Well I guess I can finally put this story to rest for not only myself but also for a bunch of other guy's that i've had this conversation with over the year's about there actually being a reverse kit that was put out back in the 80's for the chain driven Big Red's.Unlike the Lock Ness Monster and Sasquatch I'm happy to say that I can close the book on this conversation and I now have in my possession Proof,
I actually came across this complete kit a few week's ago and about pisse'd my pant's when I found it.The reverse kit was made by a company called Paltec which was located in Paltec Florida and the kit I got was totally complete.It actually came with the Direction's both of the gear's a drive chain and decal's for both the tank and a reverse decal that is to be placed on the sub trans.With mounting up the kit it is a fact that you will actually be sacraficing the High range from the machine,but that will give you all the gear's in reverse,which on a trike I don't think I'd wanna peg the throttle going 20 or 25 mph backward's in 3rd or 4th gear,IMO.I know over the year's there's been alot of conversation over this being real and by checking around I found that the actual price back in the day was $99.00 for the kit and it was listed in the old Dirt wheel's and 3 wheeling magazine's.
When I got the kit I pulled out one of my Big Red's outta storage and had it up in the air on the lift and was actually gonna start going at it removing the sub-tranny and installing the kit but after talking it over with Joedirt ,Ditchmud and ATC-Sam I decided that I'd probably be better off just to keep the kit in the OEM box rather than put it on the '83 Big Red.I'm sure it would be awesome to try it out but i've been looking for this kit since the late 80's and I figure that I ain't doing myself any favor's by installing the kit since I'm planning on selling the Big Red anyway's,now if I was too keep the machine I prolly would put it in but I think I'm just gonna put it on the shelf in my office for a rainy day or something.I talked it over with a couple people and I mite look into seeing if I could get something similar made up since I know how it work's now.So there you go guy's I think everybody will appreciate seeing it and now in your conversation's you can tell people that they actually do exist.Does anybody else have one of these kit's and or ever seen one before.I did a search on the forum's 17 page's worth actually and back to 2003 and see it mentioned a few time's but no evidence.ATC Tim and Curtis you guy's mentioned these kit's but you've never seen them before.
What would you do ,would you put the kit on ,knowing that I wanna sell the machine or put it on the shelf like I'm gonna do?Here's some pic's,I made them big so you's could read the direction's also,and did I mention that the '83 Big Red's for sale,LOL..
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