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Remembering employment at Harley Davidson.
After a 4 year hitch in the Navy in 1963 I returned to Wisconsin. Then 1966 (1st year of the Shovel Head.) Was 25 years old and working for Murphy Diesel Manufacturing in Milwaukee. Noted an ad in the paper that Harley was looking for mechanics. They interviewed me and did as much testing as I ever had for employment. I remember the personnel director as a real genuine creep/jerk. Anyway they offered me the job. I told them I would get back with a decision. Walked outside on Juneau avenue and looking down from the sidewalk into the basement repair area was able to watch the job being performed that had been offered me. As the bike nut I was, the sounds and sights captivated me. So I took the employment.
Motorcycles completed on the assembly line upstairs were brought by an elevator down to the basement repair area. They then were started and operated by a “test rider” on a set of rollers. The test rider would note discrepancies and tag the bike with what was supposed to be fixed. The bikes to be fixed were lined up. The mechanics then took and pushed them to there work area where they were hoisted onto a work bench where repair was started. When the repair was done it went back to the tester for a re-run on the rollers. If it wasn’t fixed of course you got it back. Jobs spanned from leaky intake manifolds, many noisy cam sets replaced on Sportsters, damaged sheet metal items, big twin clutch adjustments, various oil leaks, steering head bearing adjustments along with everything that was bolted in place on the bikes.
Looking for parts needed would put you upstairs in the main and sub assembly areas. At night there was no shift working there. Not much light either. Hunting for needed pieces. Eerie at evening time.
I mostly worked a ten hour night shift getting off around 1:30 AM. There was a small tavern near Juneau avenue To get there you had to cross a bridge that went over railroad tracks adjacent to the plant. Officially the bar was supposed to close at 2:00 AM. The bar tender would pull the curtains to stay open for us. Small glass beer 10 cents, shot of brandy 35 cents. Driving home from Milwaukee North to Mequon around 2 am in the winter before the snow plows the only indication of the road was to stay between the telephone poles.
There was a time the test rider was out sick for a few days and somehow I became honored with his job while he was gone? Harley was still producing a few hand shift, foot clutch models in that era and although I had owned Indians and a Harley hand shift model still found them at first a bit challenging on the test rollers.
Union meetings were …. Sit down and shut up.
The work was hard. Pushing bikes. Kick starting thick oiled magneto Sportster motors at below freezing temperatures. Somehow avoided “Sportster Knee”. Lots of motor noise. An environment full of exhaust fumes. Watch your forearm if you reach under a magneto Sporty to set ignition timing. Had the burn mark for many years The work was mostly all piece rate meaning you got paid more if you got the job done faster than the piece rate time. I hardly ever made the bonus times. Some did. Base pay was around $2.40 an hour. Time and ½ for overtime. Dealers touring the plant should have been diverted from our space in the basement.
Some of the bikes to be repaired were stored across the street in a place called “The Barn” Employees could also park there private rides in there. Some few rode to work in winter with side cars or three wheelers. You could ride or push the bikes back over the street to the repair area. If they would start I always rode and looked forward to any short blast on an XLCH Sporty. Harley had field test riders that rode on the state roads (weather permitting) all year.
I mostly went to work there because I loved bikes. Finally though sick of the 0 minus 30 degree weather and remembering a warmer place I returned to California where I had done a lot of my Navy time.
After a 4 year hitch in the Navy in 1963 I returned to Wisconsin. Then 1966 (1st year of the Shovel Head.) Was 25 years old and working for Murphy Diesel Manufacturing in Milwaukee. Noted an ad in the paper that Harley was looking for mechanics. They interviewed me and did as much testing as I ever had for employment. I remember the personnel director as a real genuine creep/jerk. Anyway they offered me the job. I told them I would get back with a decision. Walked outside on Juneau avenue and looking down from the sidewalk into the basement repair area was able to watch the job being performed that had been offered me. As the bike nut I was, the sounds and sights captivated me. So I took the employment.
Motorcycles completed on the assembly line upstairs were brought by an elevator down to the basement repair area. They then were started and operated by a “test rider” on a set of rollers. The test rider would note discrepancies and tag the bike with what was supposed to be fixed. The bikes to be fixed were lined up. The mechanics then took and pushed them to there work area where they were hoisted onto a work bench where repair was started. When the repair was done it went back to the tester for a re-run on the rollers. If it wasn’t fixed of course you got it back. Jobs spanned from leaky intake manifolds, many noisy cam sets replaced on Sportsters, damaged sheet metal items, big twin clutch adjustments, various oil leaks, steering head bearing adjustments along with everything that was bolted in place on the bikes.
Looking for parts needed would put you upstairs in the main and sub assembly areas. At night there was no shift working there. Not much light either. Hunting for needed pieces. Eerie at evening time.
I mostly worked a ten hour night shift getting off around 1:30 AM. There was a small tavern near Juneau avenue To get there you had to cross a bridge that went over railroad tracks adjacent to the plant. Officially the bar was supposed to close at 2:00 AM. The bar tender would pull the curtains to stay open for us. Small glass beer 10 cents, shot of brandy 35 cents. Driving home from Milwaukee North to Mequon around 2 am in the winter before the snow plows the only indication of the road was to stay between the telephone poles.
There was a time the test rider was out sick for a few days and somehow I became honored with his job while he was gone? Harley was still producing a few hand shift, foot clutch models in that era and although I had owned Indians and a Harley hand shift model still found them at first a bit challenging on the test rollers.
Union meetings were …. Sit down and shut up.
The work was hard. Pushing bikes. Kick starting thick oiled magneto Sportster motors at below freezing temperatures. Somehow avoided “Sportster Knee”. Lots of motor noise. An environment full of exhaust fumes. Watch your forearm if you reach under a magneto Sporty to set ignition timing. Had the burn mark for many years The work was mostly all piece rate meaning you got paid more if you got the job done faster than the piece rate time. I hardly ever made the bonus times. Some did. Base pay was around $2.40 an hour. Time and ½ for overtime. Dealers touring the plant should have been diverted from our space in the basement.
Some of the bikes to be repaired were stored across the street in a place called “The Barn” Employees could also park there private rides in there. Some few rode to work in winter with side cars or three wheelers. You could ride or push the bikes back over the street to the repair area. If they would start I always rode and looked forward to any short blast on an XLCH Sporty. Harley had field test riders that rode on the state roads (weather permitting) all year.
I mostly went to work there because I loved bikes. Finally though sick of the 0 minus 30 degree weather and remembering a warmer place I returned to California where I had done a lot of my Navy time.
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