1955 FL Panhead: Why is my hand shift rod hitting the horn power pack?

[got_groove]

Ok, so I'm a newbie having a lot of fun with my vintage HD. Have ridden and wrenched on Norton, Triumph and Guzzi for years and understand these machines. The Harley is taking some getting used to.

The shifter rod in the photo is installed on the wrong side of the hand shift lever. But when it's installed on the outside of the lever, the rod hits the bottom of the horn power pack when shifting into 3rd.

Do you suppose the horn power pack should be moved further to the outside, to allow the rod to pass behind it when shifted to 3rd? Or, is the power pack bracket placing the horn power pack itself too low?

http://www.proxibid.com/asp/showImageFullSize.asp?url=/AuctionImages/846/20918/11-1.jpg&t=1955 Harley Davidson 55FL

Thanks for your ideas.

[Rubone]

What photo???
Robbie

[got_groove]

I can't get the photos to work. So... hopefully the url above will work. Thanx

[panz4ever]

Pic comes up fine for me. Cannot answer about your horn (have a 49 EL with frame mounted horn between front down tubes)but the shift rod assembly is intended to be mounted on the OUTSIDE of the the bottom of the shift lever and not the inside.

Here is the pic he is referring to...

[droptopford]

This is going to fall under the 'for-what-it's worth' catagory. I agree with panz4ever that the shift rod is normally mounted on the outboard side (away from the engine) on the bottom end of the shift lever. However...all of the '55 and later bikes I have seen with tank-shift (and Jubilee trumpet horn) were set up with the shift rod mounted on the inside of the lever. I don't know if they were mounted that way in order to clear the horn power pack or not. I don't know if it was ever done that way from the factory or not.

Clark

By the way, if you get too frustrated with the whole problem, I might be willing to take it off your hands and deal with it myself. Cool Bike!

[got_groove]

Thanks guys... still scratching my head on this one a bit. When the rod is mounted on the inside of the lever it barely clears the back side of the horn pack. When the rod is mounted on the outside it smacks right up against the bottom of the horn pack. It kept popping out of third (top) gear as the rod would bend slightly upon impact with the pack housing. It didn't take me too long to figure out why, so I positioned it to the inside again. Then the judges at Davenport noticed, ahem. I'm just not exactly sure what to do about it, but it works this way and it doesn't work when it's repositioned "correctly". Panz4ever, thanks for helping me get the pic in the thread. Droptopford, I'll keep that in mind... however I've worked through more frustrating things over the years...haha

[Chris Haynes]

How about showing us a straight on side view of it. Could it be that you primary chain is too long and the transmission is adjusted too far to the rear?

[milw.pirates]

Maybe if you look at both photo's,(Got Groove and Chris Haynes),could it be that the power pack is a repop ? and slightly larger in diameter? than stock.

Thanks guys... still scratching my head on this one a bit. When the rod is mounted on the inside of the lever it barely clears the back side of the horn pack. When the rod is mounted on the outside it smacks right up against the bottom of the horn pack. It kept popping out of third (top) gear as the rod would bend slightly upon impact with the pack housing. It didn't take me too long to figure out why, so I positioned it to the inside again. Then the judges at Davenport noticed, ahem. I'm just not exactly sure what to do about it, but it works this way and it doesn't work when it's repositioned "correctly". Panz4ever, thanks for helping me get the pic in the thread. Droptopford, I'll keep that in mind... however I've worked through more frustrating things over the years...haha

[panz4ever]

Great pic Chris. From the factory pic it shows that for this year/model the assembly is mounted on the inside and NOT as I had suggested as is done on my 49. Another thought to Chris' post. The rod in Chirs' pic has a slight bend in it. It the OP had a straight rod with no bend could that not create interference issues as he described?

[got_groove]

Thanks again everyone. Milw. Pirates, it certainly could be a reproduction horn power pack but it still appears to be roughly the same size. I wouldn't rule anything out at this point though and appreciate the thought and effort here. Chris Haynes, thanks for the pic! The rod is clearly mounted inside the lever, but whoa the angle of the rod itself appears to be way different than mine. My rod has two slight bends in it, one at each side and I just can't align it to avoid impact. Maybe it is backwards and I should put the lever end of the rod at the trans and vice versa? I wouldn't rule out the primary chain length and consider it a possibility worth looking into as well. For another perspective, take a look at this "original" 1955 panhead and the link to the videos it has on the eBay auction listing. This one recently ended and I've been scouring those pics, not quite literally with a magnifying glass!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...WAX%3AIT#v4-34

I will also get other pics and a straight on shot to compare to the one Chris Haynes posted above too.

In my amatuer opinion the cover on the pack looks exactly like mine in the ebay auction pic. Well, as Joe Walsh said... "I'm just looking for clues at the scene of the crime". Thanks again. Brian

[Perry Ruiter]

The mount on your power pack is wrong. It's canvas reinforced rubber rather than spring steel. It could be home made and/or shaped wrong and allowing the power pack to hang lower than it should .. Perry

[felthamw]

Brian
Your power pack look OEM to me and is exactly the same as mine - including the slot placement for the wire exiting the cover and the use of the big diameter wire covering. I saw an original paint '55 FLH at Denton that was unmolested and it had the small wire covering with a clip. No clip on the big covering - it was originally friction taped to frame. I noticed that you have the canvas replacement horn mount instead of the steel spring clips as supplied OEM. The steel leaves had a tendency to break and the canvas was the factory's respnse/fix. Is it possible that the canvas mount has allowed the power pack to droop enough to impact the shifter rod?
I took the liberty of attaching a Chris Haynes supplied pic he provided when I was going through the motions. It shows the steel spring leaf mount style (original).
Wayne #4329
on second thought, I haven't learned how to attach pics - it wants URL address
later ...maybe

[felthamw]

photo attached

Horn pic1 - 55.JPG
that wasn't so bad afterall
cheers
Wayne #4329

[Chris Haynes]

The mount on your power pack is wrong. It's canvas reinforced rubber rather than spring steel. It could be home made and/or shaped wrong and allowing the power pack to hang lower than it should .. Perry

The canvas reinforced rubber is correct.

[Robert Luland]

Judging from Chris’s photo, The rod should have no problem clearing. Now for the dumb question of the afternoon. Is the wing on the tranny top facing up or down? It can be installed ether way. Bob L