Finally got to try out the drilled rotors. At about 7am today it was 28 degrees here and my driveway was solid so i took the TG out. Only rode about 5 miles but gave the rear brakes a workout, didnt use the fronts.
To me the stopping took less foot pressure than i remember, the big thing i noticed was that after heating them up it still stopped good so the brake fade is really reduced.
Im satisfied with them.
Probably the only way to get them better would be with a larger rotor and maybe a dual piston caliper.

 

I must be an oddball rider (or a cheap one). I mainly use the front brake in everyday riding, seldom the rear. Started doing that after having to replace pads on my road king with every rear tire and the rotor every other (if it didn't warp sooner). I think the biggest problem with the rear brakes on any bagger or trike is cooling airflow. The solid rotor doesn't dissipate the heat, the pads lightly run on the rotor and transfer that heat to the caliper building in spongy/fading brakes. The front sits out in the air flow unless you have one of those domed covers. I didn't have to replace front pads even at 50k miles, rears were about 6k.

My Tri is at 12k and no pad or rotor issues (yet). The fast yellows and stupid cagers get the rears, but the rest is engine braking and the front. And I don't use the parking brake, just leave it in gear when parked.

 

The fronts work just fine for the trike too......until you REALLY need the rears. The rears are where the most stopping power "should" be on a trike. I say should because a common complaint about the TG has been the rears. This is not the case on all trikes, it's a case of poor design and component selection on the TG. Many other trikes out there have no issues at all with the rears. I have 20K on my rears and have about that much left in the pads. It's just no excuse for it other than the fact the MOCO must have thought they were designing brakes for a two-wheeler and forgot the TG was a tripod.

Casual braking with the fronts on the heavy trike works just fine, but will not stop it in a bind. Try it one day.....get out there on the open road, clamp the fronts and lock them up and see how far your front wheel slides. It is especially dangerous on a wet road. It's a good idea to save the rears if you have too by using the fronts only. I came back from Canada once on the fronts only because I could not find a dealer along the way willing to find the time to replace a cut rear brake line....it was not a comfortable experience. IMHO you need to do whatever it takes to get a good reliable set of rear brakes on a trike. The rear is where all the tire contact-patch is.

 

ok - i know this is an old thread...... what YEAR TBird Turbo Coupe rotors did you use as you say here ???

 

They have to be from an 87 or 88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe. That's the only years they installed disk on the rear. Use to....they could be found fairly easily. If you can't find any....I think I have two left, which I will sell you for a "little" plus the shipping. They are not turned, but that's around a $50 charge by a machinist.

There may have been a year in which they did the same on the Mustang....not sure. These will match the 4 x 4.25 pattern on the early Lehman hubs. Understand....there is some other things that have to be done....like calipers, brackets...etc.

 

ok ... found what u speak of ...... and i get the machining work needed .... the Mustangs don't really turn up too much in the way of a lead, no luck with that type yet ....... the closest ive seen so far is a Ford Focus circa 2003.....

......but other than rotors ... what about brackets and calipers? Can you explain?

im also finding it hard to believe that HD had these made 'from scratch' .... no EXACT match... wow.

 

True....Harley had Wildwood design (or use their parts) for the TG. Wildwood would not even consider selling an individual any parts, since they had "bonded" with HD.

Bear in mind here....I AM NOT proposing or even know if these Ford Thunderbird rotors will match-up to the current (or past) Tri-Glide. I am pretty sure they will not. My system uses parts gathered from here in there....mostly e-bay and one shop-built part (caliper bracket). I have a 10-12 page detail set of plans that explains it all. The people that I now who have made the conversion....have never said they were dissatisfied with the results. They are good brakes and will last the life of the trike. If you want me to help you thru this, I will, but I no longer do it for free. I no longer have a trike and went back to 2-wheels. My time and my plans are worth something to me, but you can have a good set of brakes for less than what you'd pay for a set of Harley Tri Glide rotors, if you want to take this on. PM me if you want to take this any farther.

 

I should be good... i appreciate yer help. u actually pointed me in the right direction. I may have this figured out. All i have to do is get my TG out of dealer storage and start checking things for myself. Someone just changed brakes and gave me the parameters i need for reference. AS always, any help or news in the direction im going, was a good one. I thank you.

 

I really can't speak to the brake situation on the TG's after the early model years and they may have improved them. All I know is that the early production models were a complete mess and they wanted a pretty-penny just for replacement rotors and with the help of the component supplier....MOCO was the only place they could be obtained....as usual.

I sold my trike at around 45,000 miles on the odemeter and the last time I checked with the guy that purchased it, he had well over 70,000 miles on it and if he still has it, must have close to 100K on the meter by now. My home-spun rear brakes were still working just fine and all he had done was replace the pads. There were a few aftermarket rear brake components starting to show up when I lost track of the situation, but they were in the $1,000 range. If I had (or ever have) another trike, I'll retrofit the rear brakes for $300-$400 and be done with it..

 

I would like to get this brake package if you are putting a package together. Let me know. Can be contacted at flh4652@***.net