Installing Hydra-Glide Anchor Pin Into Knuckle Frame ??

[Kirk Perry]

Has anyone out there ever drilled a hole in the neck of Knuckle frame headstock for a (46731-48) anchor plate Pin? I've already (partially drilled one wrong) [off-center] and now I have to wrap rags soaked with "Cold Fire" [(888) 699-4066] (heat sink liquid) around the head stock and head cup/races and fill up my shallow drilled hole with 6013 arc-weld rod; grind-shape the weld leaving a flat top and start over. Unless I hear better, I will tap a start-divot with a punch (on my newly flattened surface); then I will install the forks and damper assembly (pressure discs, friction washers, and anchor plate). I will wrap tape around the drill bit (if need be to protect the I.D of the anchor plate hole) and stick it through the anchor plate, attach a drill stop on the bit (so I don't go too deep) [an auger bit will keep on going]; then I will eyeball the correct angle from a side view and drill slowly (speed adjusted drill motor). I have a '55 straight leg frame to go by, that already has anchor pin in it, but those '49-up frames have that pin boss sticking up that a Knuck frame doesn't. Carl Barnes said he's drilled a "hunnert" of 'em, but he's not returned by message, from my postal request for help.
The anchor pin is 1-3/8" long and is stepped. Of that length, the step end (that fits into the hole) is 7/8". The angled-boss on '49-up frames, stands 7/8" at the front of the boss and 5/16" at the back. The Knuckle frame has no boss. The pin as OEM is too short for my purpose. I need one 2" overall, stepped at .310" for 7/8". These pins were made in two sizes by H-D. The "stock" stepped end of the pin is between 9/64th and 5/16" in diameter, (whatever that diameter is I don't know, but I have I.D measuring tools to find out). H-D also offered the pin as (46732-48) which was .005 O.ver S.ize. Which end and why it was oversized..I don't know. The part number for the pin is (VT 37-9097) I think I'll drop V-Twin a post card (today) and draw a diagram suggesting an iron "braze-on" anchor pin post be made and sold...like they do with their aluminum weld-on relay mount (VT 32-0063).

[k.perry]

Never heard from "Crew-cut" about drilling that anchor pin hole, so I went out and power-wire brushed off a 1" area around my mis-drilled anchor pin hole in the head stock of my OE Knuckle frame. Then soaked two shop rags in "Cold Fire" heat sink solution; wrapped one rag around the top bearing cup and another around the dash mount boss, and fill-welded the hole with 6013 (drag) rod, set at 115 amps. It took me three seperate passes with 6013 to get the depression stacked high enough to flat-grind the repair with a (barrel) grind stone connected to a Fordom hand grinder. The Cold Fire worked real good. No paint blistering. I repainted the small affected area with some Krylon primer and gloss black. Now to install the '49-59 Glide front fork and yoke, and do my next hole drilling with the (tightened) damper yoke as a guide. I'm using an undersized 19/32nd (smaller than 5/16") self-centering bit (that won't "walk"), from MSC Supply, to start the hole exactly where I want it this time. Dropping the bit throught the yoke to mark the starting point on new paint will allow me to snap-punch a divot hole, for the bits' point to register in. Eyeballing the drill bit angle (w/stop attached) while I drill, will be the hardest part; but for the firmly secured yoke position, it would be harder still. Blake, turned a longer anchor pin for me on his lathe. The angle of the hole has to be drilled at (29 degree *e.P), the same as the neck rake of the frame, because the yoke needs to move up and down on the anchor pin as the damper knob is tightened.
*"(e.P.) is the "early Palmer" (Restoration Book) rake degree called-out, and later changed in his Military manual, acknowledging a mistake, and moving the 30 to 28 degree angles back a degree"... (Not verbatim, but from info supplied to me by Peter Reeves.) So, a 30 degree neck rake as we all once knew is really a 29 degree. But, since the V-Twin catalog uses the "e.P" degrees for their Replica frames, I will "go with" my '41-45 Knuckle frame as having a 29 degree neck rake.
Just ordered (1) [single] part # 00647677, a 19/64" TiN coated bit from MSC (800) 645-7270, out of their 4,459 pg. '98/99 catalog. And yes, I will pay more in shipping than the $6.49 bit cost, but the lady told me it would be here from Reno, UPS, by tomorrow as "standard one-day service" which is Xmas to a mechanic...on any day. MSC Industiral is a retail outlet. So, go ahead and order yourself (a price we can all live with),... free... catalog.