66cc Full Suspension Snow Tricycle

maniac57 said:
I'd be careful welding that axle. Welding creates weak zones around the weld and this may lead to breakage. I'd suggest only welding the nut to the axle with a small tack rather than a full circle weld. It should still hold fine unless you're using a blown big block for power....
Great ingenuity by the way!
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thanks, i pictured this bike in my head and now its coming to reality. bourne of necessity really. but do you think 4 welds on each nut will hold through the pressures and strains of going through turns?, since its a solid axle and will squeel the inside tire on a sharp turn. its not a big block lol but it will have extra torque with my 54 tooth sprocket.would welding a full circle cause it to snap? which leads me back to my old question about roll pins..would drilling a 1/4 inch hole be even more weakening to the axle? they had this trike axle set up like that , with a roll pin, but it was not set up for a motor.
 
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kdaddy1980 said:
thanks, i pictured this bike in my head and now its coming to reality. bourne of necessity really. but do you think 4 welds on each nut will hold through the pressures and strains of going through turns?, since its a solid axle and will squeel the inside tire on a sharp turn. its not a big block lol but it will have extra torque with my 54 tooth sprocket.would welding a full circle cause it to snap? which leads me back to my old question about roll pins..would drilling a 1/4 inch hole be even more weakening to the axle? they had this trike axle set up like that , with a roll pin, but it was not set up for a motor.
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I have two trike axles that take their drive through a roll pin kdaddy and they are a constant maintenance item because they tend to distort and crush under load and then break. Because I already have these axles and I can't really afford to replace them for something better I just keep replacing the roll pins on a regular basis. Bear in mind too that I'm not putting the horsepower of a motor drive on those pins either it's just my own muscle power that's bending those pins as I have the electric motor driving independently of the axle.
Drilling the axle for a pin will weaken it unfortunately and i would imagine that you are using ordinary cold rolled mild steel for an axle rather than anything forged or tempered. Maniac57's advice is reasonably sound in that a continuous weld is likely to cause weak zones around the weld which may cause your axle to bend at the hubs. Instead I would place two good welds opposite each other on the diameter of the axle to secure the hub and this should be fine to hold everything together.
 
umm... you can wled it full circle if you want, the axle is thick emough for it not to matter and the weld will be close enough to the load bearing edge of the outer bearing that the force on the weld will not be too great. those are my girlfriend words not mine, she is a profesional welder and she tells me that depending on the type of weld, her welds can be stronger than the steel itself ! the heat from the weld will however soften the steel around the weld but you can heat it up with a torch and quelch that aria in used motor oil to harden it after welding. even if you dont it will not soften it to the point it will have any noicable effect. as long as your welds are fast smooth and have a good bead.

i would weld it full circle then heat it red and quelch it in used oil.

if your rear axle is 30in or smaller i would not worry about outside tire drag as it will be insignificantly smal at speed of 25mph and probably not even noticable unless your trying to make a sharp turn wile giving it the gas.

i would also go with the widest possable tires you can get to reduce the amount of preassure per square inch on the tire to ground surface aria . the wider the tire the easer on the tread it will be the thinner the itr the faster it will wear out because there will be more lbs per square in rubbing the smaller surface aria .



i was going to convert my beach cruiser to a trike but looking at this build has made me rethink that decision. i have a spare ful suspention 21 spd mt bike and that would make a far better trike than my beutifull single speed cruiser i love soo much lol i would hate to hack it up just to have something to ride for the winter !!!
 
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also think about this the greatest amount of force will be applied to the weakest part of your bike ... the small tubing that makes up the swing arm for the rear tires !!!! those tube are small and thin tubing compared to the rest of the bike .
i would imagine you can wobble them back and forth with just your hands ! you may want to reinforce the tubing with aluminum 1x1 angle stock welded to the length of the bottom tubes

the thin tubing that comes off the pedal crank ... you may want to weld 1x1 U stock over the top or L stock allong the side

lol its probably pleanty strong and i am just way over thinking it lol
 

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I like the idea, having taken hippers riding a bicycle on ice before, a trike takes a bad situation and makes it fun! Like being 3 years old on a big wheel again! :)
 
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the axle is coming together fairly well, i cut the holes in the new case by drilling about 6 3/8 inch holes around the inside of the mark and cut the leftover metal in between the holes by a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade on it.

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next im going to weld the old casing side to the outside of the new one and bend new covers with 6 inch wide, 1/8 inch thick steel plate, covering the top and bottom of the sprocket
 
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i've done a couple things to to the bike in the past few days, i cut some extra pieces off of the rear seat post, i cut the pegs that the v brakes mounted to off so i could move the engine post to the right a little to position the exhaust pipe straight down through the frame.
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when the bike is finished i will have covers over the rear frame and underneath to keep snow out, and the pipe will stick out only a few inches underneath. super steathy like, you probably wont even be able to tell that there is a motor on it.ill also have a skid plate under the axle just in case to guard the sprocket
 
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Looking very good! I used to LOVE riding my ATC's in the snow, sideways for hours at a time.
I love the idea and you are going to have something very cool and individual there.
Great work!
 
rogergendron1 said:
also think about this the greatest amount of force will be applied to the weakest part of your bike ... the small tubing that makes up the swing arm for the rear tires !!!! those tube are small and thin tubing compared to the rest of the bike .
i would imagine you can wobble them back and forth with just your hands ! you may want to reinforce the tubing with aluminum 1x1 angle stock welded to the length of the bottom tubes

the thin tubing that comes off the pedal crank ... you may want to weld 1x1 U stock over the top or L stock allong the side

lol its probably pleanty strong and i am just way over thinking it lol
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upon further review, i think you're right about having to reinforce the rear end of the frame. not because the tubes aren't strong enough but because the flanges at the end of the frame are probably not strong enough to hold the weight of the heavy steel case tubes and wheels, i'm still racking my brain as to how exactly i'm going to mount the axle to the frame. i want to cut holes on the front of the case and slide the bottom engine mount tube through the holes and weld it, but my problem is the rear of the frame isn't flat and the case wont sit flush.
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i just got a vise and i'm thinking that maybe i can squeeze the case together a little and maybe fashion some flat spacers in between the case and the frame.or maybe a big triangle shaped plate like the one you drew, but bigger welded in between the tubes and trimmed so the ends fits flush with the flanges. anyone have any other ideas?
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i drew a circle about where the hole would be for the tube, and the blue mark is where the pedal hub axle would bolt on. it would just slide down into the slot
 
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so i ended up experimenting a little with this frame a managed to flatten the ends enough to get the flat stock of the gear case to fit flush with the frame. i heated the frame on the inside with map gas and beat it flat with a body hammer and then finished it off by grinding it flat. the steel was fairly thick so im hoping that it doesnt weaken the frame too much. ill be welding the flat stock to the frame and to the v mount tube so hopefully that will give it some strength back.

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i got the axle case trimmed and bolted to the frame, im also going to weld a plate to the front side of the mount tube and weld it to the frame for extra support
 
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got one of the three chains fitted. took the old homeade hub axle apart and greased the bearings and cups, cleaned the threads of the axle and put it all back together fitted some spacers on the hub to fit it just right in the case. it was kind of tricky to get the hub in there and get the chain just right but it can only get tighter the way its set up.

The next chain (the pedal drive chain) has an obstacle,the mount tube i will have to use a tensioner or maybe just the wheel, to prop the chain up so it doesn't hit the tube. i also plan on using a rear derailler, set stationary,to keep that chain tight.

i wont be able to use the front derailler to shift gears, but it might work to keep the chain in line. kinda like a jump stop. so ill just fasten the chain to the smallest sprocket for high torque. and set the front derailler stationary as well. it will still be adjustable though if i need to move it up to a bigger gear.
 
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in the course of getting the tensioner tight i figured out that i cant use a derailler on the rear. its a backstop hub, and with a derailler on it wouldnt turn the chain backwards for the brake to work, so no biggy, i just wont use it. the tensioner solved both of my obstacles though,1) how to keep the chain tight, and 2) it lifted the chain up high enough to clear the tube...i am a genius ! lol so now i have the task of figuring out how to true the rear wheels since the 5/8" axle wont fit in my true stand...ill have to modify an axle for it to fit temporarily for that.
 
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