1941EL, FL Cases

[jwl]

I would be interested in knowing what is the earliest 1941 serial numbered knucklehead cases with the tall reinforcing ribs? Are there any cases out there with tall ribs and bonafide 41 numbers. I've seen several sets with questionable numbers but don't ever recall any with tall ribs and good numbers.

[LJH]

John,
I had a set of original 41EL cases, with the short ribs.
The vin. was in the 5000 s/n range. I have the number
written down in the shop, I will E-Mail it to you
L.J.H.

[Jerry Wieland]

I have never seen a set of 1941 cases that had the full ribs. They might exist but they would have to be at the very end of the production year.

Jerry

[Chris Haynes]

I had a set, don't remember the number though. I sold it to Geo. Threedouble and he has since passed.

[MMasa]

Long Rib 1941 Cases

I had a 1941 FL years ago that had long ribs on the left case. I just looked at some old pics and verified this. The VIN was good and the belly numbers matched. VIN was 41FL3728.
Mark

[MMasa]

Afterthought on 41 case ribs

Once the factory realized the problem with 74" motors breaking left cases and redesigned the left case, could they have used up stocks of the short rib cases puting together 61" motors and only used the new case on 74's till the old stocks were eaten up? Just a thought.
Mark

[bmh]

That was my understanding of how the existing inventory of short rib cases was used.Have also heard that the long ribs were introduced fairly early on in production, and it wouldn't be any surprise if most of the short rib FL's had replacement cases at some point on time, with long ribs, due to failure at some point.
Brian

[Jerry Wieland]

My 41 is 41FL3852 and it is the short ribs and I have seen much higher FL #'s with early cases. I remember somewhere that the ribbed cases actually appeared in the late 1940 parts book. Jerry

[Jerry Wieland]

Here is a picture of my 41 FL number Jerry

[Jerry Wieland]

There was an original paint 1941 barn bike at Oley with 41FL522* for a serial number. It isn't my bike so I will not reveal the whole number. Highest one I have ever seen and it still had the early short ribbed cases. It was parked in 1951. Jerry

[bmh]

Wasn't that one an absolute treasure? When I saw it fri afternoon it had a "Not for sale" sign on it. I trust it has found a good home.
Brian

[Matt McManus]

I just picked up 41EL5321 and it has short ribs, there is a guy near me that has 41F5000 and it has short ribs. Does anyone have a 41 knuckle that has a legit VIN and long ribs?

[Jerry Wieland]

bmh

The bike was not for sale. The guy had just picked it up. The story goes that he noticed some nice parts being sold on eBay by people not real familiar with HD's. He followed it up and found that these guys had stumbled into a pile of old bikes at an estate and the rest got parted out but he was able to buy the 41 basically intact. Jerry

[silentgreyfello]

bike at Oley

The oley bike is sweet... I am trying to download some of the photos, but the website won't let me because the files are too big. Here is the only one that is small enough. I don't know how to resize the photos with my new computer, but if someone emails me, I'll send the photos to you and you can post them.

[Perry Ruiter]

silentgreyfello emailed the photos of the knuckle from Oley. They're attached ... Perry