Long term project...1934 Harley Davidson VLD

[Kamyu]

Hey all,

So here it is. The beginning of my first motorcycle build. A 1934 Harley Davidson VLD.

Here is what I saw when I bought it:

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And here it is in my garage:

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Managed to pick up this lovely bit of metal, flaking paint, and rust recently. Was found in a chicken coop of all places. Overall pretty solid rolling chassis. Don't see any obvious problems so far. Heck, the transmission even moves freely and shifts crisply. Will be interesting what the inside looks like once I pull it out and open it up.

Will update as I go. Working on the motor currently which didn't come with this rolling chassis. But the rolling chassis is a 1934 which matches my motor. ^_^v Has the dents and everything for the rear fender. :P

Later!

~Kamyu

[hairynob24]

that's good looking roller happy days

[Steve Slocombe]

Yup, my first Harley was a 1934 VLD too. It's a milestone bike with the 36 horsepower engine and the full-on Art Deco styling, plus easy to restore and a blast to ride. Keep having fun with old bikes!

[Jim]

Nice to know another "VL" will be running and back on the road!!

[HDSmitty]

Welcome to the VLD fold. Good start ya have there. Smitty

[exeric]

I had a 1933 V, and next to the Indian Chiefs I have owned, it was the second best Harley I have owned. My '51FL has been the best H-D I have ever owned. In the old days, they called H-D's V series the Harley-Davidson "Indian" because H-D threw in the towel in 1930 and committed to the BT sidevalve type engine that Indian started building in 1916. I'm not putting down the H-D V series because everyone loves them, and with good reason. Just putting some historical context into the conversation. You'll have a lot of fun building that bike, Kamyu and with the help of Steve Slocombe, and the many VL enthusiasts out there, it should be a rewarding journey.

[knucklehead 61]

i love riding my 34VD, my favorite bike in my collection to ride.

[Kamyu]

Hey all,

So while I'm waiting for parts for the motor, I decided to start working on disassembly of my rolling chassis.

Not as much progress as I'd like, but after a couple days of penetrating oil and some liberal use of a 4 lb sledge, I managed to get the ride control off. That pin was stuck good. I'm assuming some rubber gasket was between everything and it had hardened into some type of hard plastic which had basically glued the entire thing together. >.<

But I managed to disassemble it mostly intact. :P

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Next up on the disassembly, the handle bars and the triple tree and from the looks of it, I got more hardened rubber down in it as it doesn't even budge when I remove the screws from it.

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Think I'm going to have to get some short screws and put them in backwards to open up the triple tree a little so I can hopefully break the bars loose.

Any tips for removing handlebars and the triple tree, feel free to chime in.

Later

~Kamyu

[exeric]

You'll need a hammer to move the bars. I have used 1" split colars on the bars so the hammer won't put dents in the tubing.

[Kamyu]

Hey all,

Success!

Was heading to bed when I had a thought. Liberal use of the 4 lb sledge, a piece of 2x4 wood, and about 15 minutes of time and I managed to finally remove the handle bars and triple tree.

Basically I used the wood as my buffer and got the triple tree to move up to as high as it would go to loosen the tube the bars were in, then the hard part and put the wood under the bars next to the riser and applied some 4 lb persuasion.

The end result, the bars moved and finally came out along with the triple tree.

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Next up, the forks. Gonna have to order a tool for that. :P

Later,

~Kamyu

[Steve Slocombe]

You can disassemble the forks, carefully of course, by lying them flat on the floor and slowly loosening the top nuts. The nuts and springs will fly across the floor, so have something like a blanket for them to run into. Assembly is where you need the tool, but check elsewhere on this forum as a couple of ratchet straps have been known to work.

[aumick10]

This is what I used to work on my JD front end. You still need to be careful.
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[Kamyu]

Hey all,

Disassembly continues. Along with unexpected surprises!

Fittings on this bike chassis are surprisingly lubricated for as old as it is and the chicken coop it was found in. Most of the nuts and such are coming apart very easily.

Here's the current progress of disassembly:

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I'm almost thinking the original paint was white as that's what is peeking through the crusty flaking. You can see it near the head.

Original bearings were in the head. I'll have to clean them up and see what condition they are in but the cups look pristine and the bearing balls look pretty good too despite being covered in grease.

Rear wheel brake drum looks like it's in decent shape.

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And the teeth in the rear wheel look pristine for shape for as old as it is.

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Once I got the rear wheel off, I came across an unexpected surprise.

An original Corbin Speedo axle gear. ^_^v Sadly I don't have any of the rest of it. :P

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Looks like the axles are in amazing shape as well and I'll know more about the wheel hubs once I get into them. But from the looks of how things are going so far, they might just be near pristine. :P

Definitely got a good rolling chassis.

~Kamyu

[Kamyu]

Hey all,

Slow progress, but a few milestones.

First off. The neck lock works! Got a set of keys from www.lostakey.net which was able to get them out right away. Definitely recommend them. Had to sand the tip of the key just slightly as it was a tad long, but once I did that, key slipped in and turned fine. Wish the lock had a grease fitting as it's a little sticky, but key turns easily enough and the lock moves.



Next up, I finally got the clutch basket off the transmission. That was a pain the butt. Clutch plates were gummed up with rust, dirt, oil, etc and did not want to move. Got the clutch puller tool for a VL and after a bit, the front plate came off. Didn't help someone removed the screws holding all the springs on sometime in the past. Got everything removed and next up is the nut holding the sprocket on. Just need to find a tool for that.

With the clutch basket removed, I could remove the plate which was attached to the ears and was finally able to open up the top to see inside the transmission. Now I'm no expert on gear wear, but to my untrained eye, those gears and shafts look really good. But chime in your thoughts. I'm not an expert on gear wear. Everything seems to turn and slide nicely.





Finally, started disassembling that Corbin axle drive. I showed before pictures, but here's one with some of the grime cleaned off. Can actually read the writing now.



That's all for the update.

Let me know your thoughts. Especially on those gears.

Later!

~Kamyu

[Kamyu]

A little update.

Finally finished disassembly of the transmission. Onto cleaning. So far just done some wipe down with paper towels and scraping dirt with some plastic picks. Need to give it a good scrub down in some hot water and dawn soap. But it's come pretty clean just wiping it down.




Debating how far to go with the rebuild. I plan on using a sealed bearing for the kicker side of the main shaft, but debating using a sealed bearing on the clutch side. Right now, I can reuse the existing setup and only need to replace the retaining ring for the roller cage. Everything else is in excellent condition. Plus, I can't remove the inner race from the gear without heat and I'm wary of putting heat to it. Never done so before and I don't want to damage things. No plans to cut a o-ring groove into the cluster gear shaft either.



In other news, the first bit of the restoration is complete. It's minor but I think it came out good. See earlier pictures for the before. It was really crusty before I overhauled it.

Here's the results:



Enjoy!

~Kamyu