Posts by SlingJockey

  • Alpha Brake Brace - Get one if you don't have one!

    Quote from KayTwo

    What does the brace do that bleeding and filling the system doesn't? Sorry if that question is a little stupid...not familiar with this particular gear.

    While the video @Tripod posted shows the measured deviation, what you can feel in your foot and braking is a much more solid/stiffer response with the brace. With bled brakes it can still feel mushy without the brace because of that movement.

  • Brake Switch replacement with NAPA Switch

    Have at it @rabtech

  • SS pulling a trailer

    Over 2700 miles pulling my Escapade Motorcycle Cargo Trailer with Alpha's hitch on mine with zero issues. Kind of forgot it was back there and my Escapade has a air ride trailing arm suspension, so no vibrations observed. I felt like it added some stability in the rain/wet roads, but I still slowed down and pulled over and waited in the heavy down pour when water was pooling.


    Tongue weight is big, while I could stand on my Alpha hitch and it seems solid and I'm 300 lbs, it's still unsprung weight on that swing arm. I end up with about 50lbs of tongue weight with my trailer loaded last fall. About 20 lbs more than I'd like, but that's how my trailer loads out as I have a small cooler on the tongue in front of the trailer for cold refreshments on the road. As far as the hitches I've seen for a standard motorcycle type cargo trailer, I like and prefer Alpha's, if I pulled anything bigger, I'd probably go with Wicked as it mounts to the frame. I'm not crazy about the drop needed using a Wicked, but the others like the Rivco or Bushtec, it's too unappealing to me. Looks count for something I guess, but that's just me.


  • Anybody else? Turn Signal hang

    For the second time now, I have turned on the blinker only to have it come on solid and stay there.
    The only way to clear it is to turn off the ignition and restart. Not a solid problem, but has done it twice, I haven't been able to reproduce at will.

  • My take on Air Wings for cooling and cheaper

    So with my Twist Top, the frame kinda put a limiter on my $65 Goldwing wings I bought and installed for heat reduction. I bought some PIAA tube clamps, but out of the box they were not going to allow me to easily relocate the wings. It took awhile, but it finally came to me and spent some time on my small bench lathe and made some adapters that would work. Added some new tension handles and I think this should be the ticket. The only downside is the right mirror view is partially blocked, but I have the overhead Autozone mirror which I use all the time, so not much of an issue for me. The big plus is scooping that air into the floorboard area cooling down the heat coming thru. It also eliminates some wind and turbulence off the side of my face, handy if it's wet out.


    First I made a adapter bushing to allow me to use the brackets that come with the PIAA clamps


    Then purchased some 1/4"x20 bolts, nuts, rubber and steel washers, lock washers and new knobs to replace the factory bracket mounting hardware. Assembly shown in order with the wing assembled between the bolt and factory clear washer.


    Again using the rubber tool drawer matting to size up the PIAA clamps. Cut to fit and attached with double sided tape.



    Assembled and mounted:

  • Autozone Mirror mount with Twist Top

    For the Twist Top frame, taking out the included insert to reduce it to fit a smaller tube, it was too big by a small margin. This meant I wouldn't be able to clamp it down hard in place, but that might also mar the finish. I needed something that was just thick enough to take up the space and help keep the clamp stay put such as a thin rubber material. I remember I had some left over rubber matting for lining the drawers of my tool chests, this turned out to work perfectly. I used double sided tape to adhere the matting to the inside of the clamp pieces and trimmed to fit.


    PIAA 1.5" or 1.75" Adjustable Roll Cage Bar Light Mounting Aluminum Clamps




  • DIY Isolated Trailer harness

    I used Novita RL44 Relays. Here's my quick and dirty schematic. Note the difference as you know for the Brake portion. I tapped into the wire harnesses to each set of rear tail lights, so I listed the pin numbers for the wires off those plugs. I'm running a 5 wire harness as it supplies 12v to the trailer for internal lighting. I have a Escapade Trailer that I pull.


    If someone has the 'T' connectors (part numbers) or connectors/partnumbers to build a 'T' and where to get them to tap into the Slingshot harness that would make this even cleaner and easier as I couldn't locate them when I did mine.


  • Brake Switch replacement with NAPA Switch

    Haven't heard much about this problem any more and not sure why, but originally hooking up a trailer harness usually would knock the magnetic brake switch out of commission. I replaced mine over a year ago and have never had an issue. If you want to or need to do this, this is how I did it.


    First the bracket I made to mount the Napa plunder style brake switch (SL169. The plug has NAPA part # 725175). I used steel, but aluminum would work. Got a matching GM connector from Napa as well to plug into where the original switch did. No cutting and easy to swap back. Not to hard to figure out where to make the bend to catch the top end of the brake lever to make it work. Final step was larger heat shrink to protect the switch from any water that might be able to get to it. Have not had any problems with it in over 5000 miles.



  • Watched Threads

    I'm running the Blue theme, anyone else find it hard to discern between the Thread topics with new content vs old ones when displaying the Watched Threads?
    Would be nice to have something a little more noticeable.


    (Viewing on my desktop pc, large monitor, though I find it almost as hard on mobile devices)