Motor Trike Trog Axle

[Pappy49]

I have a bearing singing on the right side of the axle in my Trog conversion. Seriously thinking of replacing all the bearings at one time but I hate to tear into the axle blind. Motor Trike says they don't have even an illustrated parts breakdown of the axle. Closest dealer is about 75 miles away. The 2 that were closer both closed down.

Has anyone torn down the Trog axle? Any pictures while it was apart? Motor Trike won't even tell me the type of oil/grease to use in the rebuild, let alone any info on bearing numbers or brake parts. I found a service manual on line that someone put together for a GL 1800 Spyder / 2+2 but the axle is obviously going to be different on a shaft drive as opposed to my belt drive.

BTW, I bought the kit used and damaged and installed it myself so I have a lot of pictures of the build if I can help anyone with them.

 

[Lee H. Mann]

I have a bearing singing on the right side of the axle in my Trog conversion. Seriously thinking of replacing all the bearings at one time but I hate to tear into the axle blind. Motor Trike says they don't have even an illustrated parts breakdown of the axle. Closest dealer is about 75 miles away. The 2 that were closer both closed down.

Has anyone torn down the Trog axle? Any pictures while it was apart? Motor Trike won't even tell me the type of oil/grease to use in the rebuild, let alone any info on bearing numbers or brake parts. I found a service manual on line that someone put together for a GL 1800 Spyder / 2+2 but the axle is obviously going to be different on a shaft drive as opposed to my belt drive.

BTW, I bought the kit used and damaged and installed it myself so I have a lot of pictures of the build if I can help anyone with them.

I will stab in the dark since I have not had an occasion to disassemble a Motortrike belt drive axle.

The axle should be removed and you can examine the axle bearing for a part number.

But before you do this, verify the noise (singing) is indeed the axle bearing by isolating the side that is making noise.

Remove the brake drum (or caliper and then rotor) and if noise is still present, remove the axle.

Since the kit was damaged, check the axle to make sure it isn't bent.

After removing the (4) four bolts holding the axle in place, pull the axle out.

 

[wehrme]

I have a PDF copy of HD TROG installation manual. I can send it to you but will need a email address.

 

[Pappy49]

I have a PDF copy of HD TROG installation manual. I can send it to you but will need a email address.

Mike, thanks for the offer. I have a hard copy of the Trog installation manual but it may not be complete with all the pictures and some of the copies, especially of the pictures are not real clear.

Sent you PM with my email address.

EDIT: I tried but I get a window saying I don't have permission to send you a personal message. Leary of putting my email on a public forum for anyone to see.

 

[toutlnone1]

copy of trog installation

It would be very awesome and helpful if you could send a copy to me or post here

 

[toutlnone1]

I have a PDF copy of HD TROG installation manual. I can send it to you but will need a email address.

If you could send me the PDF file I would be real grateful as I have a 1992 harley with a trog kit installed.I need to figure out how to center axle 1/4 over pulleys are not quite lined up

 

[trike tech]

If you could send me the PDF file I would be real grateful as I have a 1992 harley with a trog kit installed.I need to figure out how to center axle 1/4 over pulleys are not quite lined up

Out of curiosity, what steps did you take to determine the pulleys are not aligned?

There is no left to right adjustment on a solid axle HD Motor Trike conversion.

If your belt is tracking too far over (cogs trying to climb the edge of the pulley) either the swingarm isn't set up correctly or there are worn components causing the issue that would need to be diagnosed & replaced (anything from worn heim joints on the swingarm, pulley bolts loose or bad bearing, swingarm bushings, & even engine mount/stabilizers can cause this).

 

[toutlnone1]

Belt noise

When going straight down the road everything is fine. When I turned slightly to the right I feel a little bit of noise when I turn to the left I don’t get that noise until I turned it over little Harder than I did on the right . And the measurement from the tire to the fender on the right is about a quarter inch less Then the right. Don’t get me wrong it’s not that bad but if there was something I could do about it I wanted to fix it

 

[Lee H. Mann]

heim joint noise ???

 

[trike tech]

When going straight down the road everything is fine. When I turned slightly to the right I feel a little bit of noise when I turn to the left I don’t get that noise until I turned it over little Harder than I did on the right . And the measurement from the tire to the fender on the right is about a quarter inch less Then the right. Don’t get me wrong it’s not that bad but if there was something I could do about it I wanted to fix it

What you're seeing is a very common misconception about the MT solid axle HD trikes. The body has zero relation to the suspension or rear end & to be almost brutally honest, you'll likely never find one where the measurement to the fiberglass fender is the same on both sides (won't get into all that here, it'll just make your head hurt).

I would start with the outboard wheel/axle bearings & go from there on your check. To pull the axle you would remove the 4 bolts holding the brake drum backing plate in place (these bolts also hold the axle retainer). From there pull the axle out; if you have an older bike that hasn't been serviced in a while it may take some effort to get the axle out. The bearings are pressed onto the axle & once the axle is out you can spin the bearings by hand to see if there are any signs of wear/catch in the bearings.

As a side note, if it doesn't like like it's been serviced or maintained in a while I would also recommend splitting the housing and inspecting the sealed carrier bearings. May save a lot of grief down the road if they're on their way out also by catching it early.

 

[toutlnone1]

Thanks Ill get under it this weekend and check it out

 

[toutlnone1]

Thanks Ill get under it this weekend and check it out

I think I need to move the axle forward on one side very slightly

 

[Pappy49]

I was looking through the thread to see if anything new had been posted and thought of a question. Are you suggesting the noise might be coming from the bearings in Heim joints and not the axle bearings? If so a good spray down with a lube would stop the noise at least temporarily. I'll have to try it.

 

[Pappy49]

Tried to send a message to Mike about the PDF manual again. Looks like we still can't send private messages so I am going to chance posting my address here. Hopefully Mike will see it and I won't start getting flooded with SPAM.

pappysplaypen@gmail.com

 

[toutlnone1]

Belt noise

I’m thinking that could be belt noise I put a little bit of silicone spray on the belt and it helps

I was looking through the thread to see if anything new had been posted and thought of a question. Are you suggesting the noise might be coming from the bearings in Heim joints and not the axle bearings? If so a good spray down with a lube would stop the noise at least temporarily. I'll have to try it.

 

[toutlnone1]

Belt noise

I’m thinking that could be belt noise I put a little bit of silicone spray on the belt and it helps I guess what I am saying I don’t think the belt is that a perfect 90° angle to the axle

I was looking through the thread to see if anything new had been posted and thought of a question. Are you suggesting the noise might be coming from the bearings in Heim joints and not the axle bearings? If so a good spray down with a lube would stop the noise at least temporarily. I'll have to try it.

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

Inspect the edges of the drive belt. If they look worn then you want to jack up the back end high enough to do some additional inspecting. What you need to look at once you have it up high enough and supported ( I use car jack stands under each side of the axles if you dont have a lift ) Use a bright flashlight to see where the drive belt is riding on the transmission pulley. If its not basically centered then your axle is out of alignment. Also inspect the rear pulley and how the belt is riding around it.

The Trog axle is a modified 7.5 Ford axle. The carrier has the spider gears packed in grease. There are 2 sealed bearings outboard of the rear pulley on the left side and right side in the axle housing. The axle shafts are pressed into the 2 sealed bearings which are pressed into the axle tube ends. If you have the tools the sealed bearings on the axle tube ends can be greased if you remove the seal gently with a pick. You can take a dab of grease and smear it into the cage rotating the axle as you do it. DO NOT over grease the sealed bearing cage. It will blow out the seal with too much grease. Once you smear enough grease into the bearing cage, pop the seal back in place.

Im dealing with a bearing that sounds like a turbo under load in my Trog axle now at almost 80k miles. Im certain its the sealed bearing on the right side of the axle carrier inside the axle housing. I plan on removing the axle assembly and disassembling this axle to get to that bearing and inspect the spider gears in the carrier as well. But it wont happen until June unless I have a complete failure.

 

[bigwilly]

Axle bearings gone

I have a PDF copy of HD TROG installation manual. I can send it to you but will need a

email address.

can I get a copy of the manual?