VL motor mount specs

[frichie68]

Is there a link somewhere that shows torque specs for old bikes?
Specifically interested in VL motor mounts but other specs would also be useful.
I tried the "Advanced Search", got a ton of possibilities but don't have time to open and read each and every one.
Thanks in advance.
Rich

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Rich, most of the torque specs are in my VL book, and some of these can be inferred from the UL shop manual which is available as a reprint. On the lower motor mounts there is a cotter pin to fit, so you can only check for tightness every one-sixth of a turn. I don't use a torque wrench on these but just pull them up tightly with hand tools. Maybe there is a spec in the UL manual, which uses the same fixings, but I don't recall it. I'd guess around 30 pound-feet.

[frichie68]

Thank you Steve! Still absorbing my newly received VL Book and after flunking (passing?) the "Insanity Test" I still have much to learn. I've had Palmer's book for years, lots of usefull info in it but disappointed that most of it deals with 1937 and later. Your VL book is extremely informative and has much information not available elsewhere in any single book. Just one suggestion: An index would be useful.
Rich

[Sargehere]

Two suggestions for you, Rich: One, get a copy of Bernie Nicholson's Modern Motorcycle Mechanics, 2nd Edition (1945) which had just been reprinted, 2012, here: http://www.modernmotorcyclemechanics.com/buy_now.php. That was reprinted specifically because it contains even more information on pre-1937 Harley-Davidsons that's not available elsewhere in a single volume. Harley-Davidson never published a "service manual" until 1941.

Two, Harley didn't publish torque specs that far back because torque wrenches were yet to be invented; or come into common use. The factory tool "headbolt wrench" for instance, is a special, short-handled 9/16ths inch socket-end wrench. It was designed that way to prevent over-ambitious mechanics from applying too much presssure, but only what could be applied with one hand, to headbolts and stripping the threads. That was the MoCo's way of dealing with torque. Other than that, much more faith was put in mechanics' having common sense in those days.

Oh, and three (sorry!), if you ever completely paint a frame, don't fail to either mask off or scrape the paint from the motor mount mating surfaces before bolting in the motor, torqueing and cotter-pinning the mounting castle bolts. If you don't, in about twenty miles you'll find the motor dancing around loose-as-a-goose in the frame, still bolted and pinned. The vibrations of the running motor will quickly pulverize the paint on the motor mounts, leaving about ten-thousandths clearance between the motor and frame, requiring you to go back in and re-tighten the whole shebang. Good luck to you with all you do!

[frichie68]

THANK YOU Sarge, all good stuff to know. Your last paragraph hit home as the "dancing motor" actually happened to me...
On a 370 mile poker run in Colorado several years ago, motor mounts loosened, top mount opened a leak in the left tank...raw gas on a hot engine (fortunately no fire). oil lines broke. Still recovering from that near disaster. Very lucky that the motor wasn't trashed. Guess I can blame a previous owner as I'd never had the motor out of the frame.
At my age I seem to forget stuff faster than I learn it....
Rich

[rcpfxrt]

Is there a link somewhere that shows torque specs for old bikes?
Specifically interested in VL motor mounts but other specs would also be useful.
I tried the "Advanced Search", got a ton of possibilities but don't have time to open and read each and every one.
Thanks in advance.
Rich

I don't have specs yet but I have some manuals etc. Just be sure to shim them so you don't draw the frame to uneven fitting surfaces. This may eventually break off a mount from the cases. If nothing else use castle nuts with cotter pins or locknuts, unless originality is a major concern.