I know I missed something on my install of the comfort lift. My first problem was when I secured the 3/4 bolt to shock and set first middle bolt on bracket, I think they call it a center hole. (confused on what was the middle hole.) Tried to jack up the shock to line up the holes on the bracket. but the Trike ended up lifting up. Tried to make sure I followed every thing in the instructions. . Some of the names on the instructions were confusing to me.
4. Remove jacks from under the axle, plural. I used a bike hydraulic jack. singular. The jack stands are under the axle.
5. Place jack under the rear pulley housing guard. (I think the pulley means the belt that drives the axle.) Was hesitant , thought it may break the housing.
8. Remove all 3 bolts that secure the shock and pinch blocks. The pinch blocks now opened up and looked like the bar was free to move. Do not want anything to get out of alignment. There are adjusting bolts on each side to keep the axle in alignment.
11. Left side has the parking brake assembly and not much room to remove the bolts and bracket. ok
12. Center bottom bolt???Tried both bottom bolts and nothing lined up.
At this point I tried to jack up shock but the Trike lifted up. Checked to make sure air was out of shock, no air.
That is as far as I got. Did the right side only. was afraid to do the left side. If I don't get any feed back, tomorrow I will continue to remove left side bracket. I hope nothing breaks.
Thanks for any help from anybody.c
Al

 

Talked to John from Iowa and suggested that I was on track. I need to get something to put pressure on the bracket itself to align holes. I think the shock has too much spring pressure . Try again tomorrow. Only had one knuckle banged up so far.

 

Put your jack stands under the frame supports behind the axle so the axle hangs. Use a bottle jack on the shock. That is what worked for me.

 

Thanks Moe. Will try it out tomorrow. Get back with the forum then, on what works. Thanks again I talked with John from Iowa and he said the same thing.

 

Yeppers, the only thing the job is lacking is a little mechanical persuasion

 

Did you let the air out of the shocks.
Sorry just read rest of your post.
Call Kevin he will walk you through it.

 

That is as far as I got. Did the right side only. was afraid to do the left side. If I don't get any feed back, ""tomorrow I will continue to remove left side bracket"". I hope nothing breaks.
Thanks for any help from anybody.

I think you have to remove both ""right AND left"" side HD brackets. Then proceed to install and all should line up.

Good luck......Jim

 

#8 - The clamping blocks should not become loose, although they might open up a bit on the bottom. There are 4 bolts to the clamping blocks, 3 of which also fasten the shock mounts. The upper forward most clamp plate bolt must be left tight.

#12 - You must do both sides together. That was the same mistake I made and Kevin was kind enough to send the 'how to'.

(Note - The process below assumes that the air is already out of the air shocks and the lug nuts have been already been broken loose while the trike is on the ground!)

I used a floor jack to get the back end up in the air and put jack stands under the rearmost crossmember as wide as I could get them for the most stable support. Then I let the floor jack off, and used it under the differential. You'll want to have it just barely touch the differential housing. When you pull the two shock mount bolts out, the differential will rest on the jack.

(Note: A bottle jack could be substituted for the floor jack... I also used a wooden block (2 X 4 ~12" in length) as a 'pad' between the jack and the crossmember in order to evenly distribute the load across as much of the support as possible.)

Once you have the differential sitting on the jack, go ahead and remove the 3 bolts that hold the shock mounts on.

Install the new shock mounts and install them onto the clamping plates per the instructions. (Locktite and the correct torque values)

Then adjust the jack that supports the differential housing so that the lower shock mounts will line up with their threaded hole. Again, locktite and proper torque per the instructions.

At this point you should be able to let the jack completely off the differential and put it back between the jackstands. Double check everything is torqued, put the wheels back on and snug the lugs. Let the thing off the jack stands and pull the jack out.

Air up the shocks to ~30 psig or there abouts to start with. Torque the lug nuts.

Go ride!

 

Your suggestions all make sense. Not sure why HD instructions say to balance raising the Trike, place jack just under the clutch area. Did that and the front of the bike raise up. More weight on the back end. Removed a heavy jacket from the trunk but did not make a difference. I would have to drill my driveway and place some hold down bolts to secure the front tire. Kind of overkill to just raise a Trike off the ground. (sarcasm, sorry). The Harbor freight jack for $99 may not be of any help on my Trike. Back to getting the lift kit installed. Weather changed so may have to delay the install. Rain coming. Thanks again for your help, it does rain in California.

 

Oh my. Just saw this post.

BLT, I was told a few minutes ago that Devin walked you through the instructions. I hope you have a handle on how to do it now.

A few key things that were in various posts above-

Never lift the weight of the TG up by the pulley guard.

We don't recommend lifting the TG off the ground per the manual instructions, rather, hold just the rear of the TG off the ground with jacks under the trunk cross-members.

No compression of the shocks is necessary to install the kit, ever. If you find yourself trying to "muscle" anything into place, that is time to re-read the instructions, the jack will do all the work of lining everything up so that it goes together easily.