WLA Type III detail question.

[George Greer]

I just got a NOS oiler for the brake cable for my WLA,

But I can not find a decent photo of how far away from the brake handle bracket it goes.

I did find a photo in Bruce's book on restoring the military motorcyles showing a 43WLC export model... ( page 160).

It appears to be installed about 3 or 4 inchs away from the brake handle, is this the correct location for all models??

And..........does the screw head face forwards or aft??

I know that perhaps this is silly to ask such a question......bear with me..

[Chris Haynes]

[George Greer]

Chris...

Thanks for the photo, that answered my question.

I am doing my best to do the correct research for this, however....I don't have tons of printed materal, nor photos either.

I have Bruce's books, a couple from Jerry Hatfield, and photos that I have found on the web.

Do you have photos like that from all angles of the WLA??

If so........how could I get copy's? (without pissing off the Harley gods).

George

[Ohio-Rider]

So this is wrong?

[Chris Haynes]

So this is wrong?

I just looked at all my WLA, WLC, and XA photos. None of them have the oiler in the position on your bike. They are all like the photo I posted.

[Paps]

Bruce Palmer states on page 107, of his " How To Restore Your Harley Davidson" book, the oiler is located about 10" down from the hand lever. I have looked through many books since you brought this topic up George. Oddly, I have found many a WLA with the oiler about 4" away from the hand lever, and, I have found many 10" to 10" plus inches away from the hand lever. Not all of the photos I looked through, showed a handlebar cable clamp either. Looking through parts books, I see the oiler at around the 10" mark though. There was an NOS front brake cable assembly on Ebay not long ago. Anyone know how to relocate that auction ? Paps

[exeric]

Logically, you would get more lubricant in the cable housing if the oiler was positioned like the photo Chris posted.

[Paps]

I agree Eric but here is an nos front brake cable, lever, and oiler assembly. Paps

[Chris Haynes]

I agree Eric but here is an nos front brake cable, lever, and oiler assembly. Paps

But when was that NOS cable made? During production or much later as a replacement part? Replacement parts are often different that what was used on the line. Just because a part is NOS doesn't mean it is correct.

[Paps]

Excellent point Chris. When was it made ? Who knows. Could be post war. That is what got me while browing all of the wla pics. Many of the pics were black and white photos of the early and late war days. Many were restorations also. But.....I found different oiler locations in all of them. Some had the oiler where Eric suggested, right near the hand lever. Some had it located 6 inches away. Some 10". Some half way down the cable. Not all the bikes had cable clamps at the handlebars. Puzzling....very puzzling. For scoring points, where should the oiler be placed ?

[Chris Haynes]

All of my Factory photos have the oiler in the same position as the one I posted. But I do have NOS housings with it much further down. If you fine a NOS military cable still in the package is should have the packaging date on it.

[Ohio-Rider]

Thats a good question Paps, about how it would be judged. Thanks for jumping in here.
I just measured mine and it is 10". Brenda says I'm exaggerating so I checked it again and its still 10" from the oil cup to the hand lever.

Eric got me thinking about the proper mounting orientation of the oiling cup? Should it be mounted up/down or other wise?

Any judges hanging around here today?

[pete reeves]

The position of the front brake cable oiler is another example of why you can not trust all the information in the parts book or NOS parts.
Bruce palmers book says that the oiler is about 10 inches away from the brake lever, I presume he came to this conclusion because the parts book states that the top section of the cable when it was in two parts was 10 inches long,Or he examined one of the NOS cables.
I0 inches was correct for the VL .
But I have seen pictures of original 36 and up knuckles and Us that show that although the cable is still in two parts the oiler is now about 4 inches from the brake lever with no change to the part number or description of the upper section of cable.
The position of the oiler remained the same when they changed it to a one piece cable with clamp on oiler.
I cant explain why there are new old stock cables with the clamp on oiler 10 inches from the end .

Pete Reeves 860

[Paps]

Don't argue with Brenda over it Steve. Women know.

I'll put together a bunch of the photos I sifted through. Seeing is beliving, heh ? Chris's factory photos are logical. As Eric basically pointed out, why not oil, the whole cable ? There is a photo in Bruces' military book, under 42wla type III, which shows the 10" mark. The photo seems to be a factory original. I think we may have a case, as Chris pointed out, factory assembly line preferences. This still brings us back to....is it correct in relation to judging practices ? The oiler I put on my bobber, an nos civilian cad style, is at the 10" mark. This is what makes this hobby FUN !!!

[Ohio-Rider]

Fun for sure.
So nice to have a light hearted discussion about a deserving topic around here for a change. I would suggest that the earlier production machines had the oiler mounted at 4”, then someone decided that just before the first curve in the housing would make better sense. So, from that period on, 10” became the standard. Today we call them revisions.

Pete… How would you predict the location of the oiler would effect judging? Or would most judges not notice?

I don’t recall if George stated the year of machine he was building. Maybe this topic changes by year.