New to me trike

This is my first post, I have a vw 1200 trike. my first question is how is everyone supporting the rear end of the fiberglass body, where it covers the fan housing. I'll post pictures tomorrow. I have to take some. Thanks

Kevin ..........Welcome ........:wave4:....

Welcome to Trike Talk:clapping:

Welcome to Trike Talk Kevin!

Welcome from North Ga. .:wave4:

Hi Kevin! Just want to say welcome, glad you joined us.

Most are held up by the same body mount points the car used right on top of the shock towers.

Every different body has a different mounting technique. Some a metal truss from shock tower to shock tower......and some with fiberglass in points originally molded into the body.

:wave4:

:welcome:[COLOR=#000000][COLOR=#000000] T[/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][COLOR=#000000]o the Trike Talk Family! [/COLOR][/COLOR][COLOR=#333333]FROM SOUTH [/COLOR][IMG]https://www.triketalk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=60353&d=1534473231[/IMG][COLOR=#000000][COLOR=#000000] Angleton, TX [/COLOR][/COLOR]

[COLOR=#000000][COLOR=#000000]Howdy Kevin![/COLOR][/COLOR]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]75240[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]75241[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]75242[/ATTACH]

Hi Kevin, welcome to the forums

Welcome to the Gang from Western Colorado.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]75252[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]75253[/ATTACH]

Ok I have 2questions,

1st.the first pic where I'm pointing what is the name of the seal inside. When trike sits over nite it leaks a lot of fluid. I thought it was break fluid but it isn't. So I need to replace the seal inside just don't know the name of it.

2nd. The next pic where I'm pointing at the neck, the stem is to long so the previous owner put a spacer in. Can I just cut out the half inch or so I have to replace stem? Thanks a lot for any infp

Saaaaaaaaweeeeet.

You have a lot of good stuff to work with.

The shocker girder.....nice.

Full front brake....nice.

Not a fan of the comstar wheel, but is a good strong unit.

Disc brake conversion using the more powerful front type caliper.

The engine looks to be a 1600 dual port. It should have the good fan, fan housing and the good oil cooler. Also dual oil control pistons. This would be the engine to have. All the aftermarket parts are made for this engine.

I can not see much of the trans in the pics, but it looks like it may me the only piece from a 1200 beetle. It looks like a short axle swing to me. The gearing will be lower than you want......put tall tires on it to make up for such low gearing.

Your specific questions.

You are pointing at the axle seals. There is a normal lip seal there, but also several gaskets and O-rings. Someone has put a disc brake kit on it. So all those parts listed above have been apart. If not replaced (dont come with kit) and/or assembled wrong, then the axles will leak gear oil.

Now add the disc brake bracket......many many of the cheaper kits do not fit well. The bracket you install most often are not the same thickness as the drum brake part you remove. This makes for multiple shimming/endplay problems that you must overcome. If yours is a short axle swing you definitely will have these mods/adjustments to do. The later model trans (IRS and later non usa swing) they are a direct bolt on.

Now to add to the conversion process the replacement seal kits dont fit well. Mostly the O-rings tend to be too thin. You must make sure the O-rings not just go over the shaft but that they are fat enough to crush tight in the chamfer when axle nut is tightened.

Now the axle nut must be extremely tight or the O-rings will leak. Somewhere in the 265 ft lb range.

Next on the steering neck.

IF it is a harley based neck the stem will be a solid 1 inch shaft and can be cut and re-threaded to make shorter.

IF it is a Jap bike neck it will be thin and hollow with a taper. Different top and bottom bearings. They can be shortened, but is more difficult with fine metric threads and a lot of measuring to know that you will not be too thin. And the stem will likely need lathing for the shoulder the bearing fits.

Thanks for the info, I'm gonna pull the the tires off and see what is leaking. Also will check to see if that nut is torqued to right lbs. as far as the front end how would I know if it's a Harley front end or a jap bike front end. I'm w you on the front tire, it's gonna get replaced with a new 21" spoke front rim. what size tires would you recommend for the rear. 215/70/14 are on there now

[ATTACH=CONFIG]75299[/ATTACH]

Part 14 is different depth on older swing axels.

Because part 3 is thinner.

The brakes got larger on later dubs. The kits are made to later dims.

If it is fact an early swing I would put at least a 28 inch diameter tire on it......whatever width you like.....and whatever rim diameter you like. Get on tire rack or 10 10 tire and use the tire size calculator to choose a tire.

As far as the neck.....take it apart and measure.

Harleys typically use a 1" neck whereas Metrics typically use use 7/8" neck.