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Hi
Like you I am just starting.
I bought a used chair and attached it to a bike I already had. Massive amount of work, and more expensive than I thought, even though I started with a chair in relatively good condition.
As you don't have a bike I would suggest you buy a complete outfit.
It probably doesn't matter what sort it is as its bound to be better than you and your son are as driver/passenger.
A quick trip round the garden with my daughter as passenger tells me this. We struggled on the simplest obstacles. The technique is seems completely different from solos.
It is a lot of fun though, so keep your eyes on the small ads and you should find something to start with.
Good luck!
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Finally finished!
Fitted the wheel with a drum brake. Had to change the bearings and drill out the brake plate to take a 15mm axle. Soldered a new brake cable which routed neatly under the tank and down to my new brake peddle.
Painted the chair frame and brackets. Wrapped the ally panels with vinyl wrap to get a white finish to match the bike.
All in all very happy with the final result. Could this be the only JCM outfit?
Have had a quick ride with my daughter as passenger and the rear shock seems hard enough.
Will try and convince some of my local clubs to include sidecar sections, so I can give it a proper test.
If you are looking to have your own outfit I would strongly suggest you start with one someone else has already done, would be a whole pile less work!
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After much cutting, grinding and welding I have finally managed to get the chair attached to the bike. Am quite pleased with the result.
Fabricated a jig to hold it together whilst I worked on it, and set it up as per the measurements from p@ul250.
The headstock mount was a little tricky. I had to utilise the bolt that acts as a steering stop as one of the mounting bolts.
The lower front mount is a modified engine mounting plate. The rear is attached to the original footrest mount.
Had to replace the side bar on the chair as it was cracked and the fourth mount up to the rear subframe is to try and prevent this happening again.
Have fabricated a footrest attached to the rear wheel axle, and a chair brake pedal, which I have squeezed in under the bike swinging arm.
Have given it a quick ride around the garden with a bag of sheep feed as the passenger. It seemed to handle well and was huge fun.
Need to sort out the chair brake, for which I will use an alternative wheel with a drum brake, (in keeping with the bike), give it all a coat of paint, and attach the floor and side panels.
Then I just need to find a passenger!
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Mystery solved. Not some fancy suspension just incredibly seized bearings.
A severe beating has got the shaft out but it will have to be replaced.
This simple outfit project gets lengthier by the day!
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Have been doing a bit of work on the chair prior to fitting and am a bit confused by the suspension set up.
The chair is supposed to be a Beamish one, and is chrome plated so may well be.
The swinging arm appears to have some sort of torsion set up a bit like a trailer, but also has a shock. Is this right?
All advice much appreciated.
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Mark, did you manage to get to the bottom of your problem?
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Paul
Just finalising my measurements.
Have seen contradictory methods for measuring toe-in. Can you confirm your measurements are over the bike's wheel base (i.e. distance between the axles) rather than the overall length of the bike, as appears often on-line.
Would seem more logical to me to be the wheelbase as it is the touch points of the three tyres that seem critical, but I just wanted to check.
Thanks
Stuart
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The weep hole is located at the base of the pump housing on the cylinder. Probably obscured by the CDI unit.
As you are losing fluid from the cap overflow I think anything from the weep hole is not the source of your issue.
There is a drain bolt on the front of the cylinder it is best to keep this slack when refilling as it allows any air to be purged from the engine waterways. Fill till fluid comes from the lose bolt then tighten, and complete the fill.
If system is full, pump, fan and thermostat are all OK then I would try a replacement rad cap. Think they are the same on all EVOs so could borrow a known good one and see if it helps.
Is fan spinning at the correct speed (should be just a blur when running)? I have seen some threads here when people are experiencing overheating due to slow fan caused by low voltage.
After that perhaps consider crud in the rad waterways (flush with a hose). Blowing head gasket (although you would expect to see oil in the coolant with this).
Start with the cap!
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Have refilled and pressurised the JCM shock as advised. The rear suspension is now extremely stiff, so will give it a go fitting the sidecar and see how I go.
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I fill up till it overflows with the front wheel lifted. I'm sure some comes out as it gets hot but after getting up to temp if it continues "burp coolant" its either getting to hot or the cooling system is not getting correctly pressurised.
Could also look at the simple things. Is the radiator clear from debris, is the fan spinning at the correct speed, is the radiator cap OK?
There is a weep hole in the barrel near the pump. This allows any coolant that gets past the first pump seal to escape without contaminating the oil. Are you seeing anything dripping from here?
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Spoke to Joel Corroy (who designed and manufactured JCMs) about fitting a sidecar.
He advised that if I changed the shock oil to 10w and pumped it up to 15Kg/cm2 it would be suitable to take the extra weight.
Will give this a go before investing in a new shock.
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Fantic240motor what type of impeller upgrade did you get? Have seen something for a 2T but not a 4T.
Mark, check your fan is running the right way round (should draw air front to back). When I first got my 4T it spilled coolant and I found the fan had been wired incorrectly so it pushed air the wrong way. I solved by switching the wires over in the connector under the side panel.
Now never loses a drop and I use a pretty standard coolant mixture.
Also might want to check the pump shaft whilst the pump is apart. Mine had scoring round the seals when I took it apart.
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I lost the 90 degree fitting on my Evo and replaced the breather with a one way valve on a short pipe (easily available on line).
I found one of the fittings from a bicycle pump flexible hose (the old fashioned ones) screwed into the hole in the top of the cap. Used a small piece of hose to get the right ID for the new breather.
Has worked fine ever since.
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Have managed to sort out the frame mounting points, am now looking to attach the chair.
Don't have any welding capability myself so am looking to get everything set up in a jig and then get someone in to do the final welding.
Less luck with the rear shock though, even at maximum pressure the JCM shock was not up to the task, so need to source an alternative.
Anyone have a spare shock they are not using? Solo would do as I could get a stiffer spring, but would consider anything.
The idea here was to source a used chair and attach it to a bike I was not really using to produce a cheap outfit for a bit of fun. So not looking to spend more than the whole thing is worth on a trick new shock.
Have to have a look and see what is available on a well known auction site.
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There is a connector on top of the rear of the engine. Best to remove the exhaust to get at it.
Might also be worth removing the flywheel cover and giving inside a through drying.
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Thanks for the advice.
Modern sidecars appear to have very little in the way of mudguard or passenger seat. Appreciate that there is little sitting down for the passenger, but are there some other practical reasons for this?
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I have always had a desire to ride a trails outfit and, after many years of prevarication, I have finally taken the plunge and bought a chair.
I am planing to attach it to my 1986 JCM 320cc. The bike has an air shock and I am hoping pumping it up to the max will make the rear stiff enough for the extra weight.
There is plenty of information here about fitting but would welcome guidance on some specific points.
I was going for a vertical bike/sidecar wheel. Should I be looking load the bike to allow for any sag in the suspension when in use?
It is suggested that some tinkering to the mountings may me necessary to get the best ride. Do adjustable mounts work well, or is it best to weld directly to the mounts?
Any other advice much appreciated.
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Its tricky to get a good purchase on the cap due to its location.
You could try using a screw driver against the ridges in the cap and tapping it gently with a hammer just to free it off.
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I have a 2013 Evo and my black coating on the forks is worn. Doesn't seem to affect their operation and there are no leaks.
Don't know how thick the black coating is but my bike has not had a hard life.
If the bike you are looking at looks well maintained, and is at a good price, I would not be put off by the forks.
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Finally managed to get everything back together. Engine runs sweetly and all gears engage - success!
Lessons learnt:
Beta manual is excellent and takes you through every stage. Only thing I struggled with was getting the chain off the camshaft. Best to remove the snap ring from the chain side bearing and slip the bearing off the shaft. With the water pump shaft removed, the cam drops just enough to get the chain off. Assembly is the reverse but you may need to jiggle the "hanging" water pump drive cog with a small screwdriver to get it in the correct position, for inserting the shaft.
Water pump shaft can be unscrewed with an adjustable spanner, so no need for the special tool. The way its arranged I would think it is possible to replace the pump shaft without disturbing the engine.
Crankcase splitting tool makes things much easier.
Beta UK are excellent for parts put their prices are eye-watering. The parts manual has sizes for bearings and seals so cheaper to get these elsewhere. Case and cylinder gaskets are metal, and £40 each. I would consider reusing all but the head gasket if I was on a budget.
Moisture had got in under the stator cover and rusted one of the screws of the water pump cover. Had to drill and use an extractor to remove. I will be keeping an eye on this and drying regularly in the future.
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Got the puller and the flywheel is off. Came off with an alarming snap and I thought, for a few seconds, I had done some major damage. But all OK.
Spoke to Beta about getting the cases apart. Asked about the special splitting tool, but they did not have one, and had never sold one. Suggested the cases could be split by severe bashing with a copper mallet.
I didn't have the nerve for this, and, as a moderate bashing with a plastic mallet had no effect, fabricated a splitter from 5mm plate as per the picture in the manual.
This worked fine but it still took considerable pressure to pull the cases apart. Still, now have a bespoke crankcase splitter for the 4T, which other TC members would be welcome to borrow.
With the cases apart the cause of my problem was evident.; two broken dogs on the sliding 2nd/3rd gear on the mainshaft.
Have ordered this from Beta along with a new water pump shaft.
As everything else looks OK I am just going to replace all the gaskets and seals that have been disturbed.
Then just go to get it all back together, but that should be the easy bit!
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Have it all apart now except for the flywheel for which, inevitably, I needed to buy yet another puller.
In anticipation of splitting the cases and identifying the damaged gear box components I am thinking what else I might replace whilst its in bits.
So far the only worn items I have identified are the water pump shaft (which is scored where it runs against the seals), and the water pump seals.
What else do folks think I should replace?
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Thanks for the info.
I have the rockers off now and can see the WP drive and how it will block removal of the barrel.
I did contemplate removing the cam chain drive cog and lifting off the barrel with the chain still in place, but think I will now take out the WP shaft and replace the seals whilst it is all in bits.
Did you remove the primary drive cog from the crank? Does it need a puller to get it off the shaft?
I spoke to my local Beta dealer and they thought the cases would split without a puller, but I'll see how it goes and if not, like you, I will fabricate some sort of splitter.
Will keep you posted on progress.
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About to start the task of removing the engine and splitting the cases to get to the gearbox components.
As it is a four stroke this seems a bit more daunting that splitting the cases on a 2 stroke, so any general advice would be welcomed.
I have the excellent engine manual so if I follow that everything should go fine.
So specific questions for those of you who have worked on the 4T:
Can I leave the water pump in-situ in the barrel?
Can I leave the oil pump in the case?
Can I leave the kick start idler gear in place on its shaft?
The manual suggests a special tool to split the cases is this necessary, or will them come apart with some gentle tapping?
What is the best way to hold the crank still to remove the flywheel nut and the primary drive gear?
Any other help much appreciated.
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Had the clutch out this morning to check the kick start etc. on that side.
Pleased (or it it disappointed) to report that everything is in fine order.
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