Shimming the Tow Pac wheels

[dadztoy]

So with this Corona virus thing forcing all of us to stay home, being in the high risk category (old guy with pre-existing conditions) I thought I would put the time to good use and finally play a bit with shimming my Tow Pac cart wheels to be truly vertical (camber)...

Both wheels are off a bit, but the right one ( sitting on bike) was the worst... I didn't take a "before" photo but it was off by about 1 to 1-1/2 degrees Negative camber...

First thing I did was to manufacture some aluminum shims from some stock I had... I purposely made the holes in the shims large to facilitate wheel alignment. See photo below.



I had previous experience with wheel alignment on the Tow Pac cart and in some cases it is necessary to grind the holes in the plates a bit larger, hence the large holes in the shims... On the right side, it took 2 shims of about 1/8" thickness each to obtain vertical alignment of the wheel... See pics below...



u

.





It was also necessary to fabricate new brackets for the alignment stop screws as seen in the last photo... I will at some point in the future beef these up a bit by welding some additional material to them but I did not want to weld with the cart attached to the bike, so the cold roll plate will do for now...

The end results of the shimming are shown in the photo below...

.

After the vertical alignment I did a standard parallel wheel alignment and the right wheel is within 1/32" of an inch or less parallel to the rear tire...

I would have done the left wheel too, but I need 2 additional 5/16-18 bolts for the new parallel adjustment brackets and what with the self quarantine going on here, that will have to wait until the all clear is sounded...

Hopefully, this will end the uneven tire wear from having that negative camber on the tires, and might just improve the high speed fender vibration I experience over 70 mph...

Les

[dadztoy]

So, re-threaded 2 metric bolts to 5/16-18 and started the other (left) side of trike... First picture shows level before I started...



Next photo shows fender washers used for shimming which are about 1/16" thick as shown on digital caliper...





And finally, the finished product as seen on level... Also realigned parallel adjustment to rear tire and is less than 1/32" out... Now, if it ever stops raining, we'll go for a test ride... As it turned out, because the washer was only about 1/16", there was no need to add an extension bracket to the adjustment stop bracket, so I did not need to use the 2 bolts I re-threaded...



Les

[stacebg]

as far as i know we are NOT forced stay home just stay away from other people many people think this is like a snow storm where they are supposed to stay off the street

[dadztoy]

Yeah, as far as we are concerned, at least for now, we can still move about, but like I said at the beginning of the thread, I have a few pre-existing conditions that require me to be very careful and not catch this Corona thing...

So far, that means I can still go for a test ride 😁

[CrystalPistol]

I would have done the left wheel too, but I need 2 additional 5/16-18 bolts for the new parallel adjustment brackets and what with the self quarantine going on here, that will have to wait until the all clear is sounded...

How does it happen that a fella is short two bolts anyway?

Your comment about welding while attached to bike reminded me of when I was rewelding the center stand legs to the feet with bike on stand to set the angle right after shortening the legs on my '85 GL1200 two wheeler. I had the battery disconnected but forgot it had a vent tube, heard loud pop, battery exploded internally, ruptured top seam. Cleaned up with lots of clear water & baking soda fast.

Wondering if that fender vibration is alignment, wind, or balance induced. Maybe some hard plastic BBs in the tires would cure it if balance induced, them short tires spin fast to keep up at 70.

[dadztoy]

How does it happen that a fella is short two bolts anyway? Wondering if that fender vibration is alignment, wind, or balance induced. Maybe some hard plastic BBs in the tires would cure it if balance induced, them short tires spin fast to keep up at 70.

Les, I have chased this issue for a while now... Perhaps it's just nature of the beast... Tires have been balanced by my local tire shop and I have tried Centramatics too... Parallel wheel alignment is usually around 1/16" and right now it is closer than that... That's why I tried the shimming... I have not had an opportunity yet to try an Interstate run to see if the shimming helped...

It could be a mute point anyway as I am seriously thinking about doing a regular trike conversion soon... It's nearly time to do so...

With that in mind, what brand conversion do you have on your bike??? I would like to retain the abs/linked brake function if possible and want to make sure the trike will still fit on my 5x10 trailer...

Les

[dadztoy]

After the reshimming, ( I just added a bit more additional shimming) and test riding, the bike seemed to lean left a bit, and it occurred to me, my height adjustment might be off because of pushing the right wheel further down with the shims... I usually keep the right hand cart wheel about 1/8" to 1/4" higher than the left (additional down force) to compensate for road crown in the right hand lane where I usually ride, but the tilt to the left seemed excessive, so I checked it, and sure enough, it was off... Got that done yesterday... In a day or two, I'm gonna check wheel alignment again ( parrallelism ) just to make sure I didn't shift anything during the reshimming process...

Les

[Linda Hammond]

I have a 2004 Honda VTX 1300s. When I got my towpac they told me the only kit I could use on my bike was the Instatrike B model. And it should be set up for my bike out of the crate. Heavy laughter. i have been redoing this thing for the last month in the heat. No matter what I try it still leans to the right and pulls to the right. I am talking up on your left butt cheek to even be straight on the bike. I am exchanging info with Tow-Pac tech.

If you have any idea how I can fix this I would be in your debt.

I am too old for this and $4500 worth of worthless iron is something I can't afford.

Linda Hammond

[Zammy]

Picture might be too big Linda, try resizing down to under 2 megs in size.

[newburgh21]

I just installed a E-trike by Tow Pac on my 91 aspencade. My question is did you have any problem with the way you tires tracked? If I set mine the way they should be the right side (sitting on bike) is off if you look at the fender . The tire is an inch off from the rear wheel to fender and the front of the tire to the fender is like three inches off . So it's like the toe is off and am having a heck of a time figuring this thing out ! As for the caster camber I going to use the gauge we use on the race car to set it . Did you have a problem with this ?

[Linda Hammond]

In your instructions there should have been a fender installation group of pages? They sent me two shims that are designed to be used on the axle section.The shims go on one of the horizontal bolts.

It says if wheel is too close to the fender bracket loosen the outer bolt of the axle and place 1-2 shims between it and the plate that it fastens to. Align the wheel again and tighten the axle bolts to 100 lbs/ft.

The picture they sent me is not from my install so who knows.

Sorry , I hope this helps.