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raising the rear of a Gl1500 any Ujoint issues?

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I really like the car tire I have on the back of this Goldwing gl1500. (175R60 16) It changes the rear end ratio to about perfect for the Daytona 2+ car I have on it. However I could sure use a little more ground clearance in the back. This tire lowered the bike about 1" in the back. It's actually more like 1 1/4" or 1 and 1/2" because the car tire is flat not rounded like a bike tire. I'd like to get that 1 and 1/2 " back in case I get caught in a snow storm on the road or need to go over a speed bump someday. When the hack is fully loaded there is only about 3" of clearance under the center stand.

The handling is wonderful but a speed bump would probably leave me high centered with broken engine cases.
I'm going to get a hold of Racetech whose springs I have in the front and have them figure out how much preload I need on the springs based on where I am now to get the sag where it belongs on the front end. Right now I have about 2 1/2 inches of sag which is too much. On the back I guess the answer will be longer shocks. Does anyone know if this will cause issues with the Ujoint in the drive line?

Fastjoe, am very interested in the advice you get on increasing clearance. Have the same issue on my '94 Wing with Escort SC. Sits so low I have to run it up on a couple of 2x4's to get enough height to slide a drain pan under it to change the oil.

Did discover if the rear tire pressure gets low, you will sit lower and drag/hit more bumps.

just curious, how much air are you guys running in your rear shock
I am running a Goodyear Fuel max and keep the air in the rear shocks at 100 and I have progressive springs in the front with no air
I have to cross 2 rather large speed bumps at work everyday and have never hit bottom

USCA # 8913

Ace, I replaced the aging air shocks with the recommended Harley shocks. In hindsight, should have looked for longer shocks, but..... as the OP asked, will there be an issue with the driveshaft angle if you increase the height of the rear?

Use 175R16 taxi tire. It is about 1" taller then OEM.

VLAD - 11/18/2015 12:35 PM

Use 175R16 taxi tire. It is about 1" taller then OEM.

Where are you finding this tire today?

When I was needing a new tire last year, it was not available. So went with the Goodyear FuelMax.

Anybody have comments on the OP driveshaft angle question?

https://www.universaltire.com/175r16-austone-taxi-black.html

Make sure to check alignment of your rig after you change tire or install raked triple tree. You can guess how I (and some other) know this...

CCjon - 11/20/2015 7:00 AM
Anybody have comments on the OP driveshaft angle question?

I have car tire on GL1500 for 6 years. And have no ill effect on drive shaft or u joint yet. Total now about 19-20k mi.

VLAD - 11/20/2015 8:15 AM

https://www.universaltire.com/175r16-austone-taxi-black.html

VLAD, thank you for the link. Think I'll order one now to have on hand when the FuelMax is worn out.

I think you can buy them on fleebay too.

fastjoe - 11/17/2015 10:23 PM

The handling is wonderful but a speed bump would probably leave me high centered with broken engine cases.
I'm going to get a hold of Racetech whose springs I have in the front and have them figure out how much preload I need on the springs based on where I am now to get the sag where it belongs on the front end. Right now I have about 2 1/2 inches of sag which is too much. On the back I guess the answer will be longer shocks. Does anyone know if this will cause issues with the Ujoint in the drive line?

I use progressive springs in front fork.

VLAD - 11/21/2015 11:13 AM

I use progressive springs in front fork.

I went with the racetech because I wanted to run their cartridge emulators in the fork. Also because I have had great luck with their stuff.
They really work great on dirt roads like the one we live on. Smooth things right out. No parts falling off the bikes which is always good.

Racetech got back to me and said that I needed about 30%sag. I am fairly certain I have closer to 50% than 30 % right now. I'll have to address that in the next go round. When I get the sag right it should have a little more ground clearance.

I sent an email off to Champion to see how much they want for a set of slugs for the easy steer. For whatever reason this bike does not have them installed which is part of the too low in the front problem.

I'm not really certain how to get more height out of the back yet. II did add some air and then some more to the air shock. It seemed to help in the handling but the bike is lower than I think I want it. It has a progressive shock on one side set at the highest setting already.

I bled the brake on the sidecar today and the brakes no longer make noise intermittently. I think it cleared up the dragging issue.

I'm definitely making progress. Changing to larger tire is pretty much out. The stock gearing is just to high with the added air resistance of the double wide car. When I had the factory motorcycle tire on, OD was all but useless. If you clicked into it below 65 the motor didn't have enough torque to maintain speed. You couldn't really use cruise unless it was perfectly flat or down hill. If you hit even the slightest rise you were back in 4th. Now OD is good from 55 up on the flat and level. The change in ratio with this tire is about perfect.

When I posted asking about if the Ujoint would be adversely affected by using longer shocks most people suggested a larger tire. The only person to address the if the U joints life might be shortened with the change in angle said it would not affect it. However it didn't sound like anyone was presently doing it . I don't think it will be an issue either, but thought I better ask in case it was a known issue with the GW.

Hey fastjoe! Why are you worry about shaft and u joint going 1" up, but not worry about shaft and u joint going 1 1/2' down?

fastjoe - 11/21/2015 9:30 PM
Changing to larger tire is pretty much out.  The stock gearing is just to high with the added air resistance of the double wide car.  When I had the factory motorcycle tire on, OD was all but useless. If you clicked into it below 65 the motor didn't have enough torque to maintain speed.  You couldn't really use cruise unless it was perfectly flat or down hill.  If you hit even the slightest rise you were back in 4th. Now OD is good from 55 up on the flat and level.  The change in ratio with this tire is about perfect. 

I think something wrong with your Goldwing. I drive sometimes with 4 people in Colorado. I have to use 4th and 3rd gear sometimes, but i can't say any small hill required shifting down. Also 4th is overdrive as a 5th on gl1500.

VLAD - 11/23/2015 10:40 AM

I think something wrong with your Goldwing.

Me too, one of the things wrong is the gearing is too tall for this hack.
That's why I'm trying to address it. 🙂
It's what I've got. It may have serious issues, I'm really not sure. I'm just trying to get it working better.
I've fixed a lot of problems on it in the short time I have had it. It's definitely getting better.
It's just not quite right yet. This is the first large Honda I have ever owned and I really have grown fond of it.
I love the engineering.

VLAD - 11/23/2015 10:31 AM

Hey fastjoe! Why are you worry about shaft and u joint going 1" up, but not worry about shaft and u joint going 1 1/2' down?

I'm not sure I understand your question.
I'm not worried at all about running the driveshaft in the range it was designed to be run in.
I'm concerned about running it where it was never designed to run which would happen with a longer than spec'd shock.
Though most of the time it will be running within the range it was designed to run in with a longer shock there are times when it maybe running fully extended and supplying a lot of torque. After hitting a large bump for instance or going through a pothole. Don't want to make something that will break and leave me stranded if I can avoid it.

fastjoe - 11/23/2015 8:39 PM

VLAD - 11/23/2015 10:40 AM

I think something wrong with your Goldwing.

Me too, one of the things wrong is the gearing is too tall for this hack.
That's why I'm trying to address it. 🙂
It's what I've got. It may have serious issues, I'm really not sure. I'm just trying to get it working better.
I've fixed a lot of problems on it in the short time I have had it. It's definitely getting better.
It's just not quite right yet. This is the first large Honda I have ever owned and I really have grown fond of it.
I love the engineering.

I have same bike with taller gearing(bigger tire) and do not thing gearing is too tall for this hack. May be you need to check your carbs, timing , etc.... Looks like it do not produce as much power as it can.

VLAD - 11/24/2015 7:45 AM

fastjoe - 11/23/2015 8:39 PM

VLAD - 11/23/2015 10:40 AM

I think something wrong with your Goldwing.

Me too, one of the things wrong is the gearing is too tall for this hack.
That's why I'm trying to address it. 🙂
It's what I've got. It may have serious issues, I'm really not sure. I'm just trying to get it working better.
I've fixed a lot of problems on it in the short time I have had it. It's definitely getting better.
It's just not quite right yet. This is the first large Honda I have ever owned and I really have grown fond of it.
I love the engineering.

I have same bike with taller gearing(bigger tire) and do not thing gearing is too tall for this hack. May be you need to check your carbs, timing , etc.... Looks like it do not produce as much power as it can.

It makes sense. I will definitely look into it. This bike has probably never had the timing checked, at least not in a very long time. This spring I will do tha or maybe even sooner than thatt.
The carbs have been rebuilt and work pretty good after I ran a couple of cans of seafoam through them. The mufflers are not stock and are pretty straight through which might be costing me some torque down low. I need to check the afr to be sure it is not running lean also. I put new timing belts and idlers on it so I am sure the cam timing is correct.
I believe the Tstat is bad as this bike is very slow to warm up when it is cold out. That needs attention too but I will do that in the summer.

Thanks for the help.

Looks like you have a lot on your plate.

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