Trailer Trike Or Fun With Junk.

[cannonball2]

This might should be in the Ebike section but not much seems to go on there.
We just bought a 120yr old house to work on as a hobby. This old yard trailer was left there. Was going to yard sale it when I remembered a Schwinn step thru frame in the attic at home. We'll the wheels began to turn and this is what happened. It's in the rough out stage. Will need a bit of reinforcement. Had to weld the bed to the tongue and the frame to the bed to make it rigid eliminating the dump feature, I wouldn't have used it anyway. This is basically it.

There is a good bit of acerage at the new place and this will work as a gofer. Will use a 9C hub motor on 48v. If it works as expected may down the line extend the axles and run 24" trike wheels outside the bed. Add a little wood trim to the bed etc. Should be useful if nothing else. Expected a top speed in the low twenties. About as fast as I want to go on a trike.

 

[scratchbuilder]

This might should be in the Ebike section but not much seems to go on there.
We just bought a 120yr old house to work on as a hobby. This old yard trailer was left there. Was going to yard sale it when I remembered a Schwinn step thru frame in the attic at home. We'll the wheels began to turn and this is what happened. It's in the rough out stage. Will need a bit of reinforcement. Had to weld the bed to the tongue and the frame to the bed to make it rigid eliminating the dump feature, I wouldn't have used it anyway. This is basically it.

There is a good bit of acerage at the new place and this will work as a gofer. Will use a 9C hub motor on 48v. If it works as expected may down the line extend the axles and run 24" trike wheels outside the bed. Add a little wood trim to the bed etc. Should be useful if nothing else. Expected a top speed in the low twenties. About as fast as I want to go on a trike. View attachment 97643

I like it. I too look around at my 'stuff' and look for a project. Hey I got a thread going in e hub and wonder if you could help....

 

[curtisfox]

WOW! Another build, should be fun...........Curt

 

[cannonball2]

I like it. I too look around at my 'stuff' and look for a project. Hey I got a thread going in e hub and wonder if you could help....

Thanks Scratch

Check your Escoot thread.

 

[cannonball2]

Hey Curt
Yeah some times I wonder what I'm thinking. But it's hard to resist building things when the idea presents itself and the parts are there.

The wife actually had positive comments on this one rather than eye rolling like when another batch of MB parts appears. Guess she can see herself riding around with a load of garden tools and plants.
Hope to have it operational this afternoon.

 

[curtisfox]

KOOL should be fun and very useful. wait for a report.............Curt

 

[indian22]

That's a neat little setup a bit wider stance might be advisable, which you would gain with the 24" wheels. Stability with both trailers and trikes is always key to my thinking so dropping the chassis height while widening the rear & running 24" wheels would all seem a wise choices.

Always making all turns at super low speeds is my advice which was learned the hard way.. Rick C.

 

[cannonball2]

Thanks indain22!

I agree on the wider stance. Most of the time this will be a yard vehicle. However our county has very relaxed laws concerning golf carts using the roads and Im sure this will see some road use. Will have to save up some $$ for the 24" wheels. I favor horse sulky wheels they are pretty heavy duty but pricy.
I had years back a 79cc HF powered trike that was kinda scary. I treated it with great respect. This one should be more mild mannered but I won't be bending it into turns at much more than a fast walk.

 

[indian22]

Good idea on the sulky wheels I'll look into a set of those for a trailer I've a mind to build to share between a couple of my bikes. I'd been thinking 20" but HD 24" sounds great.

"Kinda scary" is dead on, as is dang dangerous, lol I'm too old to survive what I used to get up & laugh about!Rick C.

 

[cannonball2]

Learned a valuable lesson today, don't be into big of a hurry. Seems the nut that holds the handlebars forgot to fully tighten the nut that holds the handlebars! Was clipping along about 15 when the stem let go. On a 750 acre island the only thing in my path was a neighbors new mail box. T boned it good. Flipped the trike and sent my old bones flying. Luckily I was able to fix the mailbox and I was just scratched a bit but suffered a badly bruised ego.

After a careful check over I took it on a bit of a run. It's fairly well mannered. Has good power and will go faster than I want to. Took a bit of getting used to on our dirt roads here. They are well crowned in the center and the trike leans to the right. Was kinda scary until I figured out the deal. Seems fairly stable even as narrow as it is but I won't be doing any two wheel riding I can assure you!

Here it is in all its trashy junk trailer glory. The batteries and controller fit nicely in the rear triangle. Now for some more welding and floor boards.

 

[curtisfox]

KOOL , remember when i got my worksman trike at swap meet, really scary at first when i went around a corner to fast and up on 2 wheels. Now i go up on 2 wheels just for the fun of it, no motor though.

In a hurry to have fun and you did, ouch. Glad that is all that happened. Always thought these old DeDion trikes were in proportion, as the used to race them on oval track way back then.
http://www.dogdragons.com/dogdragons/trikes/de_dion_bouton/de_dion_bouton.html

 

[cannonball2]

Yep have fun I did!
Was actually pretty funny. Bent the fork slightly. Had to pull it to straighten it out. Spent the rest of the afternoon riding around the island. Got a little more relaxed with it. Thing moves right along.

Yeah the DeDions are really cool! I watched a video of a race in England. Those guys are serious! For what they are they are not slow.
.

 

[curtisfox]

Short wheelbase wide stance and large tire 28" x 3" on the old ones....Curt

I have one of these, older with 3/4" axles for mine...........LOL

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_35768_35768

 

[cannonball2]

I had several of those I salvaged from mowers over the years. Gave em away when I moved to the coast. Wish I had em back. They are the basis of a good 2wd build.
My wife asked if this contraption was going to have pedals. With one of these you could add a pedal system. The trailer is gapped in the center. The axles are also 3/4. Add a free wheel and some bearings and chain and it might work.

I suppose if freight hauling wasnt a priority you could mount a Predator in the bed and run the chain thru the beds floor. Taking about hauling butt!
If I were to do a build like this from scratch I would find one of those yard carts with the 26" spoke wheels and the high wood sides. That would look pretry cool.

 

[curtisfox]

Yes would be cool, and good functional........Curt

 

[indian22]

[QUOTE="indian22, post: 665168, member:

"Kinda scary" is dead on, as is dang dangerous, lol I'm too old to survive what I used to get up & laugh about!Rick C.[/QUOTE]

Handlebars were not in my prognostication of danger., but since reading of your mis-adventure & my recent change of forks on a couple of my bikes and replacing the head bearings in another. I'm going to check each for adequate torque readings on all fasteners, just to make sure.
I'm glad you weren't injured (pride being what it is) and the bike fared well. The electric trike looks to be both fun & useful. Rick C.

 

[cannonball2]

Thanks Rick
Right now it has been more fun than useful. The only thing I have hauled is the dogs and they love it.
Got it off the dirt roads of the island on to some paved roads. It's way more fun there as you can ride it much faster.
It handlesway better than the gas Miami trike I built maybe because the mass is lower and it's front wheel drive. Don't know for sure but I ride it faster with more confidence.
Range is about 15mi on rough surfaces. It's more demanding on the batteries as this same pack does mid 30s in my very efficient ebike. Still 15mi is a lot of gofering.

 

[curtisfox]

Must be the front drive, as the rear drive pulls to one side, and to the other when you brake, differential would take care of that, sure glad it's working out. Fun......Curt

 

[cannonball2]

So moving the herd of MBs around the garage to clean up a bit the idea came to me that I could have a hybrid simply by changing out the front fork of the FD bike on to the trike. The FD on the front fork is totally self contained just swap it and reinstall the hub motor. Instant hybrid! Since I live in the costal flats low HP works well. The small 21cc trimmer motor moves the bike 20+ mph.

I have a feeling it will move the trike ok but a bit slower. I can bring the trike up to speed then engage the FD. If I need more power I can add some from the hub motor. I believe the FD will drive the trike stand alone, but even with some assist the batteries should easily double or tripple their range. This is all on the road of course.

The FD was designed from the onset to be totally removable in under a minute so I could just use the bike. It can be removed and stored when using the trike in the yard.

 

[cannonball2]

So remembered I have a new 49cc HS engine fitted with the common 3:1 pocket bike trans. Instead of using the 21cc am thinking I may be able to mount the HS backwards on the front fork and run a large roller (3-4") on the gear box. The configuration of the gear box will off set the roller to the center of the wheel hopefully will allow the engine to center over the wheel also. I will make this easily removable also.

This could be easily applied to a bike as well. In true hybrid function the hub motor will charge the batteries to some extent while under engine power.