Linkert floats???

[T. Cotten]

Cotten, Do you have a web site or how do I go about getting info and prices on your floats? Sorry I'm not in this loop of knowledge. If several were purchased for spares, what is the average shelf life? Thanks, Bob AMCA #6738

Bob!

I have no website.
I cannot even browse this forum any longer on my WIN98 computers, and must borrow my wife's.

The shelf life of any float is infinite!
Its when it is in modern fuel that the clock starts ticking.

(Ironically, modern fuels stay stable as well in glass; But in the presence of floats and other test materials, the fuel goes rancid! Not only does fuel ruin many floats, floats ruin fuels, over extended exposure.)

I cut the newest and most resistant material on the planet, and when it is improved, I shall be replacing any older productions that fail with the updated material.

(My competitors seem to do fine with obsolete formulations, except for in the Pacific Northwest last season. Who knows what shall come out of the pumps this season? We are not in a gas crunch yet, are we?)

Please post me direct at liberty@npoint.net for pricing and ordering instructions, as I spam at this forum enough as it is.

Thanks for your interest,

....Cotten
Liberty Motorcycle Specialties, Inc.
118 N.Washington St.
Lacon, IL 61540 USA

[BigLakeBob]

Cotten, Do you have a web site or how do I go about getting info and prices on your floats? Sorry I'm not in this loop of knowledge. If several were purchased for spares, what is the average shelf life? Thanks, Bob AMCA #6738

[koanes]

I used the Armstrong floats for many years without a problem. My first long term experience with one of Tom's floats was in a M35TP Linkert on my 46FL. While I was breaking the motor in I was consistantly getting 50mpg. I had never been able to break the 40mpg barrior before. After it was wore in and was subject to regular hard use it dropped to 45mpg. I'm a believer in the Durables. Even a 2 or 3mpg improvement is significant if you ride your motorcycle often. But even the Durable didn't help when I was dragging the sidetruck on the Cannonball, I only averaged around 30, despite leaning it out till it rattled a couple of times.

[Chris Haynes]

Cotten, Cotten, He's the man. If he can't do it, no one can!!!

[T. Cotten]

45OZ!

At $4.20 a gallon for gas, you might consider your brass boatanchor in another light.

A fellow from another Indian web community carefully logged his mileage for many miles with first his original cork, then a brass float, and then one of mine.
The cork must have been soaked, because his mileage actually increased to 27mpg with the brass, with no other variables involved.
With a float of proper buoyancy, however, he logged an average 35 mpg.

Folks,
These things are just like toilets.
They "cycle", meaning they open up and close down to accomodate the needs of the carb, by restoring the reserve of fuel in the bowl. "Reserve' is why there is a bowl.
Light floats' cycle has a very low amplitude and a high frequency, as the lack of mass makes it sensitive. It is as close to a straight line as possible.
A float that is three or four times as heavy, however, is sluggish, resulting in a high amplitude and reduced frequency, thus extended periods
of time when the carb is fuller (richer) than ideal, and below ideal (leaner).
There goes fuel economy.

Besides controlling the mixture at steady speeds, the reserve is also critical for refilling the Schebler (as used by Linkert) "accellerator sump", which is the void carved into the main nozzle that holds a charge to be expelled upon sudden demand.
Brass floats are inflated in volume in an effort to make them buoyant at all. Plus they must be set significantly deeper to achieve the same fluid level in the bowl, thus taking another huge bite out of the reserve space.
Some of you may remember that some flat-trackers actually added volume to their bowls: http://www.beautyofspeed.com/gallery...ert-bowl01.htm
(My ultralight DURABLEs are smaller than original floats, in order to achieve the same buoyancy and setting with less density.)

The bottom line is still that brass floats don't float.
(attached)

....Cotten

[45OZ]

RF!

That was a MARVEL float I cut for your '36 upside-down tragedy. Not a '37 Zenith.

45OZ!
Linkert NEVER produced a Model M float from brass. Vertical Twin Indians and Autos perhaps, but you are sadly mistaken.

This forum is becoming a mis-information highway.

....Cotten

thanks for the info. How about some info on the complete history of floats used in linkert carbs? You know Compounds used, Lenth of use before breakdown of compounds, who manufactured them & for how long,
This could be a step on curbing the "mis-information" & you could be leading it !!!
Still happy with the Brass float I have used for the last 14 years, guess I just got lucky on when I bought it, How I set it up & adjusted the float, well off to ride my BRASS FLOAT LINKERT Indian !!!

[kval]

with the advances in materials today, why would anyone use anything but one of Cotton's floats. they work great and he stands behind every one he sells. when I thought I had a bad float, he shipped one out right away, I then discovered it was NOT the float but a bad neddle and seat, that I bought from another vendor.

[knuckleheadtim]

If you adjust the brass floats down to compensate for the weight, they don't drop far enough to open the needle sufficiently. You will run out of fuel going down the highway, and Harleys don't like to be run lean. If you don't drop the float, the fuel level will be too high in the main well, and the air bleeds in the main nozzle won't kick in correctly. A 45" motor might get enough fuel with the float adjusted down, but a big twin won't. A Cotten float is the only way to go.

[T. Cotten]

RF!

That was a MARVEL float I cut for your '36 upside-down tragedy. Not a '37 Zenith.

45OZ!
Linkert NEVER produced a Model M float from brass. Vertical Twin Indians and Autos perhaps, but you are sadly mistaken.

This forum is becoming a mis-information highway.

....Cotten

[Slojo]

Everything is subject to fail eventually. Me, the few float types I have used including brass has failed until now. So far I have been enjoying my vintage riding with a float from Lonnie at Competition Dist. Lonnie's (black) float took me across the country in the 2010 MC Cannonball and now is with 5300 trouble free miles.
Joe
Cannonball #48

[45OZ]

Just my 2 cents here. I have the same Brass float in my linkert on my 45 chief , I bought the float from Rocky's about 14 years ago, when I rebuilt the Carb. This bike is used at least 3 Times a week all year long, for about the last 10 years, I don't pamper it I beat the hell out of it & I have had no issues with the brass Float & will only use them, I have been told that they are not good ect.... But I guess the key is to keep it in use. I have had other items need fixing & such but not the brass float. I see no need to use any other material, Hell it worked in 1945 it will work now.
Just my 2 cents
Oz

[redfred84]

Good Heavens! Dead, green floats! I thought I was in the rust belt, just off of the Pacific here, on the left Coast? Bare metal forms surface rust overnight in my garage here.
I am very gratefull for some of my Cotton floats in various forms that aren't available elsewhere; like the Zenith on my Up-side down 4our, which has lasted fine so far on No Cal, & So Cal fuels (we'll see how she likes Yosemite fuel this weekend). I have some Rubber Duckies in stock that I have yet to employ. I just got a ladies Pan Head in with a bad spongy float. This bike was originally from Florida. I've had 100 % success with brass, and probably 70% with others personally. I admire the warrantees & all, but I'd rather just deal with stuff once. Perhaps the fuel changes too often around here (there's many a refinery just across the Bay from us here in SF). I believe most of my float failures have been local now that I think of it.
Trying not to corrode, or swell, RF.

[duffeycycles]

To Red Fred;I have seen many brass floats sink -they corrode with moisture here in the rust belt -lasting about 4 years max-they are green when they die

[T. Cotten]

RF!

Besides robbing performance and fuel mileage,
brass floats are not "impervious"!

They can corrode.

I had one make a hole in itself just sitting on the shelf for years; the flux ate its way out from inside!

....Cotten

[felthamw]

Thank you, Tommo
As is what I have found to be New Zealand custom - I have yet in my worldly travels to find a place as friendly as this country. Nice to see and experience in this day and age. I keep asking how hard it would be to move to New Zealand (not that hard to do).... the challenges are actually more directed towards my newly "empty nester" wife. Personally, I would move here in a minute. (I love it here in NZ.) Thank you and your countrymen for showing this Yank what life should be like.
I am due to return to Tokoroa/Rotorua area next month. If time allows work-wise, I will arrange a mutually agreeable meeting. I will be much closer than I am here now in Marsden Point/Whangerai.
Long live old motorcycles......!!!
Wayne #4329