Motorized drift trike project

[OzFab]

When I had both wheels driving it wouldn't turn on anything but loose surfaces so I changed it to one wheel drive which solved the turning issue but meant it would only drift RH turns.
My theory with the diff is if I lean into the corner it will hopefully unload the outside wheel enough for it to lose traction and, as it's only an open diff, spin up that wheel........

Correct me if I'm wrong but, isn't this a drift trike build? It's not meant to turn corners, it's meant to drift through them...

with zbuck, I think you'll be disappointed with the result, drifting relies on both wheels spinning...

 

[ChrisT]

OK, it didn't turn out quite like I expected - can't bend the laws of physics as I hoped to.

Beforehand it spun up one wheel with ease but with the diff the power's spread between to 2 wheels so it doesn't spin as easily, plus even leaning into the corner the outside wheel is still loaded more than the inner.

But it is still great fun, now the engine's running good again

 

[ChrisT]

New top speed of 35.2 mph!!!!!!

 

[supermanotorious]

I've been looking at videos of these on YouTube lately, almost all of the trikes have foot pegs that are not attached to the wheel, I can see that causing problems for you since your leg can not bend around the wheel, what has your experience been so far with that?

 

[Badot]

Mine had foot pegs on the wheel and didn't cause any problems, you do have to take your outside foot off on the really hard drifts (beyond 60ish degrees front wheel angle I'd say) but if the caster is close to your knee angle it's not as bad as most would imagine.

The reasons I didn't go with stationary were in the frame design. They would either have to be far enough back from the wheel that there would be too much weight on the rear to have a neutral drift, or wide enough that they'd cause problems with the frame flex I used (works with the caster to keep the drifts reasonably self-correcting)

 

[Rickracer]

Looks to me like your center of gravity is was too high, and you have too much traction (knobby tires). If you moved the axle above the frame and got the frame down closer to the ground, it would drift better...