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Sidecar on Harley

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all buyers want the whole sidecar kit..... or the car listed as "without the kit"

its a small box of parts that come with the sidecar - most owners dont even know it exists and sell the sidecar as whole but leave out the kit from the box - causing all kinds of hard feelings & usually some swearing when the omission is discovered - been there... the value of the car is plus or minus a grand if the kit is complete or not...

most dealers wont even tell a owner about the "kit" so most owners dont even know.. but the next buyer will have a heart attack when there "complete sidecar" is found to be missing the most difficult parts of the "kit" the large castings are the cheap parts - its the small ones that suck.

hannigan "probably" wont bother taking the kit off. just the large cast mounts... ive installed and removed two kits - takes 8 hours of sweat & hard work on and then off.

the kit is a thousand bux+ these days & is shipped WITH the sidecar & included in the price from hd. - all the parts sort of disappear onto the bike and the new sidecar buyer will expect them with it.. it includes the brake pedal, the master cyl adapter, a brake hose, the master cyl reservoir, a 90 bend that moves the oil sender, the tee where the rear brake taps off to the sidecar & the rollover switch that is behind the battery under the seat completely hidden& comes with a 8" long harness. a different clutch cable. the bracket for the steering dampener. and a box of tiny odd bolts and clips. & last the special right saddle bag latch that lets the lid come off so it does not smack the sidecar.

all the parts i list are part of the sidecar - the original parts that came with the bike were replaced - you cant install a hd sidecar on a hd bike without all those tiny little special order parts - it wont fit.. the installer is "supposed" to put all the same original parts they took off the bike back in the box and give it to the owner when they are done with the job. when you take the sidecar off and sell it you should be able to take that little box of parts worth more than gold and swap them back & give the kit to the new owner.

otherwise its a sidecar WITHOUT a mounting kit.

good luck

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What TIMO482 says is the issue.

The parts in question, other than sidecar frame and tub are:

1. Brass 3/16" pipe brake Tee for sidecar brake hose hookup.
2. Changeover master cylinder sleeve for remote use.
3. Remote master cylinder reservoir and mount,
4. 90 degree 1/4" pipe brass elbow for oil pressure sending unit to clear lower front mount.
5. Pre-2003 rear brake lever. (stand up versus laydown) to clear lower front mount.
6. Extra long (+ ~6") clutch cable to go under crankcase to miss lower mount and exhaust.
7. Inner steering damper mount (attaches to rear of lower triple tree to replace air dam.
8. Steering damper unit.
9. Right side saddlebag replacement hinge unit.
10. Rollover switch and cables.
11. Owner's manual.
12. Original Harley-Davidson Bill of Sale/Title Document.
13. Associated bolts, flat washers, lock washers, lock nuts.
14. Upper front mount,
15. Lower front mount.
16. Lower rear mount.

Very often a seller of a sidecar which was removed from their bike will simply remove the sidecar and leave the above parts on the donor motorcycle with the exception of the three major mounts. (Items, 14, 15, and 16). I looked at several used sidecars and all of that stuff (1-13) was missing and so I lost interest.

The other issue was that the paint color is usually wrong on a used sidecar. With those issues facing me, the difference I paid for a new sidecar in the crate with all of the equipment present was well worth it in peace of mind. Furthermore, since I have a black bike, I got a free paint match, stripes and all. They also matched my black cast aluminum wheel,

Hopefully those items can be found. The problem is that one would also need the original items with which to replace them.

GREAT information!!! I went into my attic and found the box with remote master cylinder, the lower fairing, rear brake lever, rightside saddle bag hinge unit, inner steering damper mount. I already removed the damper unit, owner manual all mounts,bolts etc, head phone y cable, speaker y cable. When I go to hannigan, I will get the rollover switch off and other items I didn't know went with the sidecar. Again Thanks for the Information!!!

you will get more interest & a higher price when you can show you have the whole kit.

good luck

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ps - when i got mine - the ones i bid on were the ones with the entire kit - i never was able to bid high enough to get a complete one and the ones without the kit went for 2 k or so and i passed on those.

pps - when you get ready to advertise it go to the dealer and get the part list for the mounting kit.. then take a picture of all the parts and include the parts list. & the kit part number - if you take the vin of your sidecar they can give you a parts list of what came with it.. the fairing lower etc will be listed on that list - include in your documentation of the ad that you have all the parts as shipped to install on the bike - the bike range for a 03 should be, i think, 99 to 05 with no changes. ... if your sidecar has the sterio in it be sure to advertize it as a "TLE Ultra" those are worth more because of the larger seat, the better interior and the lower right fairing for the bike - each of which are mid three figure parts.

a bare, no kit, tle is worth at best 2500 bux.. a tle ultra with the entire kit, sound system, and the lower fairing should be worth 5k or better.

HOG - 1/10/2010 12:42 PM

GREAT information!!! I went into my attic and found the box with remote master cylinder, the lower fairing, rear brake lever, rightside saddle bag hinge unit, inner steering damper mount. I already removed the damper unit, owner manual all mounts,bolts etc, head phone y cable, speaker y cable. When I go to hannigan, I will get the rollover switch off and other items I didn't know went with the sidecar. Again Thanks for the Information!!!

Glad to be of help on that. It's still quite fresh in my mind since I haven't yet recovered from changing all of that stuff. LOL.

I didn't mention the lower right Ultra fairing because I didn't get one with my TLE sidecar. The sidecar fairing does indeed come with the TLE ULTRA model sidecar. This would have been another $2,000 retail for the Ultra sidecar over the standard TLE. I happen to use mine without a passenger most of the time. My spouse doesn't care for the radios so the Ultra model would have been a waste of money. It's also got that radio pod hanging down between the passenger's knees. For my purposes, I also like the seat in the TLE standard model since it's lower but that's a matter of personal preference.

I bought a brand new Ultra sidecar fairing on eBay in primer and painted it black with stripes to match my bike so all is well.

The roll over switch, once installed, requires that the ECM be toggled by the Harley technician using the Digital Technician (specialized laptop). That would be a good thing to have with any brand of sidecar since in the unlikely event of a complete rollover, it will shut the engine down.

If it's removed, the then solo bike should be taken to a dealer to have the ECM set back to solo configuration. That will reengage the TSSM Bank Angle Sensor so that any angle greater than 45 degrees will cause a shutdown.

Good luck.

Thanks again, I found this site two years ago when I went to a bike part show in North Carolina and a guy selling site cars left brochures in his empty booth. I went online and joined. The info and help is priceless. Thanks again. You guys rock!!

if you are wanting to sell the lower fairing and saddle bag hinge let me know

when i found myself without the hinge due to my own brain dead state in 06...... traded in the bike and kept the sidecar and even though I installed the kit originally - forgot a few small items....... & when i realized it the old bike had been wholesaled out already and i was stuck... bummer

got the latch and the lower fairing from hd - could not find one anywhere

the next week both parts appeared on ebay and sold for half what i paid

check ebay once a week and eventually the lower will show up... the latch... possibly.

Ebay is a great place to find parts. Anyone near North Carolina at the Metrolina Expo Center in Charlotte can pick up almost anything at the bike swap meet. It is March 27 & 28th. I'm looking for 100 yr anniv. medalions for my new hannigan . Last year I needed the rear spocket that had stripped off and found a new one for 10 dollars! I also paid 10 for a harley tow hitch. This is the largest meet I ever been to!

HOG - 1/13/2010 5:30 AM

Ebay is a great place to find parts. Anyone near North Carolina at the Metrolina Expo Center in Charlotte can pick up almost anything at the bike swap meet. It is March 27 & 28th. I'm looking for 100 yr anniv. medalions for my new hannigan . Last year I needed the rear spocket that had stripped off and found a new one for 10 dollars! I also paid 10 for a harley tow hitch. This is the largest meet I ever been to!

Yes, eBay is a good source. Everyone who owns a sidecar rig, Harley-Davidson or otherwise should make it a habit to look at eBay frequently. I go through there nearly every day to see what is for sale in rigs and parts. I use keywords "sidecar" or Harley sidecar" and will usually get 2 to 3 hundred listings. Many of them are documents like photos, and such but if you refine your search for "motor vehicles" or "transportation" only, those items will drop out.

Recently therre have been many sidecar mounts and other related items. I've sold many parts there myself in the past few years. It's a great market place. No, I don't have any eBay stock. LOL.

I used to go to lots of motorcycle swap meets in Northern California all of the time but the past few years they are not as common. There are some in state owned buildings and fairgrounds but the costs can be discouraging. For example, many shows have a $10 per head admission with $10 for parking. That's $30 for two people, just to get in. And if you get hungry, forget about it until later. I don't drink in public anymore but they are getting $5.00 for a 12 ounce cup of beer and $4.00 for a soda. Then there are the hot dogs. $4.00! No Thanks.

So eBay is looking pretty good these days. LOL.

On ebay today,I got green LED's for my new setup as I had red led's and Myrtle Beach is getting so anti-bike, I'm pulling the red. My friend got pulled for blue led's,I didn't have mine on but he claimed I ran the stop sign. We all got warnings only!!

HOG - 1/13/2010 6:01 PM

On ebay today,I got green LED's for my new setup as I had red led's and Myrtle Beach is getting so anti-bike, I'm pulling the red. My friend got pulled for blue led's,I didn't have mine on but he claimed I ran the stop sign. We all got warnings only!!

Yes, the blue lights belong to law enforcement practically worldwide. If you just got a warning, you were lucky. They seldom give warnings in California. They get their ticket book out the moment they stop you.

The 96 goldwing with hannigan astro I have 4 sale has purple leds had a scecret button I didn't know about and it had 6 blue strobe lights. I took them off real fast!!! I'll put them on one of my grandsons Toys later. I own a c store with a Subway in it. We give ALL cops half off subs, always free pop and coffee and across town I own a carwash and we give them free carwashes or token for free carwash and vacuums. We also put on poker run to benefit the local fire dept. It is a volunteer FD and when one is in need we give $$ to help the firemen out. Town insurance for them is lousey so when they get hurt they fall behind on payments so we step in.

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