just ben
08-18-2012, 11:41 AM
this trike isn't finished yet and I was going to wait to post it until it is but with other 80's popping up I figured I would post it up. I picked up the donor bike in the begining of july and got to work on it right away. my original plan for the swingarm was to mate the rm swinger with some type of atv swinger but I decided that looked like too much work to get everything righ,t so I went digging into my spare tecate parts. I had a complete swingarm,axle,ect.. for an 85 tecate. the next issue was to make it fit the rm with minimal changes. The swingarm was way to wide to fit in the frame but I did find that the chain would line perfect if I could get it in there. To get the swingarm to mount I cut the right side off and moved it over an inch welded plate on that side for strength and appearance. Since all the shock linkage is mounted on the frame of the rm with one link mounting on the swingarm all I need to do was weld the mounts onto the swingarm. It took some investigating to find a rear sprocket that would work,I ended up using a crf/xr 100 rear sprocket since the inside diameter is the same as the 1st gen t3 (80mm) I filled the original bolt holes with weld and redrilled the hub for the xr sprocket.Perfect fit and is a common sprocket. The next issue that need to be addresed was the front end.Iwas going to cut and reweld the triples but by chance I stumbled acrossed a post on here saying the 85 tri z had 35mm forks,the same as the rm. On the hunt for 85 z triples I went. I didnt wanna spend too much since I didn't know how it would work out,I ended up scoring a set on ebay for 20.00 shipped. I knew I would have an issue with the steering stem and came up with an idea to resolve that issue. The z stem was a larger diameter than the rm so I made a bushing that would press into the lower triple then the rm stem pressed into the bushing,worked great.I could have used the whole front end setup from an 85 z but I wanted a smaller front wheel to keep the proportions correct. The wheel I wanted to use was 8x5 1/2 with a 4x110 bolt pattern. so I ordered a front hub from spanglers offroad (not too impressed with it) I had it sent un assembled so it could be customized for my application. the wheel has a 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 offset so the wheel is off set 1". Being confident in my measurements I went ahead and welded it up. That was a stupid mistake the wheel ended up 1" off,I still don't really understand that but it was done and nothing I could do at that point so I ordered an 1 1/4 wheel spacer and turned it down to 1" not really how I wanted to do it but it works for now. The next issue was the fork rake,no big deal just chop and weld.I ended bringing the rake in 9 degrees which seems pretty good,if I bring it in any more I will have to stretch the frame which may still happen after extenive testing but it seems to handle good the way it is. for the rear fenders I was originally planning to use t3 fenders since I have them and they already have the cut out for the kickstart. After setting them on the trike I decided that was n ot the way to go.The fit was terrible the seat was way to big and it just looked bad. So I took a look around and came up with the seat and fenders from a monsoon/yerf dog quad which worked out well since I already stole a wheel and tire from it for the front. The fenders are badly faded and I hate sanding and polishing so I was able to find 2 pair of nos fenders on ebay the price was right so I bought both pairs. That is where I'm at so far with this build,I still need to change the foot pegs out and do some more cosmetic work on it but so far I am pleased with it. Heres a few pics for ya152861152862152863152864152865152866