Single wheel pull conversion.

[Gabriel]

This would NOT serve most people's purpose with a 3 wheeler, but I was giving some thought to a build I have in the works and the live axle is a bit of a thorn in my side as opposed to the usual traction benefit it is.

Has anyone ever considered how a 3 wheeler would act if one rear hub was set on a bearing and only ONE wheel splined to the axle. There'd be a big loss in traction but seems like low speed turning and cornering would improve a lot. Also, and this is the reason i am pondering it, it would tear up the ground MUCH less when turning. There ARE times when that would be beneficial.

It wouldn't be THAT hard to do. Little lathe work is all.

Anyone have a thought before I get a wild hair up my arse and go try something? LOL!!!!

[Red Rider]

It seems to me, it wouldn't want to go straight very easily. Trying to go straight, it would always have a left or right turning tendency, depending on which rear wheel was doing the driving. As for the turning improvements, it seems you'd always have to turn in the direction of the "free" rear wheel to notice them. I can't imagine it turning to efficiently in the opposite direction.

[Gabriel]

You may be right.
I’ve ridden a sackful of single wheel drive gokarts and never noticed a pull but they do have one more wheel, sit right on the ground and have much smaller tires.

I wish there was a limited slip axle I could use like the old chain drive rear engine Toro mower I had.

I just finished restoring my first 200ES and when I got started I just knew it was gonna be great with the rear differential.
......it’s a spool. Not a differential at all. Pffftt!

A chain drive differential would be awesome.

[Red Rider]

I could be wrong too. I'm just trying to think about it logically, and envision the possible handling aspects of such a setup.

[MonroeMike]

...A chain drive differential would be awesome.

Used on some KLT 200's and 250's.


http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...0-Service-Data

[fabiodriven]

It would work but not great. Trikes very infrequently have all three wheels planted on the ground. Every time your drive wheel loses traction, which is going to be a lot, you're going to slow down. Any time you have traction on your drive wheel and accelerate, it's going to pull to one side. As stated, it's going to turn ridiculously well to one side and not at all to the other. Your only option would be a differential, but even with that any time one wheel lost grip, which would be a lot, that wheel is going to spin uselessly. Your only option then would be a locker, and at that point you might as well have a live axle.

Things like this have been explored on the forum here before, IRS is another discussion we've had multiple times on here. If it's got a differential or IRS, it doesn't fit my definition of a three wheeler, even if it has three wheels. There is that KLT with the one wheel drive option, but that's the only off road trike mass produced with a disconnect for the axle. The only time I could see that being beneficial is when moving the machines around the garage by hand.

I know what you're looking to do with the stealth machine, and I suppose it could work if you're just booting around, but it will be very limited and odd handling.

Seems a lot easier to me to put your weight on the outside drive wheel respective to which direction you'd like to turn and pick up on the inside a little bit. Then you've still got a fully capable machine all the time and you're not riding around with a handicapped machine.

[Gabriel]

Learning something new every day.

[Shep1970]

Kinda joking here but you could put an electric front hub motor installed somehow in your front rim you could have front wheel drive
Or 3-wheel drive if you had electric for rear also.

Shep

[Gabriel]

....I think you're full of Shep.






....and so am I for starting this thread.

[sledcrazyinCT]

http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...t=klt+rear+end

A person did a real nice build up using a locking diff from a kawa and grafted it onto a big red. It had dual rear shocks and limited slip which was what made the builder decide to go that route. Sorry I couldn't find it when I searched

[RubberSalt]

My KLT200c has a differential in the back. You can lock and unlock it. When unlocked, it doesn't do much damage to the grass. The turning radius is also very tight.