Manky Monkey Motors

Hiya Andy.
Don't worry mate.  ;D  You're not the first one who's done it. I did the same on my first ever trike. Didn't even occur to me to check it.
Yup, you can just flip the axle upside down. Obviously you'll need to blank the breather hole, preferably by welding it up, but if you can plug it with a thread cut into the tube & a small bolt & sealing washer that'll be fine. Even Araldite would do at a pinch though it might well drop out again at some point.
Then just drill a new small breather hole on the top of the flipped over axle.
If you've shortened one axle tube to line the prop up with the bike engine you should be able to swap the gears inside the diff housing around the other way, though I've never tried it myself.
Let us know how you get on please.  ;)
 

Hi Manky, thanks so much for that info. That will make life so much simpler knowing I can just flip it over. You've made my day. Thanks again, Andy.

Tis what we're here for.  ;)
If you're using the original Reliant drum brakes they'll obviously be upside down too. Not sure how that'll affect braking or routing of handbrake cables etc -not a problem if you go for the disc brake conversion of course.
Bobbi, ("BikerGran"), rides a GT550 trike & might well be able to help you with advice or even just photos of her set-up. Her trike, "Gertie", is featured in the Motors, 3 wheels section of the main site.

Gertie (http://mankymonkeymotors.co.uk/Trikespageimages/gertie/trike.html)

Willing to answer anything I can but I didn't do the conversion myself.  There are some phots of the set-up on Photobucket Clicky Here (http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z250/BikerGran_photos/GT550%20Trike%20conversion/)

ha ha first one i built let clutch out to try with no brakes went straight thru me shed lesson learnt just turn it over

Hi split the axle casing turn the crown wheel over so it sits under the pinion wheel .bolt back together.this way you don't have to alther the brake set up

I dont know, but cant you just unbolt the backing plates and turn them around , or swap them side to side??

The rear brakes are single leading shoe, so it makes no differance which way round you fit the backplates! Morrag

I agree, but what I meant was, that the slave cylinder should sit the right way up or it would be hard to bleed, so spinning the back plate around, it would sit the right way up, but would with the handrake lever would be at the back (Hence swapping them side to side if that was a problem)

(http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/rickyzetec-s/P2040014.jpg)

well  do you know something ;D ;D ;D ;D ,,,,,,,,,,,,, i think i,ve seen that somewhere  ;D ;D pmsl

Should be on the street by now  ::) ;) ;D

seen her today a little rusty in the shed,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,so took pity on her and made a start again not happy with the headstock bearings so looking for different one,s

Hand brake position will remain as is, and the small difference in slave cylinder position will have little or no effect on bleeding the system, Morrag

there are two types of SLS brakes on Reliant axles. One uses a fixed slave with two pistons and the other has a sliding slave. The sliding type don't work well backwards, ie upside down. If you flip the axle you should also re-drill the drain/feed hole for the nose bearing. On balance it's easier to flip the diff and leave the casing alone. I've done this and hope to god it works!.

steam-engine breather bought on e-bay - no need for holes in the tubes!

hmm nifty :)

Sliding or fixed fulcrum, on a SLS system,it makes no diff. whether the slave cylinder is at back or front, if you consider its action you will see what I mean, it aint "rocket science", we have been down this road so many times.......as the system states, regardless of direction, there will only ever be one leading shoe, and whether this is the top or bottom shoe, its still only one, the other must 'trail', Morrag

Absolutely agree, Morrag, that one shoe is always the leading one, whatever the rotation or orientation. My comment harked back to a very old post where somebody had poor brakes that were cured by swapping over the back plates from side to side, which shouldn't have made a difference, but did! I think that that may have had something to do with the sliding cylinder sticking a bit. Until I saw pictures I hadn't realised that there were versions with sliding bits! My previous auto experience of SLS brakes was Mini, which are of the fixed type.