Been slowing working at getting the old Road Toad ready to mount the sidecar that I found. Don't get to spend as much time working on it as I like so it is slow going. Got a fatboy to ride in the mean time which is nice.
The 92 Harley TLE sidecar that I have came with a custom wheel, that in my opinion is butt ugly. I would like to put a wire spoked rim on it so it matches the rims that I already have on the bike.
I have looked at the parts book and it does not give any details on the wheel other than I believe it is is a 16 inch wheel. The question I have is, will any harley 16 inch wheel work. Or is the hub different from a normal(?) harley wheel?
Thanks
I do not have all the answers but I can tell you that the wheel you go with must be for the same size axle as the current wheel. Current wheels run a 25mm axle that Harley calls one inch. Earlier axles were 3/4 inch. You should be able to get a wire wheel aftermarket. The 16 inch wire wheels we run on our M72C sidecar are even tube less.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
866-638-1793
www.dmcsidecars.com
Do you know what year they changed from 3/4 to the so called one inch? I finally got it mounted today and drove it around town a bit a couple of times. Was able to mostly drive it down the street with no hands, but our street is smooth and basically flat. Need to hook up the lights and the brake yet, but that is tomorrow's job.
Thanks
actually harley TLE uses a 5/8 bearing.. the wheel itself is the same as a single brake front wheel off of any of the wide glide style front ends [basically the softail touring looking harleys]
so you get the right wheel and then put in the sidecar only special order sidecar bearings - bolt on the brake and away you go...
that all said - the drum brake sidecars use a 5/8 bearing and special bits to hold the drum..
they list the sidecar wheel as special because the non brake side gets tiny threaded holes to hold the hubcap... if you run without the hubcap its fine.
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Well after a year, I finally got around and started on looking for a different wheel for the sidecar. The dog loves riding in it and he usally goes everywhere I do.
I finally took the butt ugly wheel off to take a look at what I have and while I was at it checked the brake shoes etc and found I have plenty of life left.
The axle is one inch on the inside and then steps down to 3/4 on the outside. The wheel bearings also has 1 inch and 3/4 inch inside diameters. I also know the brake drum is held on with 7/16 X 14 thread flat head screws. I was going to measure the distance from the outside of the bearings, but totally forgot.
The part manual calls out for a 9 spoke cast wheel, pn 41157-83 or -87. In the jpcycle and custom chrome catalog the only thing I can find is wheels for disc brakes and don't know if they would work for a drum break setup.
Thanks
Joe
if you have drum brakes its a whole other issue - then you will basically have to find a harley sidecar wheel.
they were made spoke
the things are machined a bit different and the drum brake assy is mostly the same as a rear juice brake from the 60's
they will last a real long time - and are very difficult to get parts for.
the important bit about the drum brakes - the parts are "mostly" the same as......
on the TLE with disk brakes quite a few wheels will fit with a bearing change.
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