1986 Big Red - 5 Inch Swingarm Extension and 6 Inch Lift!!

[Stonewall]

Progress.

For those of you who have drempt of a front fork mounted snorkel for your 3 wheeler, I have found the solution!! RV sewer hose is the answer!! Durability is still up in the air, but it's cheap so it can be easily replaced. I now have a very nice snorkel that mounts to the front rack and is almost unnoticeable when I'm sittin on the machine.





I made mounts for the upright part with exhaust clamps.



AAAAAANNND, the whole setup is completely removable thanks to this awesome rubber reducer that I'm using to connect to the airbox!



I took it off and cleaned it all with acetone and sprayed some bedliner on it. We'll see how well that holds up...



I also cleaned all the electrical connections and packed em with dielectirc grease.

I had this old stack layin around so I threw it on there too.

[Yamada]

Why didn't you run the snorkel next to the exhaust stack?

[Stonewall]

Why didn't you run the snorkel next to the exhaust stack?

My dad asked me the same question. In my experience, when riding Big Reds in deep water, the front tire has a tendency to float up, and I end up ridin a wheelie through the water the whole time. 2 wheel drive 4 wheelers do the same thing. If I mounted the snorkel on the back, then when the front goes up it would go down and end up closer to the water. By having it on the front I'm much less likely to submerge it.

[JasonB]

man this is a crazy rig! that rack looks burly as hell

[Stonewall]

Made a lot of progress on this rig over the last couple days. All that's left are some little piddly things to finish up, but I'm pretty much done for now. I have big plans come this fall though.

Finally got my driveshaft back from the machine shop Thursday. It's now 4 inches longer than stock.

Before:




After:




Also decided to upgrade from the arthritic factory U-joint to a much more flexible All Balls HD U-joint intended for a Fourtrax 300. The new joint is 15/16 of an inch longer than the factory one.



So the new shaft and U-joint combined comes out to just barely under 5 inches longer than stock. The next order of business was to extend the swingarm to match the new driveline length. I cut the swingarm in half, and spliced in 4 15/16" of new material, plus a little extra to sturdy it up good. I fabricated a new A-frame style bracket for the shock mount. New All Balls pivot bearings were packed and installed with new seals. The axle also received new bearings and seals, as well as alamites to keep the tubes packed with grease. The ring a pinion got a generous helping of Royal Purple 75W-90. I also put on some 2" hub extensions to make the rear track 4" wider.

Stock swingarm:






Extended swingarm:






So with the swingarm extended and dropped, I gained 6" of suspension lift. Now I had to extend the forks 6" to match. Went to the steel fella and got some thick wall tubing that was just a hair over 33mm OD, cut it into two 6" long pieces, and turned them in the lathe so that the slid right up into the triples just perfect. I also got some tubing that was about 34mm ID, slotted it, and welded tabs with bolt holes in em for the new shock clamps. I welded these to the extension tubes.





After that was finished, I put the front end back together, finished running all the vent hoses into the airbox, put the snorkel and stack back on, and installed a new inline fuel filter. All I have left to do is plug the airbox drain hole, and get some new swingarm pivot bolt covers.

Here's some pictures of it all put together:









Enjoy!

[CRAZY70MAN]

Looks great!! Burnin' the midnight oil huh?? Any test ride reports yet?? I am curious as to how the rear shock will feel and function? Let us know....

[fabiodriven]

I'm completely impressed! Call me when you're ready to sell it!

[captainweezy]

Looks awesome. Need anything at all give me a ring.

[Stonewall]

Looks great!! Burnin' the midnight oil huh?? Any test ride reports yet?? I am curious as to how the rear shock will feel and function? Let us know....

A little bit lol. The internet is slow as hell here, I think I started uploadin pictures to photobucket at about 9:30... I rode it a good bit this afternoon, and everything all works good. I built everything to keep the stock geometry, so it rides exactly the same as it did before the lift. Once I get up on it I can't really tell that it's any higher, until I ride it through deep water. Everything works except the brakes lol, I still have to figure out what to do about making the cables longer.

I'm completely impressed! Call me when you're ready to sell it!

Thanks! It'd take a good bit to take this one off my hands haha, I kinda get attached to some of my machines...

Looks awesome. Need anything at all give me a ring.

Thanks! You wouldn't happen to have some brake cables that are about 6" longer would you lol? I've got a pretty good supply of spare parts, I appreciate the offer though.

[Chopsaw]

Nice work ,,, do me a favor ,,, cut the front snorkel down , please !!! 12 inches above the upper clamp is plenty , any more than that and you will need scuba gear !!!

[threewheelin-feelin]

this is with out a doubt the baddest bigred i have seen. i think some 30 inch silver backs and an audio tube would be amazing. as far as your brakes go you could probably try using your rear hand brake cable to the front brake and maybe your front hand brake cable for the foot brake? just an idea

[fallguy666]

What did you have to do as far as jetting?

[Lee atc]

nice job on wheeler,its awesome.. is that a huge woodstove in the backround if so id love to c pic of it lol....

[big yeller]

dayum! Looks nice.

[King Trikester]

Nice work, when do you start production? put me on the list. I love every detail about it and would not change a thing, exept the front tire. Thats one of my pet peves, what is the reason you mounted it backwards, is there an advantage that i dont know about?