My Tow-Pac 14" InstaTrike Install on Ultra Classic Harley

[HarleyBob]

After a Full day of trying to figure this out, it's starting to come together, slowly, after talking some time with the

factory Via cell phone with parts in hand! Seems this Manual covers 15 years of all Harley touring bikes,

from 1993 to 2008. They could do it with one Manual if they added lots more pictures and descriptions.

Some parts of the manual pretty much say. Just do it!

There are pretty much only two things to assemble.

1. The Receiver Hitch, The part that stays on the motorcycle's frame.

2. The Hitch Cart, The part you take off to go back to two wheels.

I kid you Not, here are the instructions for putting together # 2. word for word out of the Manual.

"Assemble the axles, wheels, and finders onto the tow-pac hitch cart."

That is it!

They have a few pictures in the manual but nothing like my kit!

On top of all the confusion, I had missing parts. Two spacers that go on the rear foot rest. They will send them out to me.

 

[HarleyBob]

Finally got it installed but not tightened or torque down, I'm waiting on spacers!

Then I will go over everything with Factory Rep. to make sure it is correct.

Before Red Lock Tite and Torque! Although all the nuts are all 'lock nuts'

I'm still using Red Lock Tite! As these parts will not be removed!

 

[HarleyBob]

:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

 

[dadztoy]

Sub-frame looks good Bob... Sorry to hear your having so many issues... FWIW, I had Tow Pac mount my kit as at the time, I lived only 90 miles away from them in Illinois... After inspecting their installation job, I was pretty disappointed with it and spent an entire day correcting problems that I thought may cause issues in the future, so despite all your install stumbling blocks, you are probably better off doing the install yourself...

The only issue I have ever had with my TP kit is wheel bearings... I had to replace bearings and races a while back and there seems to be an issue with water infiltration into the bearings, especially on the left (driver's side)... Not sure why this is happening but I just repacked the bearings with Bel-Ray waterproof grease this time... We'll see if this performs any better than before...

Oh, the other thing I discovered about my kit was that the 1 1/4" receiver was a bit over size and I had to add some metal shims to my regular 1 1/4" stinger to take out the slop - a minor annoyance but shouldn't happen...

Keep those pictures coming...

Les

 

[HarleyBob]

I'm putting the axles, wheels, and fenders together.

The fenders and the back frame cover, in primer in the picture, are at the paint ship now!

 

[HarleyBob]

Sub-frame looks good Bob... Sorry to hear your having so many issues... FWIW, I had Tow Pac mount my kit as at the time, I lived only 90 miles away from them in Illinois... After inspecting their installation job, I was pretty disappointed with it and spent an entire day correcting problems that I thought may cause issues in the future, so despite all your install stumbling blocks, you are probably better off doing the install yourself...

The only issue I have ever had with my TP kit is wheel bearings... I had to replace bearings and races a while back and there seems to be an issue with water infiltration into the bearings, especially on the left (driver's side)... Not sure why this is happening but I just repacked the bearings with Bel-Ray waterproof grease this time... We'll see if this performs any better than before...

Oh, the other thing I discovered about my kit was that the 1 1/4" receiver was a bit over size and I had to add some metal shims to my regular 1 1/4" stinger to take out the slop - a minor annoyance but shouldn't happen...

Keep those pictures coming...

Les

Thanks, I just got back from the painter, He said three to four weeks, he will paint and pin strip to match my bike. So I left the finders and other parts with him. He will try to work me in between jobs. So I have time to pack the bearings with water proof grease. They use that around here on boat trailers along with bearing buddies, they have a spring on them with a grease fitting, they replace the outer bearing cap. The spring keeps a little pressure on the grease so water can not get in. You can also grease them without pulling the bearings out, I put them on my motorcycle trailer so I never have to pack the bearings.

https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=bearing buddy

You just look at the spring to see if it needs grease.

 

[dadztoy]

Hummmm, I know of bearing buddies and have used them on rare occasions before, but maybe the TP wheels would be a good candidate for them... When I bought my TP, I bought a "demo" version so I'm not sure exactly what it went thru during it's life cycle at Tow Pac... I had to change both races and bearings when I first did them so I keep an extra set of bearings and races in the cabinet just in case... Only takes an hour or two to change everything out so why not eh?? I just started using the Bel-Ray waterproof grease so we'll see how that works out...

I have been chasing a problem whereby my fenders vibrate violently above 70MPH and haven't found the answer yet... Going to play with tire pressures and wheel balance although I have tried normal wheel balancing and also Centramatic balancers without any success... I normally run my 12" tires around 32PSI but I'm going to try and increase the pressure to see if that makes a difference... It's usually not a problem for me as I don't run that fast normally but it's nice to have the extra speed just in case I have to jump on the Interstate... My tire down force seems reasonable and I don't want to increase it to the point where the main rear tire begins to lose traction so a bit of playing will be involved...

My kit is pretty well dialed in and I've had it for nearly 5 years now and have approximately 20-25K miles on it or so but I continue to try and make improvements on it as time goes by...

I also haul my TP equipped bike in the back of my truck on a Rampage lift and have made the fenders "quick disconnect" (using captive 1/4-20 nuts) to accommodate quick loading and unloading of the bike, as the trike will not clear my truck bed walls with the fenders on... Here is a pic of the trike in the back of my F-250SD shortbed...



Having ridden for the last 50 years or so in all kinds of weather, I have nothing to prove anymore, and these days the bride and I ride in comfort and unload the trike when we get to destination... We'll be heading to the west coast in 2018 to visit Sequoia, Napa Wine Country and points west...

Les

 

[jim bob]

Mr. Bob

Sir my name is Jim and i just joined the forum. I need to do what your are doing and am enjoying your post. I have a 07 sportster and i was considering the ETrike. Did you order yours through the factory or did you go through a dealer. The dealers seem to add a bit more to the delivery charges than the factory and there are no dealers here in Colorado. I was thinking of the ETrike because of the rear bar for the trailer hitch. I do not plan to ever ride two up or pull a trailer so thought the cheaper kit might be the way to go. If you or anyone else have any words of wisdom to impart sure would appreciate it.

Have to add my admiration for you garage as well. Awesome.

Thanks for letting me butt in here, hope I am not stepping on any toes

jim bob

 

[HarleyBob]

Hummmm, I know of bearing buddies and have used them on rare occasions before, but maybe the TP wheels would be a good candidate for them... When I bought my TP, I bought a "demo" version so I'm not sure exactly what it went thru during it's life cycle at Tow Pac... I had to change both races and bearings when I first did them so I keep an extra set of bearings and races in the cabinet just in case... Only takes an hour or two to change everything out so why not eh?? I just started using the Bel-Ray waterproof grease so we'll see how that works out...

I have been chasing a problem whereby my fenders vibrate violently above 70MPH and haven't found the answer yet... Going to play with tire pressures and wheel balance although I have tried normal wheel balancing and also Centramatic balancers without any success... I normally run my 12" tires around 32PSI but I'm going to try and increase the pressure to see if that makes a difference... It's usually not a problem for me as I don't run that fast normally but it's nice to have the extra speed just in case I have to jump on the Interstate... My tire down force seems reasonable and I don't want to increase it to the point where the main rear tire begins to lose traction so a bit of playing will be involved...

My kit is pretty well dialed in and I've had it for nearly 5 years now and have approximately 20-25K miles on it or so but I continue to try and make improvements on it as time goes by...

I also haul my TP equipped bike in the back of my truck on a Rampage lift and have made the fenders "quick disconnect" (using captive 1/4-20 nuts) to accommodate quick loading and unloading of the bike, as the trike will not clear my truck bed walls with the fenders on... Here is a pic of the trike in the back of my F-250SD shortbed...

View attachment 51220 View attachment 51221

Having ridden for the last 50 years or so in all kinds of weather, I have nothing to prove anymore, and these days the bride and I ride in comfort and unload the trike when we get to destination... We'll be heading to the west coast in 2018 to visit Sequoia, Napa Wine Country and points west...

Les

Every year we have our Nationals for the CVMA Combat Vets Motorcycle Association.

I trailer my bike or fly and rent a trike from Harley. Some of The crew I ride with like to go 85 MPH. Us older guys like 65 MPH, been there and done that!

 

[HarleyBob]

Mr. Bob

Sir my name is Jim and i just joined the forum. I need to do what your are doing and am enjoying your post. I have a 07 sportster and i was considering the ETrike. Did you order yours through the factory or did you go through a dealer. The dealers seem to add a bit more to the delivery charges than the factory and there are no dealers here in Colorado. I was thinking of the ETrike because of the rear bar for the trailer hitch. I do not plan to ever ride two up or pull a trailer so thought the cheaper kit might be the way to go. If you or anyone else have any words of wisdom to impart sure would appreciate it.

Have to add my admiration for you garage as well. Awesome.

Thanks for letting me butt in here, hope I am not stepping on any toes

jim bob

Jim I got it shipped to me from the factory. Took about three weeks only.

I'm still checking it out and I will post my finding as I get them here!

You have to call the factory to order!

Not sure about ETrike.

People love my floor, you can drive an 18 wheeler on it, but can't cut and weld on it without a fire proof blanket! I did my office and music studio with this floor connecting it all to the shop floor but just changed the colors of the 12" X 12" tile!

 

[jim bob]

Jim I got it shipped to me from the factory. Took about three weeks only.

I'm still checking it out and I will post my finding as I get them here!

You have to call the factory to order!

Not sure about ETrike.

People love my floor, you can drive an 18 wheeler on it, but can't cut and weld on it without a fire proof blanket! I did my office and music studio with this floor connecting it all to the shop floor but just changed the colors of the 12" X 12" tile!

thanks a ton for taking the time to talk. looking forward to seeing how your project turns out. happy ridding.

jim bob

 

[HarleyBob]

Fenders, fender steel "T" braces and the rear frame cover is now at the custom paint shop.

This guy does excellent work, to match paint and pen stripe, the two pen stripes have to be painted and is not a sticker.

He will pen stripe them like the bags and paint everything For $750.00 I found that high but the paint alone cost $275.00!

 

[HarleyBob]

I put a call to the factory rep. yesterday late for him to call me, The reverse motor has only the thickness of two business cards from the tire! That can't be right! I'm thinking there is a spacer missing that would go between the tire's rim and the spindle.

 

[dadztoy]

WOW, that's close - that can't be right... Is that a worm gear drive Bob??? I can't quite make out the details of the drive system...

Les

 

[dadztoy]

Bob,

thought you might like to see some photos for comparison - this is my Tow Pac cart with the 12" wheels...

rear view of cart



front view of cart



side detail showing wheel down force adjustment mechanism and parallelism adjustment plate



detail showing plug for tailights



detail showing captive nuts for fender



another view of captive fender nuts



Frame and fender brackets were drilled and tapped for 8/32 binder head screws... 1/4-20 captive nuts were mounted with blue Loctite on the screws...

 

[HarleyBob]

WOW, that's close - that can't be right... Is that a worm gear drive Bob??? I can't quite make out the details of the drive system...

Les

Les

The drive is a small gear like the big one but about the size of a quarter.

Factory guy is baffled. He said he would put one together in his back shop and call me with the results.

It seems to be all new to him.

When I purchased this kit I didn't know I would be the test pilot for Tow Pac for a new product!

If it is not fixed to my satisfaction I will return the reverse and get a stock spindle and then have a reverse put in my Harley transmission!

This one cost an extra $400.00 Not sure what it will cost for a Harley reverse .

Thanks for sending the pictures!

***I just checked on an after market Harley reverse.

they run about $1,500 not installed.

So I need to fix this one! Wife just told me she will NOT be the reverse! LOL!

 

[HarleyBob]

thanks a ton for taking the time to talk. looking forward to seeing how your project turns out. happy ridding.

jim bob

Jim that is the reason we are all here, to help each other out! Well that is why I'm here!

 

[HarleyBob]

Les

Good looking Cart! You told me you pull your fenders off for transport and needed a light plug on the cart

and a fast way to put fenders on and off. Looks like you got it together for that.

I will not need a plug here if I can pull the tires without removing the fenders. But I will need a light plug

between the cart and the bike.

Is that a universal plug? I was thinking about a Wal-Mart trailer plug connection, they are not locking but I was thinking

about just taping it together.

I got a Harley plug to tap into the lights under the seat, but will Not use that to remove the cart.

I want to put the quick disconnect at the back of the bike.

I will also need a disconnect for the reverse wires that connect to the battery.

 

[dadztoy]

Hey Bob, thanks for the kind words... The Plugs are Hitachi plugs that I ordered from The Electrical Connection... They match other plugs used on the bike and are available in various pin configurations... They are not that expensive and EC has the crimping tool as well... Here are the links...

http://electricalconnection.com/index.php/product-category/shop-gear/shop-gear-connectors-oem/

http://electricalconnection.com/index.php/product/crimper-hitachi-type/



Thanks for the info on their reverse... I have seen it before when I was at their factory some years ago so it is not exactly new but might be newer for your particular configuration... Hope you get it sorted out since you already paid for the kit...

This is how I made the brake and tail light using the same red LED light... Just a couple of diodes and a resistor and it works well and the red LED light now functions as a running light and brake light, getting brighter when the brakes are applied...



Les

 

[HarleyBob]

Les

Thanks for all your help.

Tomorrow I hope to get back at working on the bike.

Still waiting on answers from the factory and bushings, if they even shipped them.

Looks like I need to buy more wiring stuff to put under the seat to keep the tail lights on the cart from fry N the delicate Harley wiring.

Here are some pictures of some of the adjustments. I have not even studied that yet, But took pictures anyway as I decide what to work on next.

I still need to finish the Tow-Pac frame on the motorcycle, and hope to finish that next.