Texas Stroker

[Peter Paul Jung]

Hello,

increasing displacement of 61 Knuckleheads to 74 or 80 cui by installing Flathead flywheels is commonly referred to as "Texas Stroker".
can someone of the experts pls explain the reference to Texas and not Wisconsin or California, etc.

TXstroker.jpg

[T. Cotten]

Hello,

increasing displacement of 61 Knuckleheads to 74 or 80 cui by installing Flathead flywheels is commonly referred to as "Texas Stroker".
can someone of the experts pls explain the reference to Texas and not Wisconsin or California, etc.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28969[/ATTACH]

Nobody called them that in Illinois, Peter!

....Cotten

[Jerry Wieland]

Never heard them called that in Wisconsin either. Could that just be a term that was used locally? Jerry

Nobody called them that in Illinois, Peter!

....Cotten

[Rubone]

I've dealt with those engines for 5 decades and never heard that term used. And Texas is next door......

[ChiefTwoKicks]

Disclaimer... I'm an Indian guy, so I may be using that as a lame excuse for my ignorance here.
I am somewhat familiar with critical components required to put together a stroker. Bigger,heavier wheels, hence a longer stroke length... UL or ULH. Larger barrels, stronger base flanges, "stroker plates" under the barrels, etc. I didn't know the earlier knuckle cases were weak and problematic.
I do have a question, however. Who makes rods that are embossed with "HD made in Japan" on the blade ? I can't imagine that sits well with the Harley guys. I could be wrong.
Its possible the imported rods are well documented and proven in extreme conditions. I am familiar with Carrillo rods and a few others made in the USA. I do know its a wise choice to use beefier, reinforced rods for 80in or larger stroker engines in an Indian motor.
I know nothing about whats required for a Harley upgrade. especially from 61in to 80in. Rods are certainly a big part of an upgrade on any motor.
I've never seen rods with "made in Japan" on any of them. Please enlighten me.

C2K

[T. Cotten]

The flywheels weighed pretty much the same, C2K!

It was common to lighten them, and 'modern' S&S wheels were almost too light for sidehack duty.
T&O realized the folly.

Not familiar with import rods, as I always felt that pre-stretched OEM, magnafluxed, "peened and polished and peened", re-fitted, straightened and aligned, and de-gaussed rods were as good as they get.
With such treatments, the imports may very likely be suitable; With the beefy aftermarket performance rods, re-balancing became a chore.

....Cotten

[41craig]

Disclaimer... I'm an Indian guy, so I may be using that as a lame excuse for my ignorance here.
I am somewhat familiar with critical components required to put together a stroker. Bigger,heavier wheels, hence a longer stroke length... UL or ULH. Larger barrels, stronger base flanges, "stroker plates" under the barrels, etc. I didn't know the earlier knuckle cases were weak and problematic.
I do have a question, however. Who makes rods that are embossed with "HD made in Japan" on the blade ? I can't imagine that sits well with the Harley guys. I could be wrong.
Its possible the imported rods are well documented and proven in extreme conditions. I am familiar with Carrillo rods and a few others made in the USA. I do know its a wise choice to use beefier, reinforced rods for 80in or larger stroker engines in an Indian motor.
I know nothing about whats required for a Harley upgrade. especially from 61in to 80in. Rods are certainly a big part of an upgrade on any motor.
I've never seen rods with "made in Japan" on any of them. Please enlighten me.

C2K

C2K; The Japanese Rods you are asking about were sold by Dixie Distributing Co. of Springfield, Oh. Dixie shut down a few years ago after the owner died. The Jap rods are much better quality than the Taiwan rods. Dixie had several auctions after they shut down, so you see these rods for sale on Ebay.
Craig

[chuckthebeatertruck]

Like the others, I have never, not once, heard the term "texas stroker." And I like strokers A LOT.


Anyways, total waste of time to use 75-85 year old flathead wheels to achieve your goal -- even if they are cheap you're still working with used parts when you're trying to make something with a long stroke hold together. It's a better idea to bite the $450-500 bullet and call Truett and Osborn. They will ship whatever stroke you wish in a nice little box. You will true them in minutes compared to used wheels and balancing is also a snap. In fact, T&O charges it's customers to "cut down" OHV flywheels to fit flatheads :-) In other words, they make OHV wheels and modify them for flattys -- so that tells you something right there. You also get to use beefier crank pins with the T&O wheels than the original flatty wheels.

Made in Japan rods are generally EXCELLENT aftermarket quality and were often sold as complete replacement kits (rods, pin, nuts, and bearings/cages). The market was FLOODED for the last few years with NOS Made in Japan sets from the liquidation of Dixie/Superior. For around $50 you got a pretty good service quality rod set. Several guys bought a few and stashed them away for the future. You won't see prices on quality, ready to bolt in rod sets that cheap again. They can be cleaned up as Cotton points out and serve fine in a street stroker.

As to the 'merica stuff -- that's just plain ignorance spoken by people who haven't paid attention.

Harley has used foreign component providers since at least 1960. These included a lot of Italian sourced parts in the 60s (HD owned 50% and later 100 percent of Aermacchi before selling the division to CAGIVA) and in the early 70s Harley started sourcing suspension, some electrics/switch gear, and carbs from Japanese companies. These include well known names such as Showa and Keihin. In fact, the most common carburetor HD has ever installed is a Keihin -- as in millions of them from the 1970s to when HD went fully EFI in the late 2000s. That's some 40 years on "foreign" carbs and suspension. Harley also sourced engineering help from several "foreign" firms including Porsche Design Group. The "reputation" suffers from second-hand owners being too cheap to fit correct parts or repair the bikes correctly -- not from the "foreign" parts HD used on the assembly line. Instead, the failures are in cheap ROC/PRC aftermarket parts bought at a price, not at a quality point.


To really hammer this home -- today only about 60-65% of a big twin Harley is actually "made in the USA."


Anyone who gets worked up over "made in the USA" when talking about Harley simply hasn't paid attention to the MOCO's actual business practices in at least 6 decades. They have a fantasy about 'merican workers building 'merican bikes for "real" 'mericans. Instead, it's some americans building a globally sourced product for INTERNATIONAL distribution. The BRAND is what is tied to America, not necessarily the components.


Back to parts: there's no reason to beef up the rods unless they are pre-39 open window female rods. Similarly, stroker plates can create more issues than they solve -- and really start causing trouble when guys use thick gaskets on each side of the plate thinking they are doing something beneficial.



Speaking of which -- yeah you are overthinking this one. 80 inches isn't extreme for a street motor. Extreme is more like 100+ inches.

Harley sold 80 inch bikes in the 1930s and offered OHV 74 inch Knucks in the mid-1940s. Six more inches to what the MoCo offered on the show room floor some 75 years ago isn't even close to "the limit."

[T. Cotten]

..Anyways, total waste of time to use 75-85 year old flathead wheels to achieve your goal -- even if they are cheap you're still working with used parts when you're trying to make something with a long stroke hold together. ..

I had enormously good luck with T&O wheels, Chuck!

They almost trued themselves.

But your notion that anything that old should be tossed contradicts this entire hobby of resurrecting Historical hardware.

Nearly all 'golden age' HD wheels were serviceable, if you knew how to service them: http://virtualindian.org/10techfly.htm
Tedious sometimes, but if we all just start throwing money instead of fixing the hardware, we risk losing our Heritage to a 'catalog culture', if we haven't already.

Its been a couple of decades, but $450 would have brought two sets of wheels back to life, at least, and often did.

….Cotten

[Peter Paul Jung]

on caimag.com Mr. epinut (thank you!) posted this:TLS1.jpgTLS2.jpg

[chuckthebeatertruck]

But your notion that anything that old should be tossed contradicts this entire hobby of resurrecting Historical hardware.

but if we all just start throwing money instead of fixing the hardware, we risk losing our Heritage to a 'catalog culture', if we haven't already.

There's a guy you need to talk to about this as soon as possible.

He lives near Peoria and makes PEEK seals and different float materials for old carbs.

He's totally ruining our hobby and destroying heritage by not using or advocating for OEM materials like brass and cork.

His solution isn't even historically accurate because it uses materials not even yet invented when the carbs were installed by the factory.

And, he totally threw money at this "solution" by using PEEK. I mean, gee, have you seen the price of that stuff per gram?

You really gotta talk to this guy and share your insights.

It's already so bad that those PEEK seals he pioneered were copied and are now in catalogs.

He really is dangerous with all these "improvements" to our old bikes.

[T. Cotten]

There's a guy you need to talk to about this as soon as possible.

He lives near Peoria and makes PEEK seals and different float materials for old carbs.

He's totally ruining our hobby and destroying heritage by not using or advocating for OEM materials like brass and cork.

His solution isn't even historically accurate because it uses materials not even yet invented when the carbs were installed by the factory.

And, he totally threw money at this "solution" by using PEEK. I mean, gee, have you seen the price of that stuff per gram?

You really gotta talk to this guy and share your insights.

It's already so bad that those PEEK seals he pioneered were copied and are now in catalogs.

He really is dangerous with all these "improvements" to our old bikes.

I've met him, Chuck!

He's an axxhole.

You can't argue with him.

He'll just tell you "if you can't see it, neither can the judges."

.....Cotten
PS: "Catalog" one-size-fitz-all PEEK can suck, and he can prove it.
PPS: You forgot to point out his floats' material wasn't patented 'til 2008. ("Catalog" floats are "off-patent" formulae.)
PPS: Almost forgot: He's got buckets o' PEEK scrap at only $.25 a gram!

[ryan]

I've met him, Chuck!

He's an axxhole.

You can't argue with him.

He'll just tell you "if you can't see it, neither can the judges."

.....Cotten
PS: "Catalog" one-size-fitz-all PEEK can suck, and he can prove it.
PPS: You forgot to point out his floats' material wasn't patented 'til 2008. ("Catalog" floats are "off-patent" formulae.)
PPS: Almost forgot: He's got buckets o' PEEK scrap at only $.25 a gram!

Chuck and Cotton, You guys are pretty funny! Lol

[Tom Wilcock]

texas long stroker 001.jpgtexas long strokers 001.jpgBack to the Texas Stroker topic. Here is the complete article from May 1950 Cycle magazine. Tom

[T. Cotten]

Thanks for posting that, Tom!

I like the crank assembled without rods, presumably for dynamic balancing.

Definitely "New School".

....Cotten