Trike driveshaft

[andycz1]

I have a 97 standard Trike with 33 k my wife bought for me as a gift.
I'm new to riding and have had it since June of this year.
Not sure who did the conversion but it looks like a home made rig. The person I bought it from bought it from a lady in the Sun City/Surprise city area.
I'd love to know who did the mod originally . . .[/img][/img]
I have since had some of the frame beefed up at a custom sand rail shop since some of the welds have cracked on it. The drive shaft also needed to be fixed due to the way it was made. It has what I think is the original spline , welded to a driveshaft of some sort that is attached to the rear end(which I think is a Ford) anyway the weld had to be fixed but I don't think it will hold up.  On the engine side it goes through a stock yoke.
So I am looking for a replacement that I can get before this one breaks again.
The shop that fixed it couldn't guarantee the weld because of the hardened metal of the spline vs the type of metal that the shaft is made of. But it is holding up since I have already put about 1k worth of miles on it.

Anyway, is there anyone that sells driveshafts for trike conversions so I can have a proper one? I live in the Phoenix, Az area.

[Grumpy]

I would pull the shaft and take it to a drive shaft shop that makes drive shafts. They can match the splines, and build a complete shaft out of the proper materials. I have built a few custom cars and trucks over the years and always had to have shafts made for them. And not as expensive as you might think.

[andycz1]

So this may be a cheaper alternative then calling various trike conversion shops?

[Madmike]

Did the shop that repaired it actually separate the yokes from the tube or did they just grind some off and then run a bead on top??

If it was a homemade conversion you may have trouble getting the correct length of driveshaft off of the shelf.

It is quite common to have drive-shafts made up or repaired.  I would think that in a town as big as you are in there should be a drive-line or general machine shop that can re-tube it for you.  They can cut is apart in a lathe and then put a new tube back on and weld it up making sure that it is straight and in phase.

If you don't get a better answer from someone I would suggest you do a websearch of the various trike kit suppliers, they will usually have a dealer search on their sites so you can find someone in your area if that is the way you want to go.

[Grandpa Bigbuck]

The driveshaft sounds exactly like the set up on my wifes trike. Hers is a Motortrike. They make their own drive shaft and u-joint. Their u-joint has a greese zert in it. When we bought the trike it had a honda u-joint yoke in it and went bad. Contacted motor trike and bought their u-joint so I can keep it greesed. You might contact Motor Trike in Texas and see if they can help you. Also triketalk.com is a good forum for trike owners for questions about trike conversions.

Hope this helps.

Dave

[old grouch]

If it is, in fact a MotorTrike, the owner (?) of the company is a member on TrikeTalk Forum.  Not sure what his log on name is, but you will be able to find it pretty easily.  He will be willing and able to help you.  I have a TriWing conversion with a similar drive shaft set up. (OEM shaft cut & welded to an adapter to fit the Ford rear end yoke)  If by some remote chance yours is a TriWing, I have a spare adapter, & used driveshafts can be had from PinWall.  Also, I had my front drive shaft yoke machined to take a replaceable u-joint.  There is a thread on here someplace on that subject.  I don't have time to search for it right now, but I know it is here.  Hope this is some help.  Stan

[Chiefy]

If it is, in fact a MotorTrike, the owner (?) of the company is a member on TrikeTalk Forum.  Not sure what his log on name is, but you will be able to find it pretty easily.  He will be willing and able to help you.  I have a TriWing conversion with a similar drive shaft set up. (OEM shaft cut & welded to an adapter to fit the Ford rear end yoke)  If by some remote chance yours is a TriWing, I have a spare adapter, & used driveshafts can be had from PinWall.  Also, I had my front drive shaft yoke machined to take a replaceable u-joint.  There is a thread on here someplace on that subject.  I don't have time to search for it right now, but I know it is here.  Hope this is some help.  Stan

www.triketalk.com  Whether it's a commercially made kit, or home brew, post a pic over there and you'll get some good info from trike owners.

[IamGCW]

Helped a friend fix his Dad's 1200 GW trike.  Not sure what model kit it was.  Has a nice look and huge trunk.  The drive shaft splines were twisted 30 degrees.  Something major must have happened before he got the bike.  Anyways, we took it to a local drive shaft shop and they made a new one for $60 or so.  He also had them install new universals for a few dollars more.  It did take a week for the shop to get the correct shaft to modify for his trike.