Harley VL rear cylinder intake cam, hollow or solid shaft?

[Buster]

I have a 1931ish VL with 1932 right side crankcase and I believe a 1931 oil pump. The oil pump bolts on from inside of camcase and has a needle valve adjustment for rear chain oiling adjustment. I am having some problems with primary oiling, I believe it is under oiling. I read in a 2015 post on this forum "1933 VLD Primary Oiling" that some rear cylinder intake cams have a hollow shaft and some have a solid shaft. My cam's shaft is drilled about 1.0- 1.5 inches in and does not go all the way through to crankcase. Seems like primary is not oiling enough. Should the shaft be drilled all the way through to the crankcase or should it be solid. Thanks!

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Buster, Mmm, that's an uncertain area. If you have the needle valve chain oiler on a cast iron pump then it's the one year 1933 pump. With our paved roads today I turn off the chain oiler, and even plug the copper pigtail coming out of the mechanical oil pump. There is usually plenty of oil mist coming from the crankcase breather to oil the primary chain. You do have the breather pocket set-up and breather pipe, right? There is still plenty of work to do before worrying about the cams. Check the oil pump adjustment first, it needs to be just wide open with the throttle wide open, and the rest position looks after itself. The pump body and the operating cam both have factory marks and should be together to start with. This usually overoils as we have oil control rings on the pistons today which were not fitted originally. You can then edge the cam in the marked 'less' direction so you start and finish a run with the same amount of oil in the cases, say 5-6 ounces or 150-200 ml. I wouldn't move more than about a quarter inch away from the factory marks.

Regarding the cams, there were several changes, often undocumented. The No 2 cam shaft was solid until 1930 engine 7290 but shaft seizures were seen, the shaft was made hollow, and that flutter valve/seal ring 551/2/3-30 was installed in the cam cover. This lasted until early 1934 with the new oil pump, but the machining for the seal ring continued. Presumably the No2 camshaft went back to solid after old stock was used up. But maybe in 1935 the No 2 cam gear was drilled to allow oil mist to the outside of the gearcase cover? Working with a bucket of loose cams it's hard to get it right and we can't be sure it matters. What's that 504-34 flutter valve all about, and why wasn't it fitted earlier? Was that hollow pinion shaft and the drillings through the flywheel to the crankpin really important, or was oil flung round by the flywheels still the dominant lubrication method? And I haven't even started talking about crankcase baffles... I would recheck your oil pump settings before pulling the cams.

[Buster]

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation Steve. Hopefully I can catch a day soon warm enough to ride it and retest.

[Buster]

I have checked everything and I am still getting almost no primary oiling. Several VL owners I talked to in last few days told me the inside of primary should be oily. My chain barely has a film of oil on it and no oil on sprocket teeth. I have compression coming out of tube coming into primary, however almost no oil. I am going to pull my #2 intake cam and drill the shaft. It is already drilled by factory on both ends and I assume the drilled hole should be the same diameter all the way through. I will let you know results. I really hate taking this thing apart again.

[Peter Cooke]

"My chain barely has a film of oil on it...."

Steve will have the right answer but if you're getting oil on the chain it should be getting on the sprocket also.
Don't forget, a little oil goes a long way. You may be closer to correct than you think.

[HDSmitty]

I think that with just a film of oil on the chain as you say, that you'll be just fine. it need not be dripping from everywhere to be properly lubed, and the centrifugal motion would throw it off the sprocket and chain and onto the inside face of the primary cover. I wish I could turn mine down even more but I don't dare risk the pump setting being any lower. As it is, I get plenty of accumulation in the retaining channel in the bottom of the cover leading to the common "VL Trail" of oil just waiting until I'm on someones nice new driveway to leave its mark. Hope this helps.....Smitty