what does the adjustable trees do and how do they work thanks

 

They are for bikes equipped with side cars, used to increase rake for stability.

Some of the Chopper kids used them for an easy way to rake their front ends.

 

In the idea that when the car is not on the fork angle can be brought back to 28 degrees easily

 

so they can be used to de rake. thanks

 

28 would be stock rake for a bike not equipped with a side car. So not really de-rake, but going back to stock. The side car they increased the rake for stability.

 

As said they aid stability to the front end when a sidecar is attached to the bike. It is not a "de-rack". In use it extends the front end. When not running a hack the rider must readjust and bring the bike back to stock configuration. It came into use in 1950 for Pans and continued thru Shovel FL/H models.

Upper & Lower triple tree. The bolt on the bottom allows for the needed adjustment



Plugs for the slider tubes are different from non-adjustable trees. And using adjustable trees necessitates the use of a steering damper when running a hack. Once assembled it looks pretty much like a normal front end.

 

With out the damper the steering shakes quite a bit with the car on the bike - and will un nerve you at some point when it wont stop

but the dampener fixed that on most ( factory fix ) - have a customer that owns a 58 pan that shakes with out the car trees or a car in place - and it has a dampener not looking forward to fixing it, as you end up with everything apart at some point - and even checking the frame head to rear wheel location possibly on a table

sucks to do and its expensive no one ends up happy - but we will be doing leg bushings and hard chrome tubes first then see what happens we even balanced the wheels with the drum just to be sure on a car balance machine - still did it every times you let go of the bars for a moment

 

would you agree my trike would steer around corners easier if it was de raked somewhat. the rear end works as it should

 

NO

you could invite a wobble

put 40 pounds of air in the front tire - try that

 

thanks john that makes sense ive been running 30-32 i just thought maybe i could run a more rounded tyre