LUV Trike

[XL-erate]

Finally decided the Chevy LUV trike will be built.

Engine/trans is 24" [61cm] tall X 54" [137cm] long, rear axle width is 54" [137cm] outside of tires, about 92" [233cm] wheelbase on my frame design. Center of Gravity looks about 18" [45cm] front to rear, axles about 14"-16" [38cm] height.

Designed up a 2 piece frame, top section removable from bottom, leaving LUV/Isuzu drivetrain in place on roller when split. Decided on sprung rear [not IRS] with center pivot & coil-over shocks, trailing links. Designed a leading link fork but may try my Suzuki GS550 forks first. Only 35mm, maybe not enough spring?
 
Engine weighs 311 lbs [140 kilo] bell-clutch-flywheel & trans probably 80-90 lbs [40 kilo] rear unknown, maybe 175 lbs [80 kilos] ? 600 lbs [275 kilos] and a bunch of tubing and pieces, total maybe 800 lbs [360 kilos]. 100 HP should get it down the road?
 
LUV radiator is 20" X 20" [50cm X 50cm] so may be useable with original fan. Has small hydraulic brake and clutch masters, with small hydro clutch slave, should work fine. May be able to build without bender, design looks okay so far. Except for some steel tubing I already have many of the parts.

Now all I have to do is build it 

[Manky Monkey]

Cool!
Can we see a drawing of it?

[XL-erate]

I've only done a side view line drawing on papaer. May try to clean it up, digital photo and post that? Depends on how good it looks 

[XL-erate]

Okay, friends, here it is, such as it is...

On my 8 1/2" X 11" drawing pad shown, 1 inch [25.4mm] equals 1 foot [304.8mm] so you're looking at  8' 4", or 100" [254cm] wheelbase, may shorten it up a bit? All but trans dimensions very close to actual, sump not shown, would hang below frame 1.5" with stout skidplate.

Hidden in downtube is a solid shaft, such that upper part of downtube slips over and separates from lower as needed. At rear seat post's top there's a structural plate face-to-face. All these members thru-bolted [Grade 8 fasteners 187,000 lbs sq in sheer strength] . I didn't draw in one gusset, running forward from that structural plate under top tube, atop seat tube, toward front to tank back end. May just run it in that wee little gap above plate, up to about shifter handle?

Checked out my 35mm Suzi forks, not confidence inspiring, so I'll fab up some Earl's/leading link. Have 2 nice 36" [91cm] pieces, ID 1.375" [34.925mm] by 3/16" [3mm] wall tube that should do it, they're within 6mm of exact length needed!

Back rest folds fully down and will adjust angle and height. Gauge panel at seat front, another at bars headstock. Tank a fab job, looked this morn at a large tube, flattened a bit [25%-35%] top to bottom, ends cut off at angle and it looked good, fabbed it up out of a cardboard oatmeal cannister & still looked good, so? Have a steel cylindrical fuel tank, not big enough, but can cut and weld it up to eyeball it before fabbing one from scratch.

Rear axle may get mounted from coil springs, lateral coil-over shocks & Panhard rod to stabilize side sway, leading link locators to frame. Possibility of doing a slant parallelogram 4 link instead, upper/lower leading links, fairly easy to fab and incredible handling & articulation, plus adjustable for mean terrain. Earl's adjustable also.

Actual length of trans tailshaft comes out about where the tire outline intersects driveshaft, that not to scale. Will do a double Cardan joint only and that alone will dictate actual length of chassis. Well, some room to play with Earl's fork too, and making that adjustable.

Flat steel plate 2 foot X 4 foot to build off of, set it true to the world and hope for the best symmetry. That will result in a portable jig to build one anywhere anytime.

Feel free to be brutal with comments/suggestions, could save lives, ummm, like mine? 

[XL-erate]

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[XL-erate]

Take somebody smarter than me to figure out an exact dimension copy! I did manage a fair print, not to scale: click on 'Print' icon, set printer Preferences to 'Landscape' and at least fully visible, dimensions not accurate.

[XL-erate]

California DMV [Dept. of Motor Vehicles] allows up to 4 headlights, 2 driving lights, 2 fog lights so if you stretch the regs possibilities are endless there. Allows a whole world of tailights, clearance, rear fog/ stop, backup also. Won't go crazy but do want to see and be seen at night.... 

By the way, 4 a.m. your time is 8 p.m. my time, you're ahead of me.

[XL-erate]

Re-drew it this morning. The forward down tube that radiator mounts to now extends upward and intersects top of headstock. Lower top tube intersects bottom of headstock, these for steering support. On back side of forward down tube, from just below lower top tube, a plate runs up vertical to top of headstock. Behind this another plate vertical, this connected to both top tubes that run back to seat. Thru bolted in vertical plates to join.

With vertical plate front, and horizontal plate rear, both unbolted, top of frame lifts off, leaving steering connected. That means a rolling & steerable frame to move wherever and engine easily lifted up and out. Frame gussets at lower front and rear corners to reinforce when top tubes removed.

4-link rear suspension sorta drawn in too, no shock/springs shown.

[XL-erate]

Pics...

[XL-erate]

Also, radiator needs to be in rear with ducting for blo-thru & electric fan. Plenty of room back there, protected, makes the front a little more tidy. Potentially save 4"-5" on wheelbase, setting front downtube toward rear, simpler as well. Run coolant thru lower frame?

[Manky Monkey]

You've put some serious thought into this haven't you XL! Looks good. I've seen the bolt-together frame section idea used a couple of times on big car engined trikes & several production model bikes use it too, so it obviously works. Ska Man's "Blue Job" Reliant trike uses the water through the frame method &, again, it works fine.
Can't visualise the LUV -got a photo?

[XL-erate]

Here's a link to a '75 Chevy LUV Sales Brochure. Pics 2 + 3 are closer to mine, Pic 1, well, I've yet to have babes in bikinis on the way at a dead run...

Thanks for info on other bikes using bolt-in components, didn't know that. From an engineering standpoint it looks fine to me, maybe add a stop-lip at rear plate but the right bolts will do the job.

I learned a great deal from your posted info on your builds, and everybody else kind enough to post, really helped! Fairly well busted up I am, so springy thingies a real necessity, for an old man's comfort. Thanks to all...   

http://www.luvtruck.com/pdf/75luv.pdf

[XL-erate]

'Nother change of plan [why I draw them first]: Checked Calif DMV, same as MOT, and looks a possible nightmare registering 'Special Construction' machine, murky grey area.

So, my '78 GS550E has engine weight at least 100 lbs [45k]. Bike's designed to carry 300+ lbs [136k] rider plus passenger at 150 lbs [68k] about 550 lbs or 249 k's total.

Isuzu engine weighs about 400 lbs [181k] w/ trans, I weigh 150 lbs [68k] total with clothes. Skinny but lovable. Total 249k! That means Isuzu engine/trans and yours truly is spot on the GS550 equation!!!

That means Suzi forks could handle the load, especially since GS750 & GS850 use same forks with heavier springs.

To my amazement Suzi frame is almost identical neck/forks/tubes as my sketch posted. Thinking I can remove top tube, replace with steam pipe, reinforce that area where the C shaped gusset is with 6mm plate. Cut through and install my vertical joint plates, then slip steam pipe over other pipes like down tubes and drill/weld through. Rest of the frame as shown in drawing.

Then go ahead and register GS550 as a motorcycle, not 'Special Construction', neglect to mention 3rd wheel [which 3 wheeler conversions are legal] and call it good! Yes, may go ahead and convert from Suzi hydro fork tubes to Earl's fork. Thinking this is the best plan in the long run. Check the pics.

[XL-erate]

GS550 frame: remove top tube/down tubes, 6mm reinforcement gusset at C shaped support, weld in vertical connector plates & then build steam pipe frame parts.

[Manky Monkey]

O.K, with you so far.
So how do the other guys over there register new trike builds? We have the MSVA test, which is a couple of hours long & checks that everything's mechanically sound & safe & that it conforms to the range of dimensions they set out in their handbook. Does California have something similar? You're the home of hotrodding -the authorities must be used to seeing one-off builds by now.