Where does it go?

[Lippy]

While shopping for VL parts at Replicant Metals I came across a part I knew I didn't have (amongst others), a 2757-30 Head Cone Spring Washer, I ordered one. So where does it go in the assembly of the front forks and steering damper?

Thanks, Lippy Head Cone Washer.jpg

[Kozy]

Don't know anything about VL but later forks have a cupped washer that slides down the fork stem and the bottom head cone race centers on it.

[duffeycycles]

I think...above upper head cone is cone washer,above that is this spring washer,& above that is the lock nut

[Lippy]

Where does the headlight bracket fit in with duffycycle’s reply?

[duffeycycles]

I am not a VL guy but I think your cone nut has a pin on top & your headlight bracket & cone washer has indexing holes for the head cone pin.I'm not sure if the headlight bracket goes on top of the head cone & then the head cone wash..or the other way around.I think spring wash is just below the nut.
My 3 versions of Steve Slocombe's books doesn't have these details & neither does Johnny Sells book on DL-RL.

[Lippy]

Thanks Duffycycle, I’ve assumed the same as your last posting. I too have checked in my Slocombe and Johnny Sells book. Hopefully Steve will check in and post a comment.

[duffeycycles]

Maybe send Steve a PM or start a post with VL at beginning of heading
I also want to know!

[Peter Cooke]

I'm sure I've read somewhere that the cone washer wasn't needed after 1930 as the headlight bracket having the indexing holes did the function of the cone washer instead, as in stopped the upper head cone turning once you had it set for the bearings. As the '31 onwards headlight brackets have 3 points of contact it would work nicely. So, I think that the order of installation was upper head cone, headlight bracket, head cone spring washer, and nut. You can see it in the pic below. But I don't see why you couldn't put the cone washer between the headlight bracket and spring washer if you wanted.

More than happy to be corrected on that as I'm not far away from assembly myself.

image_41186.jpg

[duffeycycles]

1940 parts book disagrees with that,My guess is the cone washer is above the headlight bracket


img373.jpg

[duffeycycles]

I measured the pin on my 1938 45" GDT & it is .125" tall & the headlight bracket is a couple thousandths thicker.
If headlight brkt goes first there would be no pin left to catch the cone washer.

[Peter Cooke]

If headlight brkt goes first there would be no pin left to catch the cone washer.

That's what I thought I'd read. With the new headlight bracket there's no need for the cone washer as it won't do anything. And conversely, if the cone washer is about the same thickness and went first why the holes in the headlight bracket? I wish I could find where I read it. My parts books show the same as yours but without a longer pin using both doesn't really do anything. I'll check the length off the pin on my VL upper cone and report back.

[Lippy]

After discussions, there's still no consensus as to what is correct. I once thought that it might have been a 'one year only' part since Harley went back to a singe headlight in 1931 and was not needed after 1930. But if that's the case, then why did Harley continue to show it in their parts catalog with a 1930 to 1936 usage?

[Peter Cooke]

I measured the pin on my VL upper cone and it's 0.120" ish tall with the washer coming in at 0.125" thick, so same result as Duffey. Either way the pin isn't long enough to catch both. My 31V came with only the spring washer and nut on top of the headlight bracket which was directly on the upper cone. I purchased the washer, thinking it was missing, and then found the info suggesting it wasn't needed with the new headlight bracket. I'll keep searching for where I read it.

Cone Washer.jpg