Originally Posted by
DeadGrandpa
Hmmm, that is unfortunate. Since you don't have a trike dealer in your locality, my next recommendation is to slowly acquire the tools you need for various maintenance tasks for your trike. It's not that hard to understand how certain things go together, and I'm sure you're capable of learning. Since you might have had the steering linkage get loose, now would be a good time to learn how to check and adjust the front wheel alignment. There is probably a YouTube video showing how to do this on your brand of trike. I made a couple of tools for this from a 3 foot piece of wood dowel and a couple of drywall screws. I loosened the tie rods (two 15 mm wrenches) and followed instructions on a Park Tool video, if I remember correctly. It will help if you can get the trike up on a platform so you don't have to work on your hands and knees on the floor. I use three plastic tubs, upside down, to support the trike. I live an hour away from the nearest trike dealer, so I try to learn as I go, and become self sufficient as a mechanic. YouTube can be a great learning resource.
As unlikely as it seems that something came loose, I think that's more likely than the bushing wearing out. How old is your trike in years and in miles? Mine has over 11k miles and no sign of worn steering linkage parts. PM me if you want and I'll try to help you long distance. Believe me, you can learn how to maintain a trike, because it's just not that complicated.
I have a lot of tools, but they are from my 2 wheeler maintenance and repair. The steering rod thing is unique to recumbents so that's where I needed some help. Also I have a disability now that makes some physical things impossible (unless I can get my adult son to come over and do the work under my direction). On my trike only toe-in can be adjusted. I do have a stand and a tool I can use to measure it. But since my mechanic was already here, I had him double check my work. The right tire wears faster than the left - but my dealer (who I can email) says that happens to him as well on our roadways. He's two cities over but rides the same places I do. Some of it is the lousy chipseal and road crown. The trike is a 2013, bought and used a couple months, then put in storage for 10 years. With the exception of the mesh seat which isn't as supple as new, it was in brand new condition. I put 20 miles on it every day and I've had it now about 2 years. My dealer pointed out that the older Gekkos had the tie rods factory installed and so maybe it wasn't tightened down correctly. In any case, now I know to watch it and check for play along with all my other safety check stuff. There are some things I'm not prepared to do, like spindles/wheel truing/cassette changes. I'm fine paying for that and any mechanic can do those things. Aside from the steering, the only other thing I can see that is recumbent-specific is the folding joint and that seems just fine. And I have found a local guy who know recumbents - he hasn't worked on HP, just Ice and Catrike, but that should be good enough. His minimum fee is $150 though, so I will save him for big things that I or my other guy don't get. He would be a good person for a major overhaul type situation. Thx for all your great advice.