Powerplus or Bust, Eh?

[Shaky Jake]

shifter linkage

The old bell crank pivot was broken off in my frame, so I had to drill it out. This one came with the 1916 swapmeet parts:








This video shows how the shifter linkage and hand clutch lever all move:








Kevin

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[chasekyle70]

So I have been buried in this thread every chance I get the last few days and now I have some questions. During the time you were rebuilding your rear leafs you mentioned the packs should have 7 leafs, mine has 8. I also somehow have a rear brake that has not been machined and I don't know why. More importantly I don't have anything to reference to get it machined.IMG_2961.jpgIMG_2959.jpgIMG_2960.jpg

Thanks
Chase

[Shaky Jake]

So I have been buried in this thread every chance I get the last few days and now I have some questions. During the time you were rebuilding your rear leafs you mentioned the packs should have 7 leafs, mine has 8. I also somehow have a rear brake that has not been machined and I don't know why. More importantly I don't have anything to reference to get it machined.[ATTACH=CONFIG]16470[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]16471[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]16472[/ATTACH]

Thanks
Chase

My mistake; 8 leaves is correct. Thanks for catching that.

It appears to be an unmachined reproduction rear brake plate. Probably your best bet if you want to use it would be to get your hands on an original one, and machine yours to match. Also, rear brake plates do come up on eBay and at swap meets from time to time, and reproductions are available. If you don't have your own machine shop, you could probably buy a new reproduction for less than what it would cost to pay a shop to machine your casting.

Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

Assembling the Clutch

These are the parts of an Indian PowerPlus clutch. The old worn out riveted linings have been replaced with nice new bonded linings by Energy One Performance Clutches:








This is the clutch hub, which attaches to the tapered shaft of the transmission. On one end it is keyed in a spider arrangement to fit the clutch back plate, and the other end has two sets of threads, the inboard set is left handed for the inner roller bearing race, and the outboard set is right handed for the lock ring:









Normally the back plate and front plates would be nickel plated, but in this case the castings were so rough on the outside that I just decided to pant them satin red. Just a small amount of heat to the back plate allows the hub to slip in with a light tap from a soft hammer:









Then you flip the back plate/hub assembly over, set the bronze roller retainer on the back plate, and put the 22 rollers in the retainer:










Before installing the inner bearing race, it is important to spend some time making sure that these little holes are clear. They pass through to the threaded bolt holes, so that once the clutch is installed the bolts can be removed one at a time to lube the rollers:








Once that is done the inner race can be threaded on and tightened, lefty-tighty, righty-loosey:








To be continued on the next post.


Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

Clutch 2

Once the inner race is tightened to the hub, the lock ring goes on:








I needed a wrench to fit the lock ring, so I dug through a bin of miscellaneous tools at Blair Pawn and found this. Apparently it fits a GMC and it once belonged to someone named Aronson. It had too many tits but it was the right diameter, so I did a little grinding and, viola!














Once the lock ring is tightened, the sprocket, which has the outer race for the rollers in it, can be slipped on:








Then there's a metal plate with linings on both sides that goes on:










And then a flat metal plate with teeth to engage the inside of the sprocket, similar to a modern clutch basket:










More to come; one more post on clutch assembly coming up!


Kevin

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[Shaky Jake]

Clutch 3

OK, lets wrap this clutch build up.

Next, set the front plate on:










You can vary the number of springs to adjust the stiffness of the clutch. I'm starting with 8:








Then the tension plate goes on over the springs, with four adjusting screws and a lock plate:










The kick starter pinion drops in, a spring, a cupped washer, and adjusting screw, and a lock nut go on. In some of them the adjusting screw has to go in from the other side, it all depends on which kick starter ratchet you have, and how it's threaded:










And there we have a complete clutch assembly:








Kevin

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[exeric]

You are doing a first class job Kevin. Your posts make me want a Powerplus so bad I can taste it

[painterdale]

It's hard to believe this is your first Powerplus project. Sounds like you've had years of experience on these things. Very impressive, as well as informative. Dale

[Shaky Jake]

Thanks guys. I've been working on bikes since 1970, but this one is twice as old as anything else I've done. The trick is, I take it apart and get it all figured out BEFORE I write the posts. That way it seems like I know what I'm doing when in reality it's "Yoicks and away!"

How's your project coming, Dale?

Kevin

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[Tom Lovejoy]

really enjoying this, great work - keep it coming!

[painterdale]

Thanks guys. I've been working on bikes since 1970, but this one is twice as old as anything else I've done. The trick is, I take it apart and get it all figured out BEFORE I write the posts. That way it seems like I know what I'm doing when in reality it's "Yoicks and away!"

How's your project coming, Dale?

Kevin

.

Actually, Kevin, I'm still taking classes on my bike. We just finished clutches! Dale

[Shaky Jake]

Motor Base 1

It's interesting that, in the day, both Indian and Harley Davidson saw fit to design their engines with roller bearings on one side of the crankshaft, and a bronze bushing on the other. But HD put the rollers on the drive side and Indian put them on the pinion side. I'm not sure what the thinking was. To be honest, I wonder if the engines wouldn't work as well with bushings on both sides. Be that as it may, the bearing housing, or what you might call the bearing race, in my right side case was pretty pitted and needed to be replaced:








When you flip the case over you can see that Indian provided two small holes through the case to facilitate removal of the bearing housing. After applying some heat to the case, you can alternately insert a small punch through the holes and tap the bearing housing out fairly easily:












The bearing housing has a washer that fits in a recess in its outboard side:












Since the total stack-up height of the bearing housing plus the bearing housing washer will affect the side play of the crankshaft, you want to take some measurements and compare the new parts to the old. I did this by putting the housing and washer stack on the table of my band saw, and measuring both the old and new parts with a depth mic:








In this case, the new parts were about .020 inches thicker than the old. That's wouldn't work, because the crankshaft side play is only .010 to .020 inches, and the thrust washers were already the thin ones (.062), so there wouldn't be any clearance left with the new bearing housing and washer. I took the new bearing housing down to Central Cylinder Service, and George dropped what he was doing to help me out. He took some off of the housing; as much as we were comfortable taking without removing the surface hardness. When I got home I took a couple of thousandth off of the washer by just honing it on a bench stone by hand:








During assembly, the final side play gets adjusted by using different thickness thrust washers on the crankshaft. There is on one each side, they go in that round recess in the side of the flywheel, around the pinion shaft and drive shaft. The recess is almost .060 deep, so you can't go much thinner than .062 on the thrust washers:








Okay. In the next post we'll talk about sizing the bearing housing ID and installing the bearing housing in the right side case.


Kevin


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[Shaky Jake]

Motor Base 2

This picture illustrates how the rollers and retainers (some call them cages) fit into the bearing housing. Ignore the cat hair. The closed ends of the retainers go together, with the open ends outward:








To set the clearance, you have to take the diameter of the shaft (in this case .812) plus the desired clearance (I used .001) plus twice the diameter of the rollers, and then you hone the inside diameter of the bearing housing to that sum. The standard Indian rollers are .2495 in diameter, and about .266 long. There is no source of rollers exactly that size that I am aware of. Some folks are taking later Indian rollers that are .2495 by .308 long, and grinding the length down. A perfectly good option. Since I don't have a surface grinder, I went the other way which is to use rollers from a Harley Davidson JD/VL transmission which are .250 diameter by .266 long, or just .0005 oversized for the Indian application. So, we honed my bearing housing ID to .812 + .001 + .250 + .250 = 1.313 inches. I don't have a Sunnen Hone, even though it's been on my Christmas list for like 40 years, so while I was at Central Cylinder Service George voluntold Mike to hone my bearing housing for me. I love those guys. I test fit the whole assembly on the pinion shaft before I press fit the bearing housing in the case:








Yay. Now it's time to put things together. The case goes in the oven at 250 for 45 minutes (give or take):








And the bearing housing goes in the freezer for an hour or so:








What, you didn't know you could freeze butter? The cold housing drops right into the warm case, no pounding required. Just make sure the washer is lined up in the recess:








Time for me to hit it, but next time I'll talk about assembling the cases and checking the crank shaft side play. Thanks for watching.


Kevin


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[painterdale]

"Voluntold" I like that! Dale

[Tom Lovejoy]

Keep it coming Kevin, great stuff