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Side car & tug alignment

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Most of the time when we work with Ural sidecars it is by sending out "kits" for people to install on their own. The way we do this as the front lower mount on the Ural is not adjustable and the rear lower mount is to far aft we convert the sidecar over to "boss and clamp" type mounts. This does involve welding on the sidecar frame. Once this is done you can now adjust wheel lead where ever you want it. Toe adjustment is easy as you get it in close with the clamps then fine tune with the hiem joints. You can also make sure that the sidecar sits level side to side and fore and aft. This also allows us to use any of the 100% bolt on mounting kits we offer. And we  often also lower the sidecar, on many bikes a Ural sidecar just looks a bit wrong as it sits to high. The way we lower the sidecar is to cut the frame in half  at the main frame cross tubes between the body and the wheel. Then we put in off set plates, usually in the 4-5 inch range. This lowers the body while not changing the suspension at all and it also gets the mounts coming off of the sidecar more in line with the frame of the bike as most bikes sit lower then a Ural does. With fully adjustable mounts if you want to see how wheel lead changes things you can adjust it, if you do not like it you can move it back. Normally on a street only bike we set wheel lead at about 10-15% of the wheel base of the bike. For most people this works out well.

We also like to run a brake on the sidecar. We have found that Ural disk brake wheels do not work well as there is enough flex that when you corner hard the rotor pushes the pistons in the caliper back in such that the next time you go to use the brake you have to pump it up. This can be helped by adjusting the wheel bearings  but only to a point. So what we do is cut off the Ural axle and weld in a new one we make. This allows us to use a different wheel. This can include a wheel that matches the bikes wheels. We then make our own brake rotors out of cast iron that are much smaller diameter then a front brake rotor. This balances the brake mechanically, yes it is seldom ideal. Empty you wish you had less brake, full a bit more. We run a Brembo caliper that has 34mm pistons on a bracket we make with our CNC equipment. The brake is hooked up to the rear master on the bike with a quick disconnect coupler. On our video page http://www.dmcsidecars.com/video you can see how we hook the brake up to an Indian, the Harley uses the same parts and is done the same way.

Before we started building our own sidecars we were the Ural sidecar importer as such we were doing a lot of modifications to these sidecars and we were having the factory build our sidecars with the front mount fully adjustable. We were also adding electric trim to the Ural sidecars. It got to a point where we were making so many changes that it just made more sense to start from scratch. We no longer are set up to be able to supply an electric trim kit for Ural like we once could.

 

Jay G
DMC sidecars

Monday - Thursday 6-4:30

866-638-1793

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1bmwmc, smitty901 and John Holbrook have reacted to this post.
1bmwmcsmitty901John Holbrook
Jay G DMC sidecars www.dmcsidecars.com 15616 Carbonado South Prairie RD Buckley WA 98321 866-638-1793 Hours Monday - Thursday 6-4:30

Thanks Jay for all that info its really appreciated as I am still green as a cucumber when it comes to side cars. Not knowing what is acceptable and what can be improved is a lot of my problem. So I have my rig somewhere in the ballpark on the long side when its lead. That gives me a good estimate of the cost benefit of doing a mod to move the car back on the bike and also where to prioritize the job. Right now my rig is pretty stable and I am definitely going to put a Harley black spoke back wheel on the car  I am going to use a trailer brake modulator to be able to program the brake pressure to match the load. I will try with a stock disc and if I cannot get the pressure down enough I will reduce the disc and move the caliper till its right. That is going to happen this coming winter when I do the final paint job. I like my electric trim very much and it really helps when running on the slab for a few hrs at a stretch.  When I do the sidecar wheel swop I am going to a car tire there too as I am still pondering how to tow this thing as my wife is not a good traveler. Me personally I have still got a pretty hard butt and my mods to the Ural saddle makes it ride like a really good post solo so, I just float along like I am sitting on a cloud.

I have looked at all kinds of trailer designs and found them too awkward and cumbersome. So this is where I am thinking . With a car tire on the car I can make me a bolt on trailer wheel that would go on the left side of the bike frame to carry the bike with suitable reinforcement to the hard points to spread the load on the bike frame. By running the 570X8 load D wheel right behind the bikes CG and putting it out about 13" from the center of the bike I will be well within the load rating using the car wheel as the other trailer wheel. I will just need a bolt on tow bar/hitch to make a trailer. I would put the bike side axle on and jack the bike up enough to mount the wheel. When we get to our destination Just take it off and put it  in the car trunk during the vacation and run the rig. The entire contraption will fit within the mirrors of a midsize car. I would make the new axle from a 3/4" gr 8 bolt. With Timken bearings the wheel will not float so the caliper would act normally.

Like I have said before this is my  last build and its going to be done right, and you can put that in the bank, then write checks on it

                                                                Later Chuck

PS I am not computer savvy so when one of my grandkids visits I will ask "it" to do the honors and post lots of pics for you all. I am very proud of what I have and its pretty much homegrown. Its genuwine Appalachian Hillbilly Engineering The area I live in was called Dark Corners and was famous for the shine that came out of the Hollers of the Blue Ridge Mountains

John Holbrook has reacted to this post.
John Holbrook

I am thinking of using a m/cycle front brake master cylinder mounted somewhere that I can link it with a tension spring  to the rear brake pedal and set the spring to have it pull a little right when braking with an empty car. That I hope will make the left pull more manageable when heavy braking with a passenger. This I think is as simple as it can get if I use a m/cyle front wheel with a disc like I plan on doing. I think I will be able to cut most of the handle away and still not have the need for a heavy spring to operate the brake. I think this is a very elegant solution that leaves the existing foot brake hydraulics untouched. Later Chuck

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