Gas, tires, oil.

Next up on the trike was the front brakes. I had new brake lines to replace the old corroded ones, but the open end wrench just slipped on the nut. Partially rounded off fittings like this are a common problem, I wasn’t re-using the line, so I didn’t mess around and just cut it off.

Now I was able use a hammer to drive a six point snap-on socket over the abused nut and then turn it off with a 1/2″ drive 18″ combo ratchet/breaker bar.

Yes, I have 1/2″ drive sockets down to 3/8″ (and 1/4″ drive sockets up to 9/16″), and, as you can see, they are very useful. What if the 6 point socket slipped? I would have driven a 1/2″ nut over the fitting and then welded it on. This not only give you a fresh, larger hex to grab, but the heat helps loosen it up (but is much preferred to trying to heat it with a torch and possibly damaging the brake seals).

After hooking up the bare minimum of wires, some oil the oil tank and some gas in the gas tank, I cranked up the motor to see if it would start after 3+ years apart. It did, though without linkage hooked up, I wasn’t able to open the choke quickly enough and stalled it out. But after cleaning the now fouled plugs it ran nicely. So at this point, its officially for sale. I’m going to keep working on it (needs the brakes hooked up before I can take it for a ride), but I put it on craigslist as is.

Why? Well, the house we live in is on the market, so we may have to move and finding a place with sufficient space for my tools is hard enough, without a big enough garage for 2 harleys.

And since this particular project has this urgency to it, I feel like I shouldn’t start on new projects until its finished.

You can post in the comment section if you are interested in it (there’s a remote possibility of a trade or partial trade).

With the end for the new clutch cable made, now I just had to make the adaptor. I used a section of the old cable with the cable stop installed. I drilled an 1/8″ hole in another pipe plug, threaded the cable through and measured it for length.

Then I silver soldered the pipe plug to the cable. Some flux and a propane torch was all that was needed.

Here’s completed assembly using an 1/8″ coupling to connect the two cables.

Now I just need to make a pin for the clutch handle to finish it off.

The trike needed a new clutch cable; the old one had been pinched and kinked and wouldn’t release the clutch. Unfortunatly, it needs an extended cable and no one locally had one. I called Jireh cycles and they were out of stock. Now, I probably could have found one somewhere, but since it was so hard to find, I thought it might be better to modify the system so a new style (readily availible) clutch cable would work. The new (evo) cables are different in two ways: first, they use a loop to connect to the handle. This just means I’ll have to use a pin instead of the insert that holds a cable stop. But more difficult is that the amount of cable that sticks out is only about 3″, whereas the old style had about 7″. I thought about shortening the outer sheath, but I wanted to be able to buy one at any dealership if it broke on a trip. So I decided to make an extension instead. First I need a way to connect to the end of the cable. I thought about using a cable clamp or one of those clips like you see in the middle of an emergency brake cable, but I didn’t want it to be so big. This connection is going to be inside the primary cover and I definitly don’t want it caught in the primary chain.
So I bought a couple 1/8″ npt brass hex pipe plugs and an 1/8″ brass pipe coupler. I drilled an 1/8″ hole in each one, and counter bored the inside to match the cable stop on the clutch cable. Then I made a slot with a hacksaw.

This allows me to slip it over the cable.

Next time I’ll show the extension that connects this to the clutch arm.

Just about everyone who works on cars and bikes hates electrical stuff, but you have to do it. I have grown to hate the common insulated crimp-on connectors. Firstly, they let water in and become corroded. Next, they are really just flattened or squished by the crimping tool, this allows the wire to wiggle side to side and eventually come loose. And lastly, they just look terrible. So, here’s what I do (I be glad to hear of other suggestions). I use non-insulated connectors (below, bottom) or if I can’t find them, I will cut the insulation off of the insulated type (top).

Not all of the common crimping pliers are made to do the non-insulated ends, mine have it on the handle side of the joint. Make sure you put the split side of the connector toward the half-round mandrel of the crimp tool.

Now, that wire is not going to pull out.

Next I use heat-shrink tubing to insulate and provide strain-relief. If you can find it, they make heat shrink tubing that is coated internally with hot-melt glue, this will help keep moisture out. I then give it a coating of liquid electrical tape (may be called brush-on electrial tape). I beleive it’s just plastisol (the stuff they use to dip-coat plier handles).

If your connection will show (and you care), the liquid electrical tape is available in different colors (nice for battery terminals if your cable is black, you can use it to mark the positive red).

The old style harley manifolds are a pain to install, an extra pair of hands can be a big help. Here’s one way to do it alone. There is half a groove on the manifold and the other half on the head, so the o-rings won’t stay on either part. So, first roll the o-rings up on manifold past where they should be.

Now you can roll one side down in place without the other falling off.

Install the clamp on that side to hold everything in place.

Now you roll the other side into the groove.

Of course the better way is to not use the stock o-rings at all. You can buy spacers that can be glued to the head and the manifold in the o-ring groove. This allows you to use the more modern band type seals and band clamps.

I needed some rubber washers to mount the gas tank on the trike, but the hardware store didn’t have the right size. I decided to make some myself. First I found an old inner tube that I had stashed behind the workbench, just for this sort of thing. Then I got an arch punch that I had found at a yardsale. I quickly punched out the ODs.

The ID needs to fit a 5/26″ bolt, but I don’t have that size punch. However, when at a recycling center I noticed some empty cartridges in their scrap brass bin. I bought a selection at scap price (and got the bucket for free).

5/16″ is .3125″, so 8 mm at .315″ is a nice fit. This is the cartridge head of an 8mm mauser (or 8x57mm) that I found. If you want you can sharpen the end, this also allows you to vary the size slightly, you can sharpen the inside (with a small round file or chamfer tool) for more clearance or the outside for less. So what cartridges should you look for? Well, obviously 6mm, 7mm, 8mm, 9mm and 10 mm will work for the corresponding metric sizes. An inside sharpened 17 caliber should work for a #8 screw and outside sharpened it should work for #10. The new 204 ruger might work for 5mm or #12. 25 caliber (25-06, 257 roberts, etc) or 6.5 mm for 1/4″ bolt. 8mm for 5/16″. 375 caliber or 9.3 mm for 3/8″, 44 or 45 caliber for 7/16″. And of course, 50 caliber for 1/2″. Good luck finding a 600 Nitro Express for 5/8″. Also, some cheap military ammo uses steel cases, obviously these will be sturdier.

I didn’t bother to sharpen the end and it worked fine.

Here are the rubber washers in place on the top tank mount, trapped between stainless washers. I have previously shown the bottom mount.

And here are the fat bobs finally mounted. The dash and filler are just sitting on top, they’re next.

I made a little progress on the trike last weekend. I got the oil lines hooked up and the tank bolted back down.

I also installed the chain and tensioner. I hooked up the battery, that spool of primary wire is for the lead up to the switch.

Next I need to put some oil in the tank, then I can try cranking the engine.

While I’ve got the tanks off to do the wiring, I thought I’d snap a pic of the lower mount for the Fat Bobs. When I bought the bike, the mount was a piece of 3/4″x2″ bar stock welded between the front frame tubes, with the light weight stock mount tack welded to it. It looked pretty crude, so I decided to make a new one. I bent a piece of 1″ tube (same as the frame) then notched it with a 1″ holesaw so it fit the frame tube nicely. On the mount side filled the open tube by welding a plate of 1/8″ over the end. I marked the where the ears of the tanks lined up and welded a 1/4″ coupling nut in.

I’m normally a big fan of symmetry, but this works out nicely.

Here’s a pic with the tank bolted on with a polished stainless steel button head screw.

Sorry for the terrible flash pics, I need to get some lights.

I had some Doss turn signals that came on my ‘89 sportster daily driver, but they didn’t work with saddle bags or the windshield so I put the stock ones back on. I decided to use them instead on the trike, here are they are mounted on the rear.

These are actually the fronts, on a 2 wheeler the fronts are running lights and turn signals (so either 2 filament bulb or 2 bulbs) and the rears are just turn signals. But on the trike, I want tail lights on either side, not just in the middle (so someone passing at night doesn’t run into my fenders). I just traded the amber lenses for the red ones. Now I need a stop light/license plate light. And to finish the wiring.