The Xt400 side car (winter project)

Well Its fall and I cant afford to build another bike this year so I am doing the next best thing. I am building a side car for my xt400 project. At least that is the plan. I am totally new to side cars so this could be interesting. I hope that with the help of some very knowledgeable DTT members I will be able to make this happen. My plan is to use parts I have laying around to build most of it. I would like to build a subframe that will bolt on my bike so the side car can be easily removed If I need to. I am planning on using the swing arm and front wheel off of an xs400 I have for the suspension. The front wheel is an 18 and it has a disc brake I would like to use for the car. It is also not as wide as the rear. From what I have seen/read narrow is better for the car, especially with small cc bikes. I turned down the rear axle on the lathe so it would work with the front wheel. I also had to make some wheel spacers. I still need to make a caliper mount for the swing arm. This project is in the very early stages so any motivation/inspiration is appreciated. Here is a picture of the bike and wheel. This is all I have so far. Ive done more goggling and reading than actual work so far.



[/U][/U]

 

Well, I finally got a chance to start working on the sub-frame for the car mounts. I am happy with how it came out. It should be plenty strong. I tied into both foot-peg mounts and the skid-plate mounting bolts. The frame is all one piece. It is mostly 1/4", with the exception of the front mount, that is 3/8" I will be attaching the the hinge points for the car on the flat plate. My plan is to make a big set of hinges out of heavy wall pipe. There will be 2 pieces on the bike and 3 on the car. They will fit together and then a big pin will go through the whole thing. I have a drawing I will post. It took me awhile to get this part figured out but things should roll right along now.

 

Ok.....I finally got some work done on the bike. I built my hinge and made some pins. I got the main part of the frame built. I will be adding more to it once I figure out how I want to build the body. I mounted the swinger. I still need to fab up a swing arm brace/fender mount. and The shock mounts. It acts like a leaner right now since I dont have any struts on it yet. I rode it around the house like this................that was creepy feeling! I dont think I would like a leaner. I hope to get some more time to work on it this week.

 

Sounds good. After a long day of dusty riding you could just hop in the tub and rinse off!

 

well, i did some work on the hack today. i'm kinda treading water though. i changed my mind on the mounting system. i did manage to kill 2 birds with one stone. i wanted a wider track width and i also wanted to be able to adjust the toe i got rid of my pipe hinge and went to a more conventional adjustable setup. it added about 5.5" to the track and bow i can adjust the toe. it is also much easier to remove the car from the bike now. i will get some better pictures with my real camera tomorrow.

 

ROAD TRIP!

Well I got my body! Thanks to an awesome member from the AVrider forum. My dad was nice enough to let me use his jeep with a cargo tray (and big sunglasses), and ride up to new york with me to pick it up. I will post some better pictures one I set it on the frame. It need some work but it is solid. It came with a seat and a rack. It also has a very nice cover with leather straps. Someone powder coated it without finishing the body work, so I will need to grind some of it off and finish it before I paint it.

 

Here are some pictures of the body just sitting on the chassis. I will need to modify/add a few things but I should be able to make it fit without too much difficulty.

 

Thanks, I went with a disc setup because.....well I guess I just prefer them over drum brakes. I also had a specific idea in mind when I chose my wheel. The bike will still be able to be disconnected from the car without undoing any cables or brake lines. The side car will have its own separate brake system, master, cylinder reservoir, lever. It will be attached to the sidecar only. The brake pedal will have the ability to be operated independently or in unison with the bike wheel. I will adjust it for proportion. It will be kinda like the brakes on a tractor. That will mainly be for playing around off road. On road I will most likely have both levers connected or no brake on the car at all. Thanks for looking.

 

Hey, I have some new picture I need to post...that will clear things up a little bit. The car-to-frame attachments do pivot however, that is only for adjusting the car. I now Have struts in place that prevent the car from moving independently to the bike. I rode it a little bit as a "leaner" ooohff that was scary...I don't know how people ride leaning sidecars. Oh well. I hope this helps. Look back shortly I will add some new pictures in a bit. Thanks, MF

 

I finished the suspension and support struts. I need to ad some bracing, finish my welds and mount the brake and body, but she isn’t far from being on the road. It was fun to finally put some hours in the garage. (I had some time off work) I took it out in the snow for a bit. I was very limited on space but it was fun!