models and they had fingertip control. I used the damper mount for a running light mount.

Lonnie

Hack'n - 4/6/2013 10:44 AM

Wouldn't that be "Reduced trail modification"?

Yea, I got dyslectic for a minute.