Manky Monkey Motors

Hi all been out on the old trike today (cant pass up these nice days) and just after any info you guys and gals can give me as lots of you have been doing this for a long time and have built many a machine, and I'm only a new boy at this.. ;D. I got my trike (which will be in the trike section soon..) at the start or the year it is based on an XS750 with a narrowed capri back axle (hard tail) and a bandit front end and although its great fun round town it is quite hard work on longer journeys (if I could sort this I could go on a few more runs ;D) Its great up to speeds of say 45/50 but at 50 or over I do seem to get alot of vibration, I dont have a rev counter fitted so dont know if it could just be over revving but dont think so as I have had it over 70 and it never went bang  (just lost a few fillings)::), is it just the nature or the XS750 lump ???... are they prone to a lot of vibration ??? I have considered trying to some how rubber mount the engine to see if this would help ??? any ideas would be greatfully received because if I could sort this it would be much more fun to ride longer distances and I could get to more rallys and fun days ;D..

Thanks.. :)

P.S what sort of pressure do you guys and gals run your front and back tyres at have tried various settings but dont seem to make much difference (still get catapulted out the seat at pot holes ;D)

Mines hardtail mate i run the rear tyres at 12 when i am solo, could the vibration be from your prop  8)

What do you run the front at?? and did think of that will have to have a look.. but it is only about a foot and half long.. ;D ( the prop that is not the trike)) ;D

Hiya Taz.
Yup, I'll sort through your trikey stuff & pass it on to Yodie to make up into a page in the Motors bit.
I've owned several XS750s, as well as 4, (I think), XS650s & an XS850. I also owned an XS1100 for 3 weeks. The 750 & 850s are triples so just naturally lumpy, but not to the point where you can't ride them! If I remember right, mine would smooth out at motorway speeds & cruise at 70 -80 quite happily.
A hardtail will always exagerate any vibrations. Rob's right, it could well be your prop that needs balancing. I've mentioned it here before, but it's worth trying a large jubilee clip around the prop tube. Gradually moving it around the prop may well ease the problem as the worm drive part of the clip will act as a counter weight. Does your prop run straight, or at an angle? Too much of an angle will put the universal joints under a lot of strain & prematurely wear them -which would show as vibration. Are your Capri wheel bearings O.K? Do your rear wheels need balancing?
I run normal bike pressures in the front tyres, (30 -35 PSI), with 15 in the rears. Too much at the back & your trike will skitter all over the road.

Cheers for that will hopefully get to have a look tomorrow if the rain and the beer holds off (got  the other half's work xmas drinks thingy to go to) thinking about it where the prop connects to the axle one of the four bolts does have a nut on it (presume the threads are stripped) do you think this could be enough to throw the balance out and cause the vibration. ???

Nah, it'd take a bit more than that. Might be worth checking the prop's actually running true. Jack it up & spin it to see if it wobbles.

it could be that the uj,s are out of line!check to see if the centres of the bearings line up. ie if one of the bearings at the front is at 12 oclock then one of the rears should be the same if not that will more than likely be the cause!

Ah.. could that cause it I never knew that... well you live and learn will go and look now  Back in a mo ;D

Yup, the yokes that hold the UJs on either end of the prop should be in line with each other.

Just checked and NO they are not in line :'(...But the front one looks like its on a spline (think its the one off the bike) so will take the prop off and see if I can line them up by turning it on the splines .. :P.. Will try and get a pic and post here.. ;D

An easy fix if that's the problem. Certainly worth a go.

OK first pic is how it was  :o.. and second pic how it is now  :-\..... better but not perfectly in line, just have to see if it works.. ::)..Does it have to be the fixed yokes in line.. Because if I turn it another 90degrees they do line up even better.. ???

Yeah, the fixed ends of the prop. The Reliant ones are actually angled, so we just line 'em up as best we can, but then our props are so short, balancing isn't really a problem. If they're not in line, they'll be fighting against each other as the prop turns & creating vibration -just like you're experiencing. Re-aligning them might not fix it. but certainly won't do any harm.

So like the second pic then.. ;D

Yuss.  :)

Cheers guys  ;D just come back from a blast round and it definitely seems alot better, still vibration there but definitely more driveable, or should that be rideable :-\ at speed and I even think better when just pottering ;D. Just need to get the other half on it she will tell me.. ::)

now its here
http://www.mankymonkeymotors.co.uk/Trikespageimages/pitbull/trike.htm

I like it very nice looking.

Looking at the photos, I see the wheel centres have been cut out & replaced with solid steel discs, presumably so they could be drilled to a new bolt pattern. I'm sure they would've been trued up & balanced when it was done, but if the trike's a few years old maybe they need new lead weights on the rims? Have the tyres been changed since it was built? Got any other wheels you could bolt on just to try it round the block & see if it improves?
Would be worth nipping the wheels & tyres down to your local tyre fitter & giving him a fiver to spin them on his balancing machine. At least that would eliminate them as a possible cause.

Yes I believe they are vw rims with the centres cut out and solid disks welded in and machined to fit the ford axle, and they are bloody heavy so might be worth a trip to the tyre man.. Have noticed that when going along I'm not 100% sure they are running true but dont know if this is the wheel or just the tyre so might be worth trying different wheels (which I dont have)... Any one got a nice wide set that would fit and look good on it that they might want to part with for a small quantity of cash  ;D  I'm running 255/60/15s at the mo 8)

Nice, I like that  :)

One of my brother's mates was selling a pair of 8 x 15" Wolfrace slot mags on the NSRA forum the other day, (National Street Rod Association).
http://www.nsra.org.uk/
Saddlebags could make adaptors to alter the bolt pattern for you.
You could try Speedshack in London.
http://www.speedshack.co.uk/
They buy & sell second hand wheels & also do custom wheel bolts , nuts, spacers etc.
If Simon ever finishes the black Reliant trike featured in the frame building chapters hereabouts, you'll see that it's fitted with black & polished ally 5 spoke Revolution wheels, which originally graced a Capri.

Simon's Trike is finished now, just needs the m.o.t after Crimbo and it will be on the road.

but i like the solid ones  :'(

Ska-man, Simon and me on our trikes after Xmas, Manky will be walking  ;D

So...not you lot all pitching in to help Mr Manky get his finished after all the work he's put in on your lot then?    :(

May be and may be not.

Might do If you keep your hands away from the blows of the sledge hammer.

I suspect you were trying to injure my delicate artist's hands cos you know my trike's gonna be prettier than yours!
Tazette, no reason why you can't keep the solid wheels if they're the cause of the vibration -just get them rebalanced -& nice to see you here by the way. Welcome to the Land of Mank. ;)

hopefully we can get them checked soon fingers crossed that they are not too bad and i thought i would pop in for a visit as it's been a while.
ps read your funny article on the haynes manuel translation, only just stoped crying with laughter, oh so true it is lol lol lol. oh and i played the game and eventually did it got over 300 points very frustrating to do but didn't stop till i won.

You've got w-a-a-ay too much free time Missus!

 :D :D :D you got triker-taz's pm didn't you well as of today you can forget free time got to work for us both now but at least he can do the washing up for once and have my dinner on the table when i get home  ;D

Yeah I did. Made redundant a week before Christmas. How unfair is that. Hope things work out O.K for you both.

i'm sure things will be just fine he didn't like the job anyway and was only hanging on till the car was paid off in feb luckaly he has enough saved to pay it off early trust us to buy a car that takes 5 years to pay it off silly sports cars oh well nearly done now and he can concentrate on the trike now oh and fixing the loo seat

 ;D Goodnight Hon.

night don't let the bed bug bite  ;D

Oh great. Now I'm scared to go to bed.  :o

sorry its the ones under the bed you have to watch  ;D

Don't the buggers always do that!

Happened to me once - they said I was welcome to go back to collect my free turkey, and I couldn;t even tell them where to stuff it cos we needed it!

lol he also bought tickets for the works raffle that morning what a bummer hope they pick his number out that would annoy them

the silly bugger has gone and poped his knee now. last time this put him out for weeks Ho bloody Ho Merry F in Xmas 

Well at least he's got plenty of time to recover now.
You sure that's not just so he doesn't have to do the washing up & fix the loo seat?

luckly he did that before the knee poped. found him on the shed floor and its all swolen now. typical he has to go to gob center tomorrow for 10 so thats going to look great

Yes hobblin in the skank pit with all the other dolelites.... Great fun :-\ :-\ :-\

Must be worth some sort of disability benefit though! Claim for every penny you can -every other bugger seems to. Most of the doleites I deliver to are better off than I am.

Yes about time I got some of it back... ;)

Mrs Taz can get paid to be your carer, claim for the trike as disability transport & get a Stanna stairlift installed. My mate Gary's got one -he calls it his scenic railway.

The walls here would not hold one ;D and my old man recons they go so slow you would need to get on it 10 mins before you needed to go or it would be toooooo late.. ;D

O.K, a stairlift & a bucket then.  :P

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

I've got a spare cork here - pm your address and I'll send it along!

Merry Christmas!

took him to hospital today he's been written off for 2 weeks. typical!!!. They gave him crutches and the doc gave him drugs which he can drink with but i know where i will stick that cork if he keeps proding me with his crutches when he needs something

Prod him in the crutch. That'll shut him up.

 :o he might enjoy that  ;D

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :o