Gladiator and rear gear cluster/brakes??

[h._simpson]

Hey Bros,

Has anyone set up a gladiator (or other trike) with a rear cluster and deralier?
If so how did you do it and can you send me pics?

I wa sthinking about getting a groove cut into the the axles and this would allow me to key it in but not going to be cheap.

Also, anyone fitted disk brakes to the rear axle(s) of a trike? If so how did you do it and can you send me pics?

Thanks heaps!!:)

Andrew

[TheKid]

It's too late for this project, but in the future, you could get keyed rod for the axles. The site I use is currently unavailable. It's www.mscdirect.com

If you want to mount an adapter on the axles you have now, you can make one that pins on the axle, or if you prefer to use a machined adapter, do this. Slide it on where it goes, and tighten one screw. Remove the other screw, and using a 1/8" bit, drill a pilot hole into the axle where the screw will lock onto it. Loosen the other screw, slide the adapter over, and enlarge the pilot hole to 1/4", going about 1/4" deep. Slide the adapter back to position and tighten. Make sure one of the screws goes into the dimple you just drilled. It acts as a keyway. Another alternative is to cut a short length of keyway into the axle, but it's best if you're confident enough to cut it accurately. A little slop is ok, but it's easy to cut the keyway too wide to be of use.

[moteurhead]

I put a seven gear cluster and derailleur on my overkill mid drive. Here is a link,

http://forum.atomiczombie.com/showthread.php?t=1971

I just welded the threaded adapter to the mid drive, the rest is pretty self explanatory in the pics.:punk:Problem with a brake is everything after the brake that threads on to the right will loosen during braking. If you use a threaded hub on the left side of a wheel or mid drive you can weld a disc to a hub adapter and it will "tighten" during braking...left for brakes, right for drive. My bike doesn't have brakes right now but I plan to put a disc on the mid drive. I will have to "pin" the rear cog to the hub to keep it from loosening.

the cluster doesn't have to be on the rear axle, just think outside the box. I checked out your other post too, your gladiator is coming along very nice, noobie or not. Clockwork Overkill was the first bike I built in 20 years!

[h._simpson]

Thanks Moteurhead and TheKid,

I never thought of the brakes loosening off the cluster attachment. Would have been bad to find that out at the end!:)

Thanks for the advice. With the machined attachment, does that only accept screw on clusters? If so are screw on clusters still readily available? Reason I ask is because I pulled apart the rear hub of my mountain bike to see how it all works and the cluster slides on to a freebody but the freebody didn't seem to screw on to the rear hub so I don't think it would screw onto a machined attachment either. I'm confused:rolleyes4:

Thanks again!

Andrew

[moteurhead]

after you pull off the cluster and catch the bearings, remove the "dog teeth" held in with a small ring. put a big pipe wrench on what's left, it's tight and right hand thread so push hard...don't let the wrench slip or it will destroy the hub. weld that puppy anywhere you want a cluster gear. Weld a disc to it and mount it on the left side of the wheel for brakes.