Anyone know of any type of tilt unit for a Harley rig. Electric or manual. I'm doing way more miles then I ever dreamed with the rig. 1,600 mi. in 4 days.
Snap-On, Proto, Craftsman, SK, etc.
A lot of folks make a manual adjustment kit for tilt-out on Factory HD rigs.
They're called wrenches. LOL
Sorry for the pun but the Harley cars are all rigid framed units with no suspension for the frame. Just the body.
Electric tilt systems are usually screw jacks that raise and lower the wheel of the sidecar in relation to the sidecar frame. Thus tilting the sidecar and the bike either left or right as a unit.
Manual tilt mechinisms are usually hand operated turnbuckles used in place of one or more upper struts. These will tilt the bike away from the sidecar.
Harley doesn't use a conventional 3 or 4 strut mounting so neither of these methods are applicable.
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
Originally written by biggin on 7/13/2007 12:35 PM
Anyone know of any type of tilt unit for a Harley rig. Electric or manual. I'm doing way more miles then I ever dreamed with the rig. 1,600 mi. in 4 days.
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First off lets clairify the diference between a lean out adjustor and a tilt adjustor. Lean out is how far th ebike leans out away from th esidecar. Tilt is leaning the whole rig. It comes down to lean left go left and lean right go right.
As far as what you possibly can do goes Some rigs are sensitive to rear shock adjustments on the bike. I have played with air shocks on the rear of some bikes and it can work as a sort of lean (actually tilt)adjustment. Lower the shocks and th erig leans leaft , raise the shocks and it goes th eother way. Do not know what can be done on a Harley rig or how effective it may be though.
Due to the rigid suspension (no real suspension) on the sidecar you are basically stuck on that side with exception of possible tire air pressure adjustments which are probably not the way to go.
A true lean adjustor (not a tilt adjuster) could be made between the bike and sidecar but it would mean newly fabricated mounts.
If the rig is pulling right you may want to increase the static lean out and add ballast for better stability if you are not used to the sidecar feeling light.
Another trick, although probably not recomended, is to ride in th ecenter of the road to take advantage of the road crown differences. You can also ride on the wrong side of the road to make even more diference.
Disclaimer:
If you decide to do this it is your responsibility to pay any tickets you may get and also assume any liability related to oncoming traffic.
A rigid sidecar suspension does limit your ability to easily compensate for road conditions that affect handling. The good side is that a rigid sidecar will not be affected by road camber changes that taper to the right as much as a sprung sidecar with a soft suspoension. Where to meet the compromise at hand is the question.
