Frame Restoration

[Steve Little]

The oil tank was either, loose for a very long time or (and maybe also) the oil tank was the only thing holding the frame together at one time.

The groove worn in from the battery/oil tank base, is about 1/16” deep.
I think the same person might have forgotten to put the spacers under the oil tank before tightening it down.
I decided it was junk and used one of ours.

The guy that used to own this bike, probably had a jam jar full of washers and small parts that he would look at occasionaly, and scratch his head.

[Steve Little]

As previously mentioned in this thread, the decks had been badly ground by someone trying to get an engine back in this frame.
To fix it, we bolted the CNC engine mount jig in the traditional mill, and freshened up the engine decks.
Now it is ready to be bolted into the frame jig for re-assembly of the frame.

[Steve Little]

Cross over tube to engine mount

Hi. Apologies for the low number of posts yesterday. Mondays are a busy day. See if I can get a few more posted today.

When the brake crossover tube is installed in the rear engine mount to the correct depth, then it is time to tack and weld it. There is a critical length for the fitment. If it is not put in deep enough the overall length will fould on the brake cross over shaft
I put two tack welds on opposite sides to stop it pulling. The mandrel is inside to help with alignment also.

[Steve Little]

Electrodes should be stored with the end sealed. Electrodes will soak up condensation in the air, and damp electrodes do not function properly.
Dry/warm storage is the key storing electrodes. We go through a pack of electrodes in a couple of weeks but we still keep them dry.
A open pack of electrodes left on a bench over a week end will get damp.
Tip toe into the kitchen and grab the Clingwrap and wrap the electrode box to seal it.
If she catches you, your on your own. You didn’t get the idea from me.

[Steve Little]

Toolbox bracket

Time for the cheap toolbox bracket to come off.
1945-46 frame restoration 009.JPG
I am not sure why the manufacturer felt compelled to stamp this in the tool box bracket.
It looks more like the poorly manufactured products that come out of Taiwan.
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Less than ideal appearnce on the welding
1945-46 frame restoration 017.JPG

[Steve Little]

Once the toolbox bracket was removed. I started linishing away the weld and came across a straight line of a crack. Which then turned into a hidden tube repair. It was hidden by toolbox bracket.
Maybe someone cut into the tube when they removed the original toolbox bracket.
1945-46 frame restoration 005.JPG

Further linshing revealed a rectangular repair which had been silver soldered in place. There is also a screw welded in the tube.
Once the repair, and the welding style had been identified, we had to change our plans.
The brazing weld made it impossible to do any other type of weld so we decided to cut this tube up further, and making our splice joint closer to the axle carrier.

[Steve Little]

Sleeve detail.

1945-46 frame restoration 013.JPG
The sleeve that we turned for the right side of the frame is the straight looking unit.
It has a slight difference turned to the centre. One end is turned 0.833” and the other end is turned to 0.840”
This was done to accommodate the different inside diameters of the two tubes.
1945-46 frame restoration 014.JPG
The second sleeve took a bit more work to fabricate. Not only did the two tubes have different size diameters but there was also a internal stiffener to accommodate.
1945-46 frame restoration 020.JPG
After turning it down, we then had to press the flat section that is in the tube for the inner primary relief.
To do this we slit a piece of 1” inch tube down each side, and placed it over the section of the sleeve that was going to fit into that end of the join.
Then we set up the die set that we use to press in this section of our replacement tubes.
Cross fingers, and press.
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The sleeve fitted perfectly. You would think we do this for a living.

[Steve Little]

Welding

All fitted up ready for welding.
The white lines drawn on the tube, define the length of the sleeve inside the tube.
1945-46 frame restoration 029.JPG

The tubes all fitted to the frame and are ready for welding.
The gap between the tubes is called the “penetration gap”.
The idea is that when the first weld is laid down, the weld will penetrate half way through the thickness of the sleeve and penetrate into each edge of the frame tube. This is called the root run.
Then the root run is wire brushed to clean any smoke fumes, slag, or impurities. Then a fillet weld is laid over the top. The fillet weld will penetrate into the root run and ensure a solid, full strength, X-ray quality weld.
The hollow sleeves will ensure that this join will happily move with the rest of the tube.

[Robert Luland]

Steve, this is a great thread but your giving them too much , too fast. Ya got to handle this like Disney did when we were kids. Leave ya frosting at the jaw until next Sunday at 7pm to find out if BoBo the Chihuahua makes it home, lol. Fantastic thread. Bob L

[Steve Little]

OK kiddies, today were going to Adventure land!!
Turn the lights off, and here we go.
Little Bobby, if you dont stop making finger shadows on the screen there's gunnu be big trouble.

1945-46 frame restoration 003.JPG
Plug welds and root run finished.
1945-46 frame restoration 006.JPG
Welds linnished off1945-46 frame restoration 008.JPG
Left side looks good aside from the shiney linnish marks. A light blast will make the frame look uniform and untouched.

[Steve Little]

1945-46 frame restoration 011.JPGSidecar lugs.
The circumferential welds and plugs weld are done and also the front engine mount.

Here we have fitted the rear engine mount, seat post, seat post cross brace, etc
1945-46 frame restoration 010.JPG

When all the parts are fitted to the frame and then tightened to the jig, it is time to weld the seat post to the cluster.
Arc welded seat posts are welded around the top. The seat post sits about a 1/16” above the cluster.
The extra metal is then fused down to the seat post cluster.
This is called a fusion weld. No filler material is used during the weld
1945-46 frame restoration 012.JPG.

[Steve Little]

Rear trans mount fitted and aligned to the frame centre line. When its all tightened up, time for welding

[Steve Little]

Brake crossover support

1945-46 frame restoration 012.JPG
Fitment of the brake cross over support has more importance than some frame restores and frame manufacturers give it.
If the brake crossover “support set” is placed too far in, it will pull the exhaust S bend in too close to the engine and it will also be to close to the supply oil line.

The exhaust S bend is already close to the crankcase, and most people have seen the lines worn into the right crankcase from the butted seam weld of the exhaust S bend
If the brake crossover support set is placed too far out, it will force out the exhaust S bend. This will make it too close to the brake lever pin.

1945-46 frame restoration 017.JPG.

1945-46 frame restoration 013.JPG

The tool shown here ensures that the brake cross over support is set at the correct measurement.
No point looking for this tool on our web site. We have them, but they are not listed.
1945-46 frame restoration 019.JPG
1945-46 frame restoration 020.JPG
Ready for welding


Thats it for this week.
On monday I will be posting the pictures for line boring the brake cross over bushes.
When the restoration of this frame was complete, the engine decks needed cutting to bring them into factory specification. This is what Harley Davidson did with every frame that was completed off the assembly line.

I took some pictures of young Steve doing this proceedure on one of our mills. They will also be put up for your veiwing pleasure.

[Steve Little]

Reaming the brake crossover bush.

1945-46 frame restoration 002.JPG

Pictured is our reamer for line reaming the two bushes in the brake crossover.
The shaft has tapered pilot bushing on both ends too ensure perfect alignment through each bush.
The drill has plenty of horsepower to cut through the brass bush.

1945-46 frame restoration 001.JPG

1945-46 frame restoration 003.JPG

Set up and ready to line ream.

1945-46 frame restoration 004.JPG

Fit tapered pilot to end of reamer to align to centre of bush.

1945-46 frame restoration 005.JPG

One cut and line ream is finished

[Steve Little]

Small ball hone with some Kerosene to take the high spots off the machining.
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1945-46 frame restoration 009.JPG

The shafts fits beautifully.
The way to tell a well fitted shaft, is to grab the end of the shaft between thumb and forefinger and spin it.
It should spin freely, and if you flick it between your thumb and forefinger it should spin a revolution by itself.
We cut the brake crossover bushes in our frames at 0.730” +0.001 -0.0005.
If your brake cross over shaft is bent, or if you have a aftermarket shaft, best to check the run out of the shaft between centres.
Harley Davidson made their brake shafts by putting a centre drill in each end and then rough machining them to size.
Then they were heat treated and then ground to final size.

Usually original shafts are good, but if your at a swap meet and the owner has his parts on a table, get down at eye level and slowly roll the shaft along the table.

I have seen a brand new aftermarket shaft, that had 0.015 run out which would mean they do not follow the same procedure as Harley Davidson.

If the brake crossover shaft does not operate freely, it will cause the back brake drag.
If the back brake drags, it will wear out the brake drum, brake shoes, and heat up the rear hub, to the point that the grease will run out and eventually destroy the hub.