David
Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 109 Location: Chelsea Michigan
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Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 4:09 am Post subject: RDS Steering |
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After having the RDS for a short time, one of my goals was to have it steer as easy as possible to make it easier on my body. This bike's sidecar wheel turns with the front wheel. In the system, it has quite a few Heim joints. I disconnected the linkage on the front & back end of the bike. I jacked the front and sidecar wheel off the ground. Heim joints were all stiff. I took one off to clean. After soaking and rotating the ball sideways, I could see the race had a groove all the way around its center. Looked at outside of the bearing, saw a little 1/8 inch flat dot. Took an ice pick and pushed in the center. It's a grease fitting. Now--how do I grease these things?? Finally got my grease gun for my chainsaw bar. Works great. Sidecar wheel uses tie rod bearings, which made it hard to turn. After looking at the bearing, I realized it had a pressed cap on the top. Looked like it was heavy. Got a very small drill bit, put grease on it, and drilled a hole in the center of the cap. Then I took a 36 drill bit, put grease on it to catch the chips and drilled it. Next I took a 6-32 tap put grease on it and tapped it. Then took 6-32 screw, cut it real short, screwed it in. Then took the screw out, put the grease gun tip in and greased it. I could feel the grease in the boot. Did this to top & bottom of sidecar wheel. Awe, just like new!! Hooked Heim joint on the steering rod back up. With the wheel off the ground, the Heim joint on the steering rod fell all the way down. One end of the rod on the bike side runs vertical, but on the sidecar wheel it runs horizontal. The bearing was jacked all the way to one side. Took a 2 inch piece of nylon, cut a groove in it to fit the frame, and electrical tied to frame. Did the upper and lower bearings on the front wheel the same way. Also did bearing under fork yolk. Awe, like power steering!!
Used a high performance synthetic grease, a little thinner than normal grease. Your option.
I hope you understand what I said, because I don't.
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