Trailer Trike Or Fun With Junk.

GoldenMotor.com

cannonball2

Well-Known Member
Oct 28, 2010
3,682
223
63
Colonial Coast USA.
20180225_164918.jpg
Adding the 49cc HS engine would have been quite a bit of work. The little Echo was basically a bolt on. Swapped it all over Sunday. It's just a proof of concept experiment any way. And work it does!

Finally got a chance today to give it a run. Didn't make it off the island to the pavement, but rode the rougher sand roads. With the engine running you take off with the hub motor then throttle up the Echo. Once up to about 10mph the Echo will sustain the driving. It is really happy above 15mph where it makes its power. The roads are too rough for much faster. On pavement the Echo should easily drive it. I totally throttled out the hub and the Echo handled the drag ok. This would not work on 21ccs .7hp if the terrain wasn't flat.

At this point am totally clueless about the hub charging the battery. In theory it is. My wife ruined a controller riding her ebike with no batteries. Blew the caps. So at pedal speeds it does generate something. Once I experiment a bit with this thing will swap the fork on to one of my Ebikes which is much lighter and the little Echo can drive with authority. At the very least it's interesting to experiment with.

This would be a totally viable vehicle with the 49cc engine.
 
Last edited:

cannonball2

Well-Known Member
Oct 28, 2010
3,682
223
63
Colonial Coast USA.
So heres the latest evolution of this thing. It replaces the golf cart we sold as a run around gofer vehicle mainly hauling 5gal fuel cans to the dock for our boat. Motorizing a trailer is difficult as the axle is fixed and a pain to make live. So I extend the axles(48" tread) to get the wheels out side the trailer then extended the CVTs drive thru the trailer with a 3rd bearing. Its driven by a 212 Preddy. The CVT ranges from a stump pulling 19.6/1 to a 6.5:1 in OD. Will run at a crawl to nearly 30. Its very stable and and tracks nicely with a 68" wheel base. Very pleasant in the 15/25 range. It sees daily use and is so easy to use my wife will actually use it to haul stuff. Plan on painting it and making a removable stake bed that will be spaced over the engine. Will actually pull a yard trailer(like itself) for lighter bulky stuff. Funny looking but a ton of fun to use.
 

Attachments

junglepig

Member
Oct 28, 2018
78
32
18
Georgia
Please allow me to acquaint you with some of Fritz Gockerell's works. He was one of the names behind the Megola frontwheel drive motorcyle.

View attachment 99602
Seems like this arrangement would be worth trying with a Chinese kit. The trickiest part would be the rotating engine mount bracket at the steering head.
Know of anyone who's done it here? I could use a little yard "truck", but I'd probably put a big belt sheave on the front wheel to gear it way down.
 

cannonball2

Well-Known Member
Oct 28, 2010
3,682
223
63
Colonial Coast USA.
Cockmobile OMG!

So I have reinvented 1912? Not pictured in this things evolution is a version with a 49cc HS 4stroke mounted on the front wheel. It ran an overall 18:1 reduction but just didn't have the power to do it. A CG would be worse unless you were building very light. The CVT is what makes this work, its actually a bit overpowered. I imagine 3.5 HP would drive it. The smaller wheels help with the ratio not to mention the ride over rough stuff at 8lbs inflation
Have been watching a Cushman truckster on eBay. If this had an 8" front wheel it would look like a country cousin to the Cushman.
 

indian22

Well-Known Member
Dec 31, 2014
4,734
7,740
113
Oklahoma
Awesome photo selection Ludwig and I agree on the unitized engine/trans approach to building a trike/truck. I just posted a reply to an inquiry on the Simplex servi-cycle site about the possibility of using a Honda style cg engine with 4 speed/reverse on a proposed trike build. I'd assumed he intended to base this on the very beautiful Simplex truck frame, but now I'm not certain.

I also suggested the idea of adding a go cart style cvt with reverse box; cable and 3 position- forward, neutral & reverse hand lever. These are readily available, reasonable quality units capable of handling 13 hp with the 30 series cvt. These are 3/4" - 3/16" keyed output shaft ready and cost about $120., not including the cost of the cvt. & accommodate a variety of common chain and sprocket sets Either way seems a winner.

The other truck option is the use of the 3 D clutch coupled to the go cart reverse gearbox on a Predator or Honda engine. 212cc torque for the workhorse truck...single speed is not necessarily a problem with a work truck., but the addition of reverse makes these fun trikes and trucks real game winners.

While I have projects enough to keep me occupied I often think about the real world possibilities of using what already exists to improve what we already like. I'm just promoting the possibilities.

Rick C.
 
  • Like
Reactions: fasteddy

Ludwig II

Well-Known Member
Jul 17, 2012
5,071
783
113
UK
There was a disability trike made in Britain, the Nippi, it was one wheel drive, using a complete scooter drive unit on one side. It worked ok at low traffic speeds.

 

cannonball2

Well-Known Member
Oct 28, 2010
3,682
223
63
Colonial Coast USA.
Looks like a trailer as the basis. Be great on a road trip as you could kick back and steer with your feet.
Brings to mind the Chinese trucks with the diesel engine over the front wheel.