7 - Rear end fabrication completed

After a few weekends of work, I was able to complete the basic fabrication of the rear end. There will need to be some small additions, but for the most part the rear end fabrication is complete.

rear end with jack shaft and rear wheel in place

 The angled supports proved to be a real challenge. Without exact measurements I had to guess at measurements a bit. I then cut a test piece from some lighter square tubing that I could bend and cut to shape. Determining how to mate it with the existing structure by the axle and how to tie it properly to the top mount point when it was angled two ways compared to the top mount was tricky. I wasn't completely happy with the way it fit, but had to accept it was going to be a bit imprecise.

 

After trying to remove the rear axle I realized my placement of the brake caliper mount prevented the brake disc from sliding out, so I had to cut that off and re-weld it. I will add some angle bracket bracing from the frame to the caliper mount, but I shouldn't need much. the braking force against the caliper mount should mostly be into the frame member.

I played around with the jackshaft placement. Once I settled in on a location, I tacked it down. I had originally planned on putting the jackshaft mount on the inside of the back sprocket, but found the line of the front and rear chains were too close to each other and there wasn't enough space for the mount and bearing. So I had to extend the big mounting piece on the bottom so I could put the outside mount further out. I am going to try and reuse the chain tensioner from the three wheeler to tension the back chain and will use the movement of the jackshaft on it's mounts to tension the front chain. Fingers crossed.