jd transmission

[mred]

is there a service manual for a harley jd similar to the later harleys that have expioded views of transmissions of different years as well as engines of different years? thanks

[Robert Luland]

No! There is limited info. It's really all word of mouth. There's one book of service bulletin but that's about it. Sign up for the JD Yahoo chat line. http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/harleyjd/. Hope this helps Bob L

[23JDCA 808]

http://webspace.webring.com/people/qp/pravg/clutch.htm

[harleytoprock]

Also the JD transmission is basicly the same a VL tranmission. Vl Heaven in England has an excellent book of VL.

[Steve Slocombe]

Thanks for the nice words. Yes I have pictures of the VL gearbox which is very similar to the VL one, plus nearly all parts.

[mred]

thank you all for the replies. i am surprised with the vast knowledge in this club about the jd that there are no photos and discriptions/exploded views of engines and trannies of different years for the model jd. i have books on the jd( army training manual, motor repair manual, instructions for setting up..., service dept bullitins etc.) but none have clear photos or discriptions. i have some summer projects. when i am done ithink i will disassemble different year jd motors and trans and put them here somewhere. maybe others will do the same and we can have all this info available to everyone. what do you think?

[23JDCA 808]

You would have a more defined audience at http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/harleyjd/.

[Steve Slocombe]

I'm happy to help. It's illogical that there is a VL book but not a JD one, given that there were maybe five times more F/J bikes produced. We have been talking about it in the AMCA for 5-10 years but there is no money in writing a book unless you have parts. I've already offered the format of my VL book as a template, and sent the text to Mark Masa five years ago to adapt. I've also proposed we split up the chapters between various club members, eg engines, transmissions, frames, wheels, handlebars etc then write a chapter each to assemble into an AMCA book. We could manage say 1915-29 which would cover most of the bikes people are likely to find. It is clear from the parts books that there is the usual progression of Harley engineering changes over time, which are pretty well known to the experts but not properly documented for the first time restorer. With digital cameras, the Internet, and desktop publishing we could do a decent job. I'm a listed publisher if we can find a few more volunteers to move along this much needed shop manual.

[mred]

steve, excellent ideas. i figure if someone is assy/disassy a jd ( jd a generic term for all of these ioe models) it would not take much longer to take some digital photos of parts and their placement. all this info could be collected and put on a disc which also be printed in book form. these machines will outlive all of us. it would be great to have all this knowledge in one place. sometime in the future or even right now, someone first seeing a jd will say, what the .... is that!(like i did) they will need info to keep it alive.
on friday will fax cc info for your book.

[mred]

bob, bill, thanks for the tip. i will check it out.

[Steve Slocombe]

Mmm, don't underestimate how much work this is going to be. The first edition of my VL book 21 years ago took about 500 hours to write and was only about 100 pages long, had few pictures, and some schoolboy errors. Several hundred hours have been put into the subsequent editions, so this is more a labour of love than a commercial publishing project. But a JD restoration book is a glaring omission from the old bike scene and needs to be written. I'd like to see 5-10 of us agree to an index and dish out the chapters for drafting in some standard format. I don't mind pulling it together, publishing and printing it, but we need volunteers to sign up first. Would starting a fresh thread on this forum, or running a short article in the AMCA magazine, help get people to step forwards?

[MMasa]

Steve is correct. It is a daunting task. I have we'll over 500 hours into my JD book and its only about 1/2 finished. The biggest challenge is that most every part changed in some subtle or major way in almost every year. The change is not reflected in the parts books etc. Fortunatly I probably have at least one of every variant of every part so it's easier to track down the subtle changes. There are 14 different frames from 1915 - 1929! They changed almost every year in some way and in a couple of cases, midway through the year. Cylinders are another nightmare with a similar number of variants.
It has been, and continues to be a VERY serious undertaking. In the meantime, I always make myself available to answer any question that I can. In fact, over the years, the specific questions from AMCA and forum members have determined what sections of the book I worked on. If someone asks about transmission top covers, bam, that's what I dig into. Do the research, pull the parts, photograph, and write.
It tends to move the progress all over the map, but it satisfies two needs at once.
Mark Masa

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Mark, I thought you had become discouraged with the work involved in writing a JD shop manual, so more power to you for continuing on. Do you need any help from other AMCA members? Have you got a completion date in mind? Remember the old Harley method of putting the bikes on the market then sorting out the problems later, so there is a trade off between timeliness and completeness for this much needed book.

[mred]

steve, mark, the book you disribe is indeed a monumental endeavor. leaving the mechanical part aside, there is great profesional talent required. decisions like size of book,how many pages, what type print, how many photos, do you flip a negative on page so it will look better?, first chapter horn or engine? also have to worry abouy the prose- is it easy to read as well as informative? then of course the arguments between the writer, editor and publisher even if they are the same person. i salute all of you who have that talent and ability.
my idea was more of a simplistic, amateurish, mechanical stop gap measure. if you are building or disassemling a j type motor or tranny. take some photos or even a youtube type video to show parts and placement. club is 59yrs old, book is in the making, it might be good to have something until jd bible arrives