another fork lock question

[indianut]

And I hear he has doubled the size sine I was there.

Oops! That darn spell-check must be broken again!

[Chris Haynes]

Oops! That darn spell-check must be broken again!

Funny thing about the spell checker. It only finds misspelled words. In this case sine is an actual word so it didn't catch my goof.

[bmh]

Thanks for the info Robert. So I guess no ones been brave enough to pull the stainless face off one of these and see if whats underneath looks like the earlier lock or not. Don't know if I'm that curious but we shall see. Does anyone make a reproduction of the early lock?

[Robert Luland]

Brian what year are you aplying this to?

[JSB55]

my experience with the fork lock

Hi, All

I'm a newbie here, so this is both my first post and my "hi there" to AMCA, which I just joined about two weeks ago.

I just went through the fork lock ritual on my 65 FLH... here's what I learned.

In my case, the pin was easily located at the 2 o'clock position about 1/2 inch back of the face of the lock boss, but I could not remove it no matter what I tried. I eventually located a replacement OEM Briggs and Stratton lock at Bill's, so I went ahead and drilled the guts out of the old lock to remove it, after which I had to drive the roll pin *into* the lock boss to get it out. Upon removal, I found the roll pin was maybe 1/4 inch long at most.

The lock boss hole for the roll pin turned out to be a 3/32, and it accepted a .095 roll pin nicely (with the help of some urging from the ball peen and a roll pin punch larger than the pin itself). I got my replacement roll pin at AutoZone.

The hole in the lock boss is at an odd angle... it's at 2 o'clock to the lock boss, but in my case was angled to the left, so my drill and replacement roll pin had to be inserted from about the 1 o'clock position, angled towards the 2 o'clock position, to get them to go in cleanly. Also, I had to angle it in from the front of the lock boss, rather than just go straight into the hole at 90 degrees to the boss like you might expect. I'd say both angles are about 15 degrees or thereabouts.

The lock body is a tight fit in the boss, so I found no need to drill a detent or hole in the side of the lock body. The pressure from a solidly inserted roll pin was enough to hold it in place. I drove mine in firmly with a pin punch, put a little duct tape around it to protect the frame while cutting the excess off flush with the boss using a Dremel cutting wheel, and then applied a dab of touchup paint to hide it.

Hope that helps somebody. I spent days messing with it and read all the posts here about the issue before finally drilling out the old lock and coming up with the above solution.

Now I finally get to rebuild the rest of my bike! *LOL*

John

P.S. ... V-Twin sells a "replica" lock for about $90, but I got the Briggs and Stratton from Bill as I prefer the original article whenever possible (and besides, it was half the price). Be careful not to drill too deep when gutting the old lock, so as to preserve the bolt that comes forward into the fork stem to engage the stem when locking. On reassembly, I put the frame on its backside, and dropped the bolt in through the access hole in the front of the neck (once the fork stem is removed, you can reach inside the neck with a finger and pop the plug out of the access hole). I then inserted the lock, set in the "unlocked" position, and used a magnet to pull the bolt up a bit and jiggle it into place so it engaged with the lock mechanism. Once I was sure it was all working properly, I drove in and trimmed the roll pin as described above. QED

[Robert Luland]

John the lock you got from Bill was the right series for your bike. When ya can replace it for $50 clams you don't mind drilling it out (Speaking of which? You no have no ghetto in your blood? Yo! A dent puller would have had that puppy out in a heart beat!). I don't know when Harley introduced the full coverage cylinder. 60? When I say full coverage. Let me stop here and back up. 48-55 is a bare cylinder with a BXXX key. It has the numbers on the face the same way the 1947 and down ignition cylinder had. In 1956 they went to the next series which is chrome plated face not a stainless steel cover that Mr. Palmer has listed in his book or I have yet to find one. This is still a BXXX key. (No more numbers on the face). The last series as far as I know is the one Bill is selling. It has a HXXX key. This cylinder has the stainless cover. It also has a spring loaded door that closes over the key slot. If someone here can add to this it would be great to have any missing date info and fill in the missing dots. I will try and get some photos up tomorrow. My ten year old cammera won't let me get in that close so you can see the cylinder faces. Bob L

[Robert Luland]

After posting above I got to thinking. I have a brand new factory fresh 1964 frame up on the palette shelving (I’m on a roll here!). Got the ladder and up I went. The neck cylinder in the 64 is identical to the one Bill sells but takes the BXXX key not the HXXX key. This is definitely getting interesting. So this is what I’m going to do in the name of AMCA deep research. I’m going to photograph every neck lock by year at the Reinbeck time line and pester the owners to see there key if they have one. It looks like the BXXX key was used right up to just about the end. Bob L

[JSB55]

Thanks for the dent puller tip... I'll use that on my next one.

The replacement lock is, indeed, an "H" series key, whereas the old one was a "B", but otherwise the locks appear identical in all respects (except that I trashed the old one getting it out and the previous owner had painted over the metal face).

I'm not building the bike to be judged on every last detail, just trying to get it as correct as practically possible, while creating a nice ride I'll enjoy.

John

[bmh]

Robert, my project is a 51 so the early lock with no cover and the numbers on the face would be correct for me. You are also spot on with the ID, I thought it was a B code lock that I had but after looking at the keys it is an H code. There is a small B stamped on the key under the code and that is the mark I remembered. I guess I'll leave the lock out for a spell and see what turns up. I'm not in any hurry and I'd rather do things right than twice. And thanks to John for the info on the pin size, that'll save me the trouble of figuring it out myself.

[Robert Luland]

Sorry Brain. No time this week. The photos below are of 1. The 48 though 55? cylinder (On the left). Only problem is there’s no numbers and its chrome plated. 2. Is of the HXXX unit that Bill’s selling. As you can see Brian they are two totally different animals. There’s no pulling off the cover to reveal numbers. The quality is totally different to. The earlier one is tight and crisp when you turn the key and the later is a sloppy piece of ****. Both of these units are new. I will follow through on this subject as soon as I return from Reinbeck. I’m going to solve this riddle and put it to bed. There is and inbetween that Mr. Palmer missed. Bob L

[felthamw]

Robert,
For your record keeping endeavor, I have a late '55 FLH. It wasn't disassembled, molested or changed before I got it. It has 12 bolt d-rings, a '56 style speedo (which I changed to '55 style and wish I hadn't - now knowing what I know about this "transition phase" in this model year) and a chrome cover/face on the neck lock. Keys are Bxxx. Same key works in ignition and neck.
Wayne E. Feltham
AMCA #4329

[D.Mac]

I was looking for a fork-lock cylinder for my 1950 frame, and also ended up with one of Bill's locks. I know it's not correct for my bike, but it seems better than putting in a tiwan part. Anyway, I used a great idea that Cotten mentioned on this forum sometime back. I threaded the pin hole (I think 4-40 thread) took a screw and cut the head off, and used my dremel to cut a screw slot on it. After screwing this home-made set screw in just below flush, I but a dab of spot putty over it and painted. Now, hopefully one of these days I'll find the correct one and it will easy to R&R.
Doug.

[JSB55]

Given the angle and location of the hole in the lock boss, I couldn't even get a very long drill bit in there. How are you guys managing to tap it, too ???

[vph-d]

I used a 3/32 x 12" drill bit to good effect on the neck lock. It puts the drill out forward of the neck.
VPH-D

[Robert Luland]

If the factory did it! You can do it.