Recalls; Factory or safety items

[Rubone]

Great story Eric. And as Kyle pointed out in his post , lots of SA frames broke there, but lots of rigid frames broke on the bottom rails and many are gusseted to reinforce them. I don't believe anyone has ever had points taken off for any repair, unless the judge has no clue as to years of usage taking its toll.
Robbie

[Lonnie]

I completely rebuilt a '60 DuoGlide in about 1978 and it's frame was broken in the same place as the others noted here. I duplicated the factory -68 piece in all aspects and welded it in place. I couldn't get out of it what I had put into it when I tried to sell it so I parted it out in Daytona in '79. So that frame is out there somewhere probably confusing someone.

[bmh]

A good friend of mine always claimed that the aluminum primary caused the frame to crack at that spot on the rear down tube, He says the new primary case made the engine & trans a rigid unit on that side of the bike and must have eliminated some small amount of chassis flex between the two, transfering the stress farter up the frame to a weak point at the coumpound bends. That would explain why the frames never cracked on the oposite side, the trans and engine are not a rigid unit on the right and the frame can still flex.

[Steve Slocombe]

On the early VLs I believe I have the only remaining pair of 'small flywheel' engine cases which were on the first 2000 bikes recalled by the factory. As the engine numbers must have been restamped into the replacement cases, and the old cases returned to the factory for destruction, I believe those of you with 1930 VL engine numbers below 3000 are safe from the dreaded AMCA judges. I'm still collecting early 1930 parts, and hope to ride in for judging one day with a bike built round these early cases. So many fantasies, so little time..

[Chris Haynes]

Steve, The early 1930 VL frame was different too.

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Chris, yes the early 1930 frame was different, with a shallower shoe under the engine because of those smaller flywheels. I've never seen one, and imagine the old frames were returned to the factory and had new shoes brazed in to be used up in the rest of the production run. Would my hypothetical bike be disqualified for incorrect engine/frame combination, or just knocked for an incorrect frame component under the engine? We probably have several years to make up our minds.

[Chris Haynes]

An old, now long dead dealer told me that the MoCo shipped every dealer that had bought one of the early VL's a new frame with the new lower end installed in it. The dealer had to transfer all the parts from the bike to this new frame at their own expense.

[exeric]

An old, now long dead dealer told me that the MoCo shipped every dealer that had bought one of the early VL's a new frame with the new lower end installed in it. The dealer had to transfer all the parts from the bike to this new frame at their own expense.

I wonder what the dealer did about different colors. I assume olive green wasn't the only color available in 1930. . . . Obviously, the dealer probably had to repaint it too. I'll bet it was no fun being a factory representitive in those days.

[pete reeves]

Chris.
Do you have any pictures of the early 30 VL if so it might be possible to see what the exact changes were?

Peter Reeves 860

[Underdoggie]

Rooster,
That recall was for the early electric start models. They tended to break the frame at the left side casting to tubing connection from a combination of torque reaction and extra weight. The kit was available for a long time as a dealer fix. I think your years are a little off. I believe the gusset was added in late '66 production and the fix was for '65 and early '66 models. I'll llok it up in my shop dopes to be sure. But yes, those are the kind of judging issues in this thread.
Robbie

I was about to start a new thread on this but am glad now that I did the search first. My 65 frame broke in that very spot in 1996. I made a gusset that looked just like the one on my 75 frame and went to a welder Cotten told me about. He knew just what to do. I am looking for any kind of printed documentation like a service bulliten or factory recall on this repair that I could add to my ever growing documentation book for this bike. I see I actually posted to this thread on an earlier date but because I am a dummy I did not ask about any printed dodcumentation. Please help, Thanks,
Underdoggie

[Chris Haynes]

All 1930 VL Frames were Olive. Olive with Vermilion striping was the only color available in 1930. The larger flywheels and lower end of the engine required a newly designed frame to hold it. Everything else was the same.

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Chris, my pals at Harbor Vintage have turned up a 1930 optional colors leaflet which shows three optional single color paint schemes and five optional two-color paint schemes, so not all the frames would have been olive green.

Shop Dope No. 50 of 11 November 1929 also gives a long list of parts changed after motor number 3000, with early motors being converted and fitted with the late parts. These include valve springs, guides, upper cover, drain valve, catch, breather pipe, flywheels, cases, studs, inner primary etc. Harley was also addressing noise issues by changing out Dow pistons for iron, plus tinkering with the transmission by changing clutch friction discs and springs, and adjusting kickstart feel with a new starter clutch.

[Chris Haynes]

Shop Dope No. 50 of 11 November 1929 also gives a long list of parts changed after motor number 3000, with early motors being converted and fitted with the late parts. These include valve springs, guides, upper cover, drain valve, catch, breather pipe, flywheels, cases, studs, inner primary etc. Harley was also addressing noise issues by changing out Dow pistons for iron, plus tinkering with the transmission by changing clutch friction discs and springs, and adjusting kickstart feel with a new starter clutch.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for that Steve,
I had no idea that 2,000 machines had been recalled. My next thought was did the MoCo send replacement engines with the same serial number on them? I only have one photo of a 1930 number and it is in the 6,000 range. Do you have any photos of engine numbers under 3000? If so what cases are used? My factory photo of a '30 has a blank number boss.
As for custom colored bikes, You will have to find somebody who was around then to answer that one.

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Chris, we have to assume that Harley sent replacement motors, or at least cases, with the same numbers, or the titling would really have been a problem. I have what seems to be the only pair of surviving early cases, and pictures of them are in the letters section of the magazine a few years back. You can see the flywheels were smaller, and the engine numbers are stamped into cases that had no plinth. Even though we surmise the engine numbers were the same as the withdrawn ones, Harley seem to have kept the case matching numbers going as usual. That's why, for 1930 only, we see case numbers a couple of thousand out of whack with the engine numbers, as compared to the usual couple of hundred caused by stockholding etc. Best regards.