I just finished installing my first sidecar, it is a 2 year old Texas Ranger car, it is on a 03 Dyna Lowrider, ran into problems finding a lower rear mounting point, finally I drilled a hole though the tranmission protector, and it is working great. my question is about the steering damper that came with the car. I cannot mount the damper at the spot recommended by the instructions because it was designed to mount on a bracket, that bolts onto the disc brake caliper on the right fork, but the lowrider does not have a disc on that side. I know I can buy or make some clamps, so my questions is, how level does the damper have to be? Can I mount it from the front upper strut to the fork? Any suggestions would be very helpful, thank you for your time.
The best angle for a fork mounted damper is as close to 90 degrees as possible to avoid "bump steering". That is when your forks depress or raise up causing the rig to push left or right due to potholes or bumps in the road. At 90 degrees there is the least chance for this happening.
Lonnie
Thanks for quick response, do feel its ok to mount the back end of the damper to the upper front strut support bar or leg, I was going to weld at tab on it, and mount the other end to the backside of my front fender bracket on the fork, that would give me the 90 degrees, what is your opinion of do this.
Rick
A strut mount is often used. A damper doesn't impose a large side load on them.
Lonnie
Just got sidecar hooked up to Royal Enfield. Definitely needs steering damper. The VW bug steering dampers are commonly used - anyone know what the travel from closed to full extension is for those dampers? My setup needs 10" extension. Other types/sources of steering dampers? thanks, Al
The longest VW damper has about 7 1/4" total extension. Later ones are 6 3/4"
