The Spartan trike project by CaptainAmerica

What size heim joint are you using to connect the front lower control arm to the upright?

The lower control arm rod ends are made by FK and are 1/2" in size. All the others are the same. The push rods and steering tie rods are 3/8" in size

I wouldn't trust a 1/2" rod end in that position.

Good question you pose. I would answer that by saying that they were not originally designed to be used in a situation where shear forces are the primary stress. If you're going to use them so, use quality parts and err on the side of caution in terms of sizing. I would be going with a 3/4" rod end.

Happy New Year 2014!

From December '13

So he basically said exactly what I am saying at the end of the article, build adjustable setups for testing and then build a final set with spherical joints once the proper suspension setup has been decided on. I agree with what you are saying, but if you read what I wrote I am calling out specific load types, I am not talking about the manufacturer numbers or whether they are saying axial or radial or whatever. The rod end in bending is the number one failure mode, this is caused by shear force at the threads, whether from the brakes or the weight of the vehicle coming through the push rods.

Side note here, when I had a chance to drive a three wheeler down in Florida the company allowed me to drive their test vehicle which had rod ends at the lower upright joint, before I got into the car I made them change both sides because it was bent and they were running a ~900lb car with driver, they also beat this car up all the time so that probably didn't help. So even though we are all light, we are not light enough.

To all those out there building and reading this forum take note of this conversation between Joker and myself, its important to the safety of your vehicles.

Need some pictures on this one, I think I know what your talking about but I am not sure, and I can't find your thread where you have pictures of the steering system.

Actually, as I look at some of the chassis pictures of your trike I do see rod ends used, as I tried to describe, on the ends of the links that take motion from the lower A-arms to the rockers and coilovers. Why are they turned 90 degrees on the outboard ends of the A-arms? Probably no functional difference as long as off road type suspension travel is not needed, and ball angle limit in the race is not exceeded. Just curious.

If, as Joker says, pushing the ball out of the race is a possibility, using the mounting method you have on the coilover links would seem to address that. But as you say, the threaded ends would probably be the failure point anyway, so no help there.

The thread on my steering system was deleted for reasons unknown. Inquires to staff have not been answered. Do you know anything about it Jim?

44 bucks a piece. Yes I can see why Jim would only use them at the lower link. Nonetheless, Its a small amount to pay to avoid a reconfig for a ball joint. I would be tempted to go with the high strength rod end but maybe in a bit larger size; 5/8 or 3/4. Anyway, if you want to take a bit more effort to do it the safest way possible, can't argue with that.

Yes, you did understand my question, and I understand your explanation. Thanks,TT.

Jan 14'

Lots of things are happening quickly, I just accepted a new job and I am moving to Mooresville, NC so I will be leaving behind my newly finished shop and taking my trike with me.

I have two and a half weeks to smash through all the little things I need to finish to get the trike out of the road. Anyway, the spindles are almost done, I have one last nut to make which is proving to be more difficult then I thought for some reason. I have bought thread cutting tools (vardex makes nice tools) and learned how to cut threads on my lathe and have been learning quite a lot at a rate slower then I am putting out bad parts. I do not like the way that the machinist hand book lays out thread dimensions, I understand why they did it the way they did but it should just be an OD or ID and a depth to cut with a tolerance. Mostly its just badly written in my opinion and so I am ranting about it because I cut some threads to deep. Regardless life will go on. I installed the hydraulic clutch from the race motor, but its missing a piece that attaches the speed sensor so I need to make that. The fenders are on order again after waiting two months for trailerpartsdepot.com to ship nothing apparently, canceled that order. Also another complaint...trailer fender dimensioning is really stupid (22-1/2" L x 7" W x 8-1/4" H), backing out the diameter of tire that will fit from this information is a pain without a CAD sketch. The fact that most places list the size of the rim the fender should fit makes no sense, and the weird thing is they all do it.

After finishing the machining on my steering rack mounts I found out that waterjet cutting circles is not exactly a good way to do things. The mount holes for the rack are canted sideways by the draft of the jet and so we get what you see in the picture which needs to be fixed by the 1-1/2" end mill I bought yesterday. Basically the draft causes the circle to be cut at an angle because of the way the jet moves through the radius. Worse case I have the tools to make ones entirely on the mill now, just not the time.

I also bought a new M4 systems slip on exhaust tip which has the bonus of sounding different and not requiring a secondary mount point off the bike tail like the stock muffler, well see how it works out when it shows up next week. I still need to bust ass and get the new A-arms, steering tie rods, and push rods made so that the suspension will actually work correctly and safely.

Hi,

Sorry this info may be a little too late to help you with cutting threads. Anyway, it makes life a little easier if you cut the O.D. a few thousands undersize. For example when cutting a 1/2" thread, I would cut O.D. to .496".

Set the lathe compound at 61 deg., set tool just slightly under centerline, easiest way to set insert tool holder is to move carriage until insert tool holder touches face of chuck, that will cause insert point to be 90 deg to centerline.

Turn compound handle inward slightly, this removes any backlash. Set compound dial to 0.000". Turn lathe on and turn cross slide handle to move tool towards work piece, continue until insert just touches work piece. Set cross slide dial to 0.000"

Now comes the math part, Divide 1 by the number of threads you wish to cut. Multiply that by .75, the answer is how deep you turn the COMPOUND DIAL in ward.

Using our example of a 1/2" thread, here is the math. 1/2"-20tpi 1/20=.050" .050x.75=.0375 (round to 0.038")

3/4"-16tpi 1/16=.0625 .0625x.75=.046875 (round to .047")

Taking multiple passes cut the thread by turning the compound in until you reach the number the formula provided.

This formula works with any diameter.

I have a little "cheat sheet" chart printed out of the tpi and the depth to turn compound in for pitches from 4 to 40 that saves me doing the math every time I cut a thread.

Yours, Jim

Finally coming down the home stretch, tomorrow should be the first drive, tonight I did a idle test to see how the engine temps were just sitting in the garage. I was going to do the first drive today but it got dark and its been raining straight for the last three days. I had my last day at my old job on Friday, time for bigger and better things on the east coast. Sadly the Spartan will not get the chance to terrorize the streets of its birth place...yet. My lights and lamp inspection is on Tuesday, then its off to the highway patrol on Wednesday to VIN the chassis and get their certification and then to the DMV for registration. Then after all that I stick it in the penske truck on Friday night and drive to the Charlotte, NC. So long house/shop.

Anyway to the important stuff. I finished mounting the radiator with the fan and wired it in, also put a tee in with a high pressure cap for a high point fill on the coolant system. The shifter was fabricated and installed, it works but its squishy because the linkage is not rigid enough so that will be one of the first things to be beefed up. The brakes were done with 37 degree flares as was the clutch, both were bled and worked first time out of the box. The throttle got finished today but it still needs to be tuned a little, the throw isn't long enough so its very touchy. I also got around to building the battery box at the front and running all the wiring that way with the throttle line, which is a bike brake cable if anyone is wondering, its 1/16" thick which is just slightly larger then the stock bike. Also something I don't have a picture of is the engine end of the throttle, its a small brass piece I turned and threaded with a set screw on the side locking the wire in place (ill grab this on the next update). Theoretically it every system runs currently, so they should all work as a whole tomorrow, I will figure out how to post a video if it does.

Mine looked very similar to that when I started. After a little rehab:

Old ford blue was a bit much for some, went to wrinkle black (Duplicolor) later.

I'm more bothered by your lack of a front engine mt.

Great that you can get it out and drive it though.

Add my congrats to the others already received.


(Edit 3 hrs later)


More recent photo.  Please note air horn.  Weak motorcycle horns cannot be heard in traffic and may get you killed when trucks decide to change into you lane on top of you.  This nearly happened to me.  This horn cost under 50 bucks, and has its own built in compressor.  It will be heard and can save your life.

Its a Wolo Bad boy. They have an extensive product line. Available at Amazon or any big motorcycle parts retailer. I think I bought their cheapest one. It has a plastic housing but a cast alu. mounting point. It's worked without problem for the 2 years I have had it. Certainly worth the money. Just a little bulky for bikes, great for trikes.

Looks like you are having blast Captain. You earned it.

Now that you are mostly done, hope will continue to keep us posted on the refinements to come and adventures generated.

Love the headlights. Looks like what I have been looking for. LEDs? Street Legal? Effective? Brand name and retailer?
Thanks in advance.

Captains rather busy. Anybody else got a clue what those are or where I can get something similar? If they have a provision for dimming they are legal in Ok.

Made it to Charlotte, signed the lease on the new apartment and unloaded the truck. Here is one more video from back home, I am going to update this post soon with some pictures from out here. Nothing got damaged in the move that I know of, time to put the suspension back on and get going again.

Side note/question:

What does everyone else get on miles per gallon? I haven't been shifting out of first gear because the linkage is not strong enough, soon to be fixed, but I seem to be getting about 2mpg, I have had to fill the tank twice now.


Put together by a friend of mine who came by to help me move with his GoPro camera.

One tooth on the front sprocket is like 3 teeth on the rear. So like said dropping 1 tooth on the front will help with the launch but your crusing RPM will go up.

I also like to replace the clutch springs with heaver ones to keep the clutch from slipping with heavy loads and speeds. Easy to change springs, need a gasket for the side cover.

Your gas mileage will be very low using only 1st gear. Your net effect gear ratio is like 21:1 (including the internal reduction gears).

Heavy duty clutch springs are a great idea. Motorcycle clutches are to light while working through a foot pedal anyway. Should help that situation as well.

My son's Ninja 500 would cruse along and he would crank on the throttle and as the bike accelerated, the RPMs would soar. He finely listened to Papa and found out that if he backed off the throttle the RPMs would drop back down some. I had explained that he was having clutch slipping issues. He took the clutch basket out, cleaned up the basket added new disc's. Then we tried two different heaver springs sets. The heavest caused his hand to hurt and the next lightest was not much better that the stock ones so we put in 3 heavy and 2 lighter ones. I think they were like $9 a set so easy to change and figure out the best combo. The springs were spec'ed for a Ninja 1000 I think and came with 6 but his clutch basket takes 5.

In the lower gears the slippage still happens but you can not tell as much. Its when you are in top gear and hammer it.