Well, still couple of weeks befor I get the mounting kit from Jay, dang, time goes slow when waiting for something, doesn't it!?
Anyway, I have a Friendship 2 with the torsion suspension, and was wondering if any one has rigged up a tilt adjuster on one? Claude did do something like this on a Velorex, using a ratchet mechanism as I understand. I am a retired mechanic among other things, and handy at tinkering and cobbling for lack of better words.
Am open to suggestions, photos, what have you.
Used to have a California companion, and still have the old Velorex, will sell sometime. Never had tilt adjustment, think it would be handy to have, even if I needed to stop to adjust occasionally. I alway thought the old motorvations with the old style farm implement lever was kind of neat. Maybe a mower lift lever off an old riding mower could be utilised?
Someday, if I ever become more computer savy, I may be able to post photos of what I have.
The issue on doing any thing with the torsion suspension sidecars from California is that there is almost no space under the body with out cutting up the fiberglass. We made a set up year ago using a bell crank set up that put a shock between the bike and the sidecar body that could be adapted but at some point you must decide if the sidecar is worth the effort. You may find that if you really want electric trim that the best way to go is to get this sidecar on your bike and start looking for a different sidecar to change it out with.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
We replace the swingarm pivot with a 1" spindle and a hub with tapered roller bearings to mount a modified or new swingarm to. Then run a torsion tube with torsionbar under the sidecar frame with a torsion stop on the bike side. The torsion stop has an adjusting bolt sytem which allows tilt adjustment. Works well but is labor intensive and can be pricey unless you are doing it yourself. Parts used can be sprint car parts however th etorsion stop needs to be modified (or at lease is better ) if a doubel adjusting bollt is used so you tighten one an dloosen the other. This isn't totally necessary but if not done there needs to be a limiting device to keep the swingarm from going down too far when the chair flys. That is important. Works well with no shock absorber on it. The torsion bar has a torsion arm on it which links with a male and female heim end combo with jam nut to a bracket welded to the swingarm. Kinda invloved and as Jay mentioned space is minimal without doing some fiberglass work. Yes you could duplicate something similar to th eold motovation setup on the bike side instead of th etorsion stop deaL. THEY WORKED QUITE WELL.
