breaks on older Harley trike, leman conversion

[Biker-Dave]

Well here is one for ya. While on vacation my 2001 Ultra had the most nasty noise from the breaks. The shop that I stoped in was good enough to look at the bike right then and there. The folks at Sevier County Choppers were up front with me and told me that they had no experience with trikes, but would do what they could to help. It was deduced that the emergency break was making all the noise. He did his best to adjust them so the rattle would go away, no luck. So, I had him take them off the bike. No more noise, no more emergency break either. Along with that it was found that the pins holding the pads into the calipers on the main breaks had been replaced with very high quality clothes hanger wire. Now, I know that clothes hanger wire can do almost as much as duct tape, but I dont think holding the breaks in place is one of them. When I called lehman I was in contact with a person who did not seem like he was up to snuff on the breaks on older trikes. So...my questions are this.....Is there some kind of clip, or spring steel that goes on behind the emergency break pads to keep them from chattering? As for the other thing, I think I will go down to my local auto shop and see if there is another set of pins that will fit. The guy working on the trike thought that the pins were only for those calipers. I ask lehman both times I talked to them to e-mail me the info with pics on the breaks. Guess they were unable to do that. The local lehman dealer is not to far away, I am also going to go there and have a chat with them.

[Trent]

Hey Dave...What I know about Lehman conversions is... well,,, zero,,, But I do know that I had my dealer completely remove all my parking brake crap from my 2011 Tglide. Didnt ever use it, was always sqeaking and grinding, leaving it in gear while parked holds it just fine even on steep grades, and I don't miss it. My dealer thought it was a great idea to remove it also. If you can, just take all that stuff off and then you don't have to deal with it anymore. That is presuming of course, that you can do that on your conversion. Good luck and ride safe!!

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

Read this post from a earlier discussion about Lehman trike rear ends and brakes. There you will find a member from Lehman to contact about your situation who might help you >> http://www.triketalk.com/forum/harle...rear-ends.html

[1550vt]

My experience has been in converting the older Lehman drum brake equipped kits to disc brakes. There should be no reason why you cannot change the calipers on your brake system now....if you already have disc brakes and it sounds like you do.

The early Lehman kits basically used Ford Fox-Bodied systems (Pinto, Mustang, T-Bird). The bearing retention system was modified, but essentially everything out on the hub and axle-flange was a Ford 8.8 brake system.

I do not know what they used when they went to disc brakes, but I would trash any caliper that had a parking-brake shoe/shoes in/on it. They likely used a small auto-type caliper. If you know a few things about the caliper mounting arrangement on the rear brakes, you can find a set of aftermarket, or other motorcycle calipers to make the swap and get rid of all that trash that is on there now.

I am not bashing Lehman....some countries and locales REQUIRE a parking brake to get that particular DMV/DOT approval. Some countries require the front and rear brakes to be linked.....that goodness the DMV bureaucrats in the US have not alerted themselves to any of this yet.

You can fix this entire problem with another set of calipers, or simply strip-out the PB guts from what you have, then use our "professional and home-spun" bungee-cord or rubber-band PB technique if you think you need one. As a general rule....PB's on trikes are troublesome and practically worthless.

[Lehman Trikes]

I would like to send you an attachment, but I'm unable due to file size. You have a PM with my email, if you would reply with yours I can get that to you. Then if you have questions please contact us and ask for tech support.

As a point of clarity, both Canada and the United States have very clearly stated thier requirement for a parking brake on three wheeled vehicles. For the US, it is FMVSS 122 S5.1.4 and 5.6. And it appears they may be starting to take note of violations, see the link below (pages 29-37):

http://www.sae.org/events/gim/presen.../StuSeigel.pdf

[1550vt]

Well....once the Camel gets it's nose under the tent that's the end. In this case the Camel is the DMV. I was fully aware that other countries had that requirement, but was not sure of the US.

It is so terribly simple to install a parking brake on any trike with a line-lock and avoid all the mechanical issues involved with the traditional cable-operated parking brakes. I realize that manufacturers like Lehman possibly cannot get such a simple thing approved, but individuals may be able to. If all it requires is a parking brake....that can be easily accomplished.

I could mention more important things our government should be concerned about besides a parking brake on my scooter, but this is not the place. I guess we will all find out if they really plan to enforce it when we start getting citations, or are denied registrations.

[Trent]

Well...That certainly figures dosn't it? I am not putting my EB back on!...
where I live, they will license it anyway. More gubment crap!!!!

[1550vt]

Trent.....you and THOUSANDS of others agree. I hope they allow visitors when all of us non-parking brake operators are on death-row. They will probably hang you right off the bat to make room for the sentenced-to-death incarcerated to run-out their 20-years worth of appeals. I bet you won't have a TV in your cell either.