XJ 550j Maximus Trike Build

hey all nearing the finish line of my fathers XJ trike conversion. I planed to design and build a differential style rear end, but he wanted it fast and cheap, so we settled on a solid axel rear. Yes We anticipate turning woes however he is 70 yrs old and don't plan to ride that long or often. quick run down of this bikes story.
It was originally obtained by my now past away older brother 25+yrs ago w/ 3100 miles on it, ridden a little then parked he loved it and refused to sell it, stored for years until he was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma. With decreased ability to work, lost his home and had to move, while me and my friend was loading garage up, my buddy said "hey! What you doing with that old bike" my brother said if you can move it you can have it. So I was asked months later to help get it on the road again. My buddy rode it for a few years, then we find out after my brother had passed that my father had always wanted it, so my buddy gave it to him after paying me $1200 over the years to fix and repaint.

My father rode this thing everywhere, always with an ecstatic smile, rode with me here and there, then just up and stopped riding it. 2 years go by after repeated denied requests by me to go ride. I finally asked him why he don't ride it anymore, and this was his response... "I don't want to f@#k it up". I said what do you mean mess it up?.... he said the afternoon he parked it he went for a quick ride while at work on his lunch break, pulled up to a red light came to a stop and could not get his right leg off the peg fast enough an it just layed down on his leg, a friendly person in the car behind him helped him get it back up. The trip back to work and home he would put both his legs down waaayyy! too early so he knew it wouldn't happen again. Embarrassed from this it was parked that evening and never touched again till I had heard this. I told him he knows I do custom metal and fiberglass work all the time for customers why did he not say anything. I mentioned a Goldwing trike purchase, and he said he wants his sons bike, so I mentioned a trike conversion to his bike.... And he said "can u put some forward controls on it like a Harley has" I said "Hell yeah DAD" and a year later here near is the end coming into sight.

I have a little work left but figured I could share some pictures.

 

Nice job, but that rear axle is bad news, too wide for the narrow mount. Let us all know how it handles?

 

Thanks, Yeah, I told him the first ride was going to be mine so I can put it thorough the ringer, get it on 2 wheel angles to test this possible weak point. but for the record the swing arm is double walled with outer wall being made from 1/4" thick cold rolled steel plate, with internal gusseted bracing for twisting prevention. the center tube has two 1/2' solid steel pins running opposite of the axle tube and protrude into the housing center aprox 3/16" with a distance of 3 3/4" on center. plus the tube is modern tempered drag racing banshee tube, as is the axle the more modern thicker drag racing as well. wheels are steel for added weight down low to help prevent tipping. plus the axle bearings are 1.5" wide on both sides.

Your concern was taken into account in design stage "Low and wide", front fork tubes were raised 1" further into triple tree, as was the seat height cut down 1" and a gel pad was recessed into foam. Still need to have it upholstered, but that will be the last thing we do, seat pan and foam have been reworked to give a bucket feel with a backrest. a back rest pad will be on the trunk bringing the rest to full back supporting height. while I don't think a catastrophic failure will happen, only time and testing will provide the answer. we knew turning would be a little of a pain, but comes with the territory of the solid axle. will defiantly let you know

 

I'd been seriously thinking of buying one of the bolt-on trike kits for the other GS, but all of them put a helluva strain on the swing arm bearings, and they offend me in an engineering sense. Ideally, I'd like to find an MX-5 / Miata rear sub-frame and attach that as a nice complete package which cane be prettied up a bit.
They're like hen's teeth here though, and the cost of shipping one over from the UK is prohibitive.

 

I'm about 20% into another swingarm design/build for this to just be bolted in like the swingarm is normally for later on but utilizing an "open' differential design. picture a normal swingarm setup with mono shock, but with upper/lower control arms and cv axles. it is a 3 spring setup. Left/right/and center......swingarm suspension with left and right control arms with individual "inboard" coil overs and outboard dual discs. I have taken a break from it to at least get this one on the road and rideable for now. but this solid axle is not the permanent final solution. when I get back around to the 3 spring rear end I'm talking about, I will be sure to create a thread for it here...

The typical buy and bolt in kits look too generic for me, I like the full custom looks, like shaved emblems, single color paint schemes, Clean sleek, That no one else has it kind of designs Etc... You know, nothing too gaudy... were going for the more custom look, but could easily look as if it was original. So an ugly, gaudy, un proportionate semi universal bolt on kit will not cut it for me. But to each his own, So don't let my opinions discourage you from your likes in design. I feel you on the mx/5 rear, but this is a little 550, not an 1100 or larger, so all that steel in the back will seriously hinder the acceleration and fun of a small CC bike. like the Harley bolt on kit that gives you 3 fenders in the back, is just... well functional, but ugly as hell to me, and looks more like "Training Wheels".

Back in my mid 20's I modified a Harley sidecar for my veteran neighbor. He could pull himself out of his wheelchair into the sidecar, and all controls were there. No ugly steering bars from sidecar to steering head either, I used parking break cables from an old box truck. Similar to newer bike throttles with the push and pull. Close up on it you could obviously tell it had been modified, but while riding it, if you seen it.. it was not so obvious. wish I had pics of that thing. He passed 6 yrs later and his wife sold it to his brother who then crashed, totaling it.