VL Rear Crash Bar?

[Panama]

Hello,
Is this not a VL rear crash bar? When the crash bar spacers are flush with the rear fender tab/frame, the angle is not correct at the rear mount as can be seen in photo #1. I believe the rear of the bar is supposed to bolt to the lower holes in the frame which it would if the angle was different. How does the VL rear crash bar, buddy seat helper spring bracket and catch mount? What is the order? The attached photo #2 includes two spacers I had that lift the helper spring bracket off of the crash bar, otherwise it contacts the bar and leaves a gap between the two. Could someone please post a pic of it all installed? I assume I am missing something. Thank you very much for the help! I can not make sense of it.



Crash Bars 001.jpgCrash Bars 002.jpgCrash Bars 003.jpgCrash Bars 004.jpgCrash Bars 005.jpg

[Steve Slocombe]

It sure looks like the VL rear crash bar with the welded-on spacers. Check the auxiliary spring bracket, as it looks like you have the 1936 and up type where you need the more curved 13331-33 for the VL and 45. I'm guessing it's fouling the mounting and throwing off the rear alignment.

[Panama]

Thank you Steve for the response. I attached some more photos of my buddy seat helper spring assembly. I just want to confirm that you do not believe it is correct. If it is not correct, does any one have a photo showing the correct bracket? What about the sprung rod, is it correct?

[Steve Slocombe]

I'm not good at posting pictures, but the two brackets are well illustrated in, for instance, the 1930-40 Harley parts book.

[Panama]

I attached the 1926-39 parts manual page with the buddy seat parts. It looks very similar to mine. I will keep researching.

parts 002.jpg

I also came across this photo of a VL with a rear crash bar and buddy seat helper spring. I do not have a close up, but interestingly enough it appears the helper spring bracket is below the rear crash bar.

DSC00695.jpg

[Panama]

I was looking through some of my VL photos and found the following..

Rear Crash.jpg $_57.jpg

One bike has the buddy helper spring on top of the rear crash bar and one has it below. Little help! I know I need to modify my crash bar to achieve the correct angle, but need to know the correct mounting order to be sure I get it right. Also, I would assume if the spring is on top, I will need two of the 13337-33 spacers. If I was to reason it out, few VL's came with a rear crash bar. The spacing between the frame and an unloaded buddy seat is a constant. If you put the crash bar below buddy seat helper spring, it will lift it up. So it makes the most sense to me to have the helper spring bracket below the crash bar, Any one have any thoughts?