What is best to carry in the sidecar for dead weight to keep it from flying? Not that it's not fun but on mountain roads it not as much fun. I've seen one that had something like buckshot contained in a leather pouch. Had 2of them. Looked good and rode without moving too much. I'm sure he had to make it but I was wondering if any one else used anything other than sand bags, round dumbbell weights, bricks, or a sack of dog food?

I'm hacking a 40 Goulding to a 50 FL. The Goulding is very light and needs something.

 

Well, you mentioned all of the top choices.
I myself have a 44lb and a 22lb barbell weight and a tool bag in my TLE. That keeps the hack down nicely.
Whatever you choose, keep it toward the back of the hack.

......... and, welcome to the forum, and we love pics.

 

maybe these are better pics, I couldn't delete the old post

 

Lucky for me, Johnny Sweet puts a piece of 12x16 piece of 1" plate steel in the frame. Empty car no problem:-)

 

There's another weight I've since learned about

 

There's another weight I've since learned about. A 12 volt sealed car battery. I'm going to glue a rubber bottom on it and keep it in the rear of the sidecar. Weight and always have another source of electric. Add a quick charge plug for a trickle charger and not much fuss.

 

I put my wife in the sidecar. She looks good and doesn't move around too much. Flying solo, I just leave it empty, but I'm always watching traffic and calculating escape routes.

Hokeypoke

 

For a while I used a 25 barbell weight. Put it behind the seat. As I refined the setup it has become unnecessary. My seat up has a heavy frame that may help some.

 

Wash out your five quart oil containers and fill with sand. They lay fairly flat and have a handle for easy removal.

 

I use a 5 gallon collapsible water container (Walmart $10), behind the seat. I've forgotten its even there. If you don't need/want the weight, just drain off the water. Also, one of the first mods I did was to disconnect the bike's battery and put a small car battery on the car - Miata AGM unit, in an aluminum box, connected by welding wire to the bike's electrical system.