VL Front chain cover Question

[Chuck#1848]

Saturday afternoon I pulled out the front chain cover and started to fit it to the motor and trans I didn't have a chain cover when I got this bike and I am not real fimilar with the assembley of the cover to the motor.
I may be wrong but itseems that no matter what I do the front stud in the motor case doesn't go completely through the front bracket on the outer cover.

The parts book says a washer and nut hold this portion in place but judging by the size of the stud in the engine case it seems to me the bracket that is rivited on the outer cover is larger and also wider than what is needed.

[scoop]

Is that a repro chain cover? I bought a cover from Harbor Vintage that fit exactly like yours is matching up. Sent it back to Rat and he relocated the bracket and then threw in an inner chain guard for the trouble.

[Chuck#1848]

Scoop,

Yes it is a repro, got it from a guy in PA I kind of had a feeling that was the problem with it the covers that I have seen the bracket seems to be spaced away from the edge but I was unsure of the distance from the edge. I also considered trimming the bracket a little to get the stud to pass through but the more I looked at it the more it looks like it would take a bit more than just "a little trimming".

could you tell me roughly how far from the edge of the outer cover is the bracket located?
Now that would mean welding the 4 holes and redrilling 4 new ones and re-riviting the bracket on how did your cover look after it got repro'ed again.

Any idea where these guys get them from? I would think for the cost the chinaman would get it a little closer,I was still considering getting a rear fender from him,and he did say it would have to be fitted to the bike and drilled for the tail light bracket but I do believe I will use the original one it is in rough shape but if I weld it beat it into submission and finish it. it should be fine.

[Rollo]

Did you get that from Tom at Hammercreek? If so I would think it should be very close. Are you sure the stud is the correct length. I just went out to check out 2 of the 3 VL's I have. The 33 is snug to the hex on the stud and has a washer and nut securing it to the stud. The 36 has a gap about the width of a washer but I have not tried to tighten it down. I will say that the distance from the edge of the bracket to the inside edge of the primary looks to be the same on both but can't be 100% without measuring. I would call Tom, if that was who you got it from, back and tell him your issue and see what he says. I spoke with him at Eustis at great length and he is the one who sells repo parts to Rat at Harbor Vintage.

Rollo
AMCA # 12766

[pete reeves]

This picture should help?

Pete reeves 860

[Chuck#1848]

Well I measured the distance from the edge of the primary cover to the edge of the bracket where the stud enters and it is 1/2 " this looks to be the same distance as the photo of Petes showing the bracket (Thanks for your help Pete) which kind of confuses me if his primary bracket is the same distance as mine

Now the stud that goes through the bracket in question is 1 1/8 " long from the face of the hex on the stud ,I didn't get a chance to dig out the old stud that I removed but as I think they were the same length.

Like I had said I am not fimilar with this type of primary cover and it is a bit of a pain to assemble the inner parts to the outer cover but i wanted to make sure that "I" didn't have something arse backwards with this.

I will dig out the stud tomorrow and check it against the one in the motor.

Thanks Guys

[pete reeves]

Chuck.
It looks like there are two reasons that your guard is not fitting.
Firstly the bracket should be only 5/16th from the inside edge of the guard and secondly the inside edge fits inside/behind the raised profile on the crank case by about 1/8th not, on top of it.
Pete Reeves 860

[Chuck#1848]

Chuck.
It looks like there are two reasons that your guard is not fitting.
Firstly the bracket should be only 5/16th from the inside edge of the guard and secondly the inside edge fits inside/behind the raised profile on the crank case by about 1/8th not, on top of it.
Pete Reeves 860

Thanks Pete,

The stud that was removed is the same as the one currently in the motor case so I eliminated that as a problem.

The front bracket is 1/2" from the edge of the cover where it would fit to the motor case so that seems to be a part of the problem there.

The outer cover does not seem to fit correctly with in the profile in the case side almost like it is a little bit to big, and it also sets on the edge of a motor case stud nut on the underside of the cover.

One more question, the rear bracket mount is there a spacer that fits between the bracket to the frame?

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Chuck, those repro primary covers have the wrong size front bracket mounted in the wrong place. They are probably the 1934-6 style with the gutter to catch oil. I've made some 1930-33 primary covers in England which are a better quality and fit. I'll bring one to Oley, probably spot 28 again.