The Chopper Compendium

Doing this for a friend in Maryland.

Working with an old Audi rear. Here are the original axles that I later took 4" off each side.





Changed the bolt pattern from metric to 4.5".



Running 15x8 wheels with 26" x 10 Mickey Thompson radials



Cutting off old axle plates





A rough mock up before I commit to bending the wishbones.





I really have converted to using masking tape for marking tangent points and rotation points. If you have a good eye you can wrap it squarely around a tube.



Wishbones bent and for the most part coped and fitted.

looks like the beginnings of something good, Scott. what's gonna be powering it?

take care,
-dan

budoka wrote:looks like the beginnings of something good, Scott. what's gonna be powering it?

take care,
-dan

Hey Dan! Long time no chat 8)

It will be powered with a custom mill. Delkron cases with P-series heads from S&S. Record holder, Kirby Apathy, is working on the heads right now. I am also building him a Harman girder thanks to John (HoseDragger) for sending me some spare springs he had laying around.

This is a build that is a callaboration of many friends. My friend got severly short changed on an engine build by another well know builder and is having to start over. My friend is a major gearhead but health issues have prevented him from doing his own engine work and riding a two wheeler anymore. A long narrow trike has always been his dream so we are doing our best to make this happen.

The rear is narrow, 25.5" inside of rubber to rubber and that is the main reason for a drop seat frame. Keeping the center of gravity low.

I hope that all is well with you and your family.
Take care,
Scott

Nice looking lines. 25.5 inch rubber to rubber can only add to its appeal.

Did you send your axles out for cut and re-spline or do them inhouse?

Man...I got to get in here more often....some cool stuff being made in here.

Long and narrow, I've never seen one done like this.Does the girder need to be heavier for a trike Build?

I did the axles myself after talking with my old friend that is a machinist/drag racer. What I did is cut the axle off at the bearing journal and then I bored them out from the flange side all the way through. I prepped the flange side for a socket wels and then pressed the axles in through the journal. After welding, I then drilled the journal where the out seal would go to accept a hardened pin and it was also tigged in and machined flush. Quick and easy.

I have never built a trike before but I have a local friend that has built close to 2 dozen VW trikes. Nothing special for the fronts forks in his eyes.

thats some real nice tube bending there and real good tip with the masking tape i use it all the time it makes it a lot easier when you cut 2 tubes at the same time then measure and tape em both before you bend you know both are going to be bent in exactly the same place

Scott....I just noticed this thread man. The trike is looking killer! Keep at it man as an inspiration for the rest of us to get off our butts!

Thanks guys

John, here soon I am gong to have to give you a call so we can talk a little. I thought I was going to call you a few months back but like always I got sidetracked with life. Hope you are doing well.....Scott

I couldn't stand the way the wishbones looked so I changed them up. I am a lot happier with the looks of these.

you are SO making it hard on me to be patient... i shoulda called you and had a chat about flywheel balancing before sending mine out (9 months ago ).

glad to see you're getting some work done, though. i liked the old wishbones, but the new ones are the bees' knees for sure.

make sure to keep posting the progress, some of us are depending on it for sanity.

-dan

Thanks Dan. I sure wish we would have talked also about balancing your wheels. It really a pretty easy job to do. Just like anything else we do it seems intimidating at first but once you get rolling it goes pretty quick. I guess I would have a hard time accepting 9 months even if the guy was doing it for free. I balanced my wheels in less than 2 hours. Now I just need to assemble them 8). My Pan got put on the shelf for awhile but should be back on it this winter.

Thanks for the kind words Dan.

Scott, have i ever told you how much i hate you? it's just the envy talking though, so don't take it personally. seriously though, your progress looks great and is the next best thing to me doing it myself. oh, to be building! what sweet joy.

good news is, my wheels are back in Yamanashi, anyway. now, i can go lay my hands on them whenever i get fed up with all the BS i'm gettin'. i fully expect i'll still need to be pickin' your brain about the balancing after they get back in my hands, since i have absolutely NO faith that my wheels will be balanced right, if at all. i *know* that absolutely nothing was done to them while they were gone for 9 months, and now the guy that sent them out to be balanced because he couldn't balance them is balancing them? hmmm, what don't seem right here? i'm mad, pissed, and angry, and if/when my parts get back in my hands, NONE of my parts will ever leave my presence again. okay, sorry for the highjacking, rant over. proceed with the trike awesomeness, that is this thread!

-dan