1942 WLA Flywheel Balance Factor

[Jack_Hester]

Finally got some time to work on my own projects. Sized, cleaned, and weighed all the flywheel components to my WLA. Put a bobweight on the flywheels and matched them to to the lightest. Bobweight weighed in at 750.5 grams. I am using NOS 0.010" OS pistons. Did some reverse calculating and came up with a balance factor of 44% for these wheels. Now. Does anyone have any history or data to explain why Harley used this factor for this particular 45? Maybe all WLA's?

Jack

[Jack_Hester]

Update

I've now checked several sets of H-D 45 wheels, and have come to the conclusion that 50%+ is the the balance factor to expect from them. Someone must have been real creative with my WLA wheels. Think I'll use them, anyway, and see if they make for good highway cruisers. One thing that I did note: The mates only closely matched. None were of the exact balance as the opposite wheel. I matched my heaviest WLA wheel to the lightest, by only removing a couple of grams. Probably doesn't matter. But, it was easy while I was at it.

Jack