VL hub splines are loose

[Clark]

I'm working on my VL and noticed some play in my wheel hub splines. That is to say the wheel hub to brake drum fit has some front to back play.
Has anybody had any luck shimming these and if so, what's the trick?

[OLLIE]

CLARK: I was waiting for a forum member to provide a solution to worn splines. It doesn't look like thats going to happen. I have the same problem as do my friends that own VLs. I have always wondered if the amount of slop could be accurately measured by locking the brake (to prevent the male spline from moving) and using a dial indicator to measure the movement at a spoke nipple or at the valve stem. With this measurement, along with an accurate measurement from the axle center to the point of measurement used by the dial indicator and the distance from the axle center to the spline, one could determine how many thousandths slop exists at the spline. Once this has been determined, I was wondering if the male spline could be removed from the brake drum and hard chromed to a depth of 1/2 the slop minus a couple of thousandths for clearance. (Since the splines mesh on the radius of each tooth of the spline, a plating thickness of .001 should remove .002 of slop.)
Has anyone out there ever tried this fix? (I know that hard chrome is used to resurface hydraulic pistons, but I don't know if it would hold up to the punishment that it would receive on a VL.) Sorry to be so long winded, but it was the only way to describe my idea. Please let me know if you find a good solution. OLLIE.

[Clark]

I was sent this email from another source and thought I would post it as it might help others. I left the senders name off as I do not know if he would want his name out on the internet....

Clark, you asked if someone has shimmed splines before and the answer is yes. It works quiet well, get an assortment of shim stock and measure the hub splines and wheel hub figure the difference [you will probably have to go smaller] bend the stock over the wheel hub lip and into the wheel hub its self to the outside dimension of the hub [it will be easy-er to do this with the hub and wheel on the ground] it can end up being very tight and you may find when it comes time to take it apart you may have to tap it apart with a drift from the opposite side to separate the two. I have been doing this for years on my vh and have never had a problem with doing this.Sure does make the bike handle sweet.

[Paps]

A good friend of mine has the same problem with the spline slop. He has been looking for a better female end for quite a while now. That is how he intended to fix it. He uses the longer stlyle spline. I mentioned shiming it to him before but he seemed reluctant to try that. Your reply may change that reluctancy. Paps