One wheel drive

[vegasboy]

Yeah you would think but it actually stopped in a straight line with the front and the rear brake activated at the same time or just the front brake. Why we're on the subject please tell me what experience that you have in this particular area. Because according to everybody else on this website they all have differentials or running some other different rear ends. Don't get me wrong. I do appreciate people's input on something that I may have not have thought of or seen. But I'm the one who built and drives this thing, I think I'm the most qualified to know what it does and does not do. So unless you have the same setup using exactly what I have used how could you possibly know where it's going to do? Much less tell me what it's going to do? There's guys like you on every forum. Always telling everybody their stuff is unsafe, illegal, never going to work etc... and remember please feel free to show me a similar setup that you have built and drove yourself so you knew exactly how it was going to handle!

[stacebg]

Yeah you would think but it actually stopped in a straight line with the front and the rear brake activated at the same time or just the front brake. Why we're on the subject please tell me what experience that you have in this particular area. Because according to everybody else on this website they all have differentials or running some other different rear ends. Don't get me wrong. I do appreciate people's input on something that I may have not have thought of or seen. But I'm the one who built and drives this thing, I think I'm the most qualified to know what it does and does not do. So unless you have the same setup using exactly what I have used how could you possibly know where it's going to do? Much less tell me what it's going to do? There's guys like you on every forum. Always telling everybody their stuff is unsafe, illegal, never going to work etc... and remember please feel free to show me a similar setup that you have built and drove yourself so you knew exactly how it was going to handle!

my experience comes from building trike and even go carts. for about 50 yrs.. `i know you will probably say its different and thats ok.. it makes no difference one wheel in the front one or two wheel pull is pull.

i just built a go cart with one wheel drive and counter steer to make it go straight while you app may not be as bad as what i did or perhaps u are slightly insensitive to what its doing... any one with any knowledge of physics and a little common sense could understand why it will pull which you proved to yourself by needing that spring on to make it go straight.. i never said you stuff wont work... more it wont handle well.. again that is relative..you take that spring off.. which is no more than a bandaid, off and go for a 200 mile ride and come back an tell me how your arms a not tired from that pull.. as for legality, you take it to your state dmv i would be willing to bet it will not pass !! therefor unsafe for use on public roads.. maybe on private property my concern is more for other people you may ride with or near.. an i believe you said that was a calculated risk u were willing to take... pretty much admitting you knew it wasnt that safe.

[vegasboy]

Well, I'm glad it took you only damn near a month to respond. You're 50 years of building does give you credibility to tell me what my creation is most likely to do when driving down the street. But that was the whole point of this thread, it does pull to the right under acceleration. That's why I put a spring on the left hand side of the fork. Yes I agree it is Band-Aid, but a Band-Aid that works well, a poor man's steering stabilizer if you will. But you're not telling me anything I didn't already know. Because that was the very first question of this thread. At this point you're just telling me that water is wet. And while we're on the subject Nevada law states in simple terms, that you have to have DOT approved tires, front and rear turn signals, horn, DOT approved lights, tail light, brake light , headlight, 2 mirrors that are larger than 3 in, handlebars that are no taller than your shoulders, front and rear brakes that are capable of stopping your machine, mufflers, fenders, a 17 digit VIN number, license, registration, insurance, and a helmet. The only law that I'm currently breaking is no fenders. While I'm saying that I might get pulled over one day, the cop that pulls me over will have to give me a ticket for speeding or something of that sort. Because they're not going to be able to get me for breaking the law on anything else. I live in the city that's full of cops , motorcycle, metro PD, Henderson PD, North Las Vegas PD and Nevada Highway Patrol. I passed them on a daily basis and they'd ride next to me and ride behind me, they give me strange looks and sometimes a thumbs up and continue on their way.

[vwbug72501]

Steven,

I've been following this thread since it's inception and feel that it's time to offer my 2 cents worth.

First, I don't know your age, experience, training (formal or informal), or fabrication skills level so don't be offended by anything offered in this post as that is not the intent. I have been fabricating and assisting in the fabrication of one off projects since I put an Oldsmobile V8 in my first car, a 37 Ford coupe in the late '60s. I have had formal Engineering training and have worked for the Engineering College of a major University where I assisted students with the design and construction of several SAE vehicles. From this background, I offer these insights to you.

I believe that I can speak for our "experienced" (read greybeards) members in saying that we have learned, usually through experience, that safety is #1. We've all made that "acceptable risk" decision with varying success at sometime in our lives and the greybeards are the the successful (read surviving) ones. We want our members to be able to enjoy building and riding well into the future. Texas recently implemented new, stricter vehicle laws that effectively banned all VW trikes from registration in that state. Not even grandfathered trikes were allowed. This was prompted by a number of accidents (many 1 vehicle), deaths, and lawsuits caused by Home Built motorcycles. I hope this helps you understand where we are coming from. Another thing about greybeards, if we offer opinions and receive a "snarky" reply, we generally just go away and let the responder "learn from experience".

Second, about your design. Torque steer is a fact based on the Laws of Physics. Laws we have to live with like it or not. The distance from the driven wheel centerline and the steering wheel centerline will determine how much torque steer you will experience. The greater the distance, the greater torque steer you will experience. With that in mind, if you could relocate your steering centerline closer to your driven centerline, you will experience less torque steer. This would be more like a sidecar configuration. The trade off would be that you would experience more side loads on the front tire when the undriven side encounters an obstacle due to the increased lever arm on that side.

In my opinion braking is the MOST important component of any vehicle followed closely by steering. I want to be able to stop before I hit something and, if I can't stop or the brakes fail, steer out of the way from anything that will sue me or is harder than me! Softer = less hurt! The easiest brake upgrade that you could make would be to install an additional disk brake assembly to the driven axle with a tee fitting on the hydraulic line. That would balance out the braking "torque steer" forces and give you straight braking without the front brake. If you have ever over applied the front brake on a gravel surface, you will know why this is important.

I can't tell what brand of tires you are running. Have you checked the speed rating of the tires? The DOT golf cart tires I was able to Google had a speed rating of only 50 MPH. Believe me a tire coming apart due to centrifugal force at 60 - 70 MPH can make for an exciting ride! Especially if it is on your braking axle.Your design is an interesting light weight design and if it is built to be used for short hops around town then the speed rating shouldn't be an issue.

Be aware that when you are riding to the right of a vehicle on a multi lane road that you are probably below the window line of the other vehicle and are therefor invisible. The "If you're smaller than me you don't exist" rule always applies!

Third, consider that even though a vehicle conforms to the "letter of the law", conforming to the "spirit of the law" can become an equally important factor if, or when you end up in court.



Lastly, I believe that everyone here respects your initiative for putting your ideas into physical form and wants you to continue for a long time to come. Good Luck and thanks for letting me ramble.

[vegasboy]

Finally a well explained respectable post, thank you VW Bug. I know the other guy probably meant well but for some reason it didn't come across like that. For what it's worth I'm damn near 40 and have been building custom street legal machines for almost 20 years. But most of the time they consist of two wheels and not 3 so I have limited experience in three wheelers. I've only Built one go-kart three wheeler and the other three wheeler was a modified swing arm on a sportbike. I have since updated parts of the trike, I've modified my spring for the steering and added beefier tires that have a speed rating of least 80 miles an hour, they have the same bolt hole pattern but they are larger and wider and have much better rubber on them. The trike is capable of doing 80 but I don't like to do 80. At 65 it cruises pretty nice. I still have a lot to learn about all three wheelers operate especially if I ever build another one, I'm not above wisdom or knowledge will gladly accept it from a reasonable party. There's a couple of updated pictures I also had to add a second radiator fan to the front of my radiator to make up for the lack of airflow behind the seat and it's worked out quite well so far.

[Pegasus1300]

Nevermind I figured it out had to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click on the full website and get out of the mobile the mobile website won't let you do anything give me a second I'll put some pictures up

easier is to go to the upper left hand corner right above the "d" in figured in your copied post and you will see a paperclip icon.Click on that and a window will open. Go to the upper right hand corner of that window and you will see an"add files". Just go from there.

[vegasboy]

Here's a larger Tire I went with I upgraded from golf cart to trailer tires. I like trailer tires cuz they hold a ridiculous amount of weight and are fairly sticky. They provide good traction and will hold up at 80 miles an hour

[vegasboy]

Better pic of what the tires look like on the trike

[vegasboy]

if anybody was wondering how I attached my spring, this pic should clear it up. Left hand turn allows the spring to slide down the bolt and the right hand turn brings to spring up until it catches. The whole thing is adjustable to be fine-tuned.