AMF = bad Harley?

back in the late 70's I bought the 13th from the last Velocette Thruxton , a 1971 model put together just before the factory closed forever. It had a mere 1100 miles on it and after checking it out before starting ( it had been parked for about 8 years) it was obvious that the rocker arms had been machined incorrectly and were hitting each other a mistake that would have been unheard of in any earlier Velocette, a company noted for high quality. An expatriate Brit at the time surmised it was probably assembled thusly out of spite. once this and a few other glitches were sorted it revealed itself to be a great machine. Maybe there was some sabotage at Harley as well during the AMF tenure

[Chris in Japan]

Knowing almost nothing about that period, Herbert, your statement makes perfect sense to me.

A hand out of the lead to AMF was certainly not done because of a golden period at that time. Deep and substantial problems may have been present.

Kind regards.

Chris.

[HarleyCreation]

Late pre-AMF

It shouldn't be overlooked that pre-AMF Harley-Davidson was not in the greatest shape either. The Juneau plant was old and inefficient. Tooling and machinery was old and worn out. Things were still done like they had been in the 1910s-20s. The shareholders didn't want to put much money into plant infrastructure. And of course at that time the general sentiment was: "You meet the nicest people on a Honda and the biggest a#3fx2$%& on a Harley."

The fight over H-D by AMF and other concerns plus the in-company anger and resentment is one of the last untold stories. It got ugly and nasty with good guys and bad guys and a very good story.

[T. Cotten]

I still drive a 1973 Datsun pickup.

Those were the days..

*sigh*...


....Cotten

Just Read The Book "well Made In America" The Whole Story Is In There.

[HarleyCreation]

AMF daze

AMF problems became significant as they increased production (c1973-76) and hence profits without paying attention to quality control which was seen as a sign of weakness to the bottom line until it came back and bit them in the balls. Old guys from Harley tell horror stories with tears in their eyes about what passed thru and they couldn't do anything about. No joke.

After that quality control fiasco period AMF tried to bring quality back and in fact the Evolution motor was the end result. That began as an AMF stopgap project until Nova was ready and ended up saving their butt.

Moral to story: Early and late AMF should be better than mid-AMF.

[Chuck#1848]

Had a 72 FLH with early 60's sidecar about 23+ years put 158000 miles on it.
2 complete overhauls to the motor a few top end jobs and it was up to .040 pistons the trans was completely rebuilt shortly after I bought it a friend of mine gave me a hand with rebuilding it.
Always ran great and took me the wife and daughter off to many vacation trips sidecar went to a guy in cleveland and the bike went to a guy about 35 miles north of me I gave him a couple of trans seals with it that needed to get replaced that same friend of mine helped the new owner install them when they opened the trans up he told me the insides were still like new goes to show you remember to change your fluids!

I still hate myself for selling that one............

[Chuck#1848]

Had a 72 FLH with early 60's sidecar about 23+ years put 158000 miles on it.
2 complete overhauls to the motor a few top end jobs and it was up to .040 pistons the trans was completely rebuilt shortly after I bought it a friend of mine gave me a hand with rebuilding it.
Always ran great and took me the wife and daughter off to many vacation trips sidecar went to a guy in cleveland and the bike went to a guy about 35 miles north of me.
I still hate myself for selling that one............

[chiefj48]

Late 79-80 they had many shovels with the valve guide clearance too tight and many valves hung up, i believe most of the problems came with mass production and then the quality suffered, if you rebuilt your shovel to specs you had a good engine that lasted a long time
Tim

i know '78 had the most valve problems due to removing the lead from the gas. i just added Marvel Mystery Oil, and never had any problems.

[chiefj48]

Sweet Bike!!!!

[Chris in Japan]

Many thanks to all for the answers!

I guess things happened like often as a transition... 1970 should have been a year where HD was already under the lead of AMF but (hopefully) still not suffering from the problems you mention above.

However, I find this machine very nice (with the exception of the battery cover that I definitively dislike! But this is personal...) and has proven to be reliable too me... Since I did not owned from new, unfortunatelly I can not say if some of the mentioned problems affected this one also!

Happy ride, then!

Chris.

[chiefj48]

I had the 1981 FLHS, The Eagle Soars Alone, first year not AMF. Loved that bike, only made the transmission in that bike two years. I had 3rd gear go through the side of the transmission case for some reason, was very difficult to get another case. Lost it in a divorce to wife #2. I really liked the emblem on the tank. Rocky had one! I bought it new at Charlotte Harley Davidson, Dale Swarenger gave me a set of leather saddlebags, a leather HD coat, and 2 t-shirts, those were the days. Riding it back up I-85 to Greensboro, it started to snow! I rode home grinning like a mule eating briars! 80 ci Shovel, I miss that ol bike. Thanks for the memories chiefj48!

that is funny, i rode mine home in the snow also!!

[micmac]

I have an '80 FLHS, that i purchased in february of 1981, and i would not part with it.....

I had the 1981 FLHS, The Eagle Soars Alone, first year not AMF. Loved that bike, only made the transmission in that bike two years. I had 3rd gear go through the side of the transmission case for some reason, was very difficult to get another case. Lost it in a divorce to wife #2. I really liked the emblem on the tank. Rocky had one! I bought it new at Charlotte Harley Davidson, Dale Swarenger gave me a set of leather saddlebags, a leather HD coat, and 2 t-shirts, those were the days. Riding it back up I-85 to Greensboro, it started to snow! I rode home grinning like a mule eating briars! 80 ci Shovel, I miss that ol bike. Thanks for the memories chiefj48!

[bmh]

My 71 and I have spent 75,000 wonderful miles together. she had 22,000 on when I bought her and the motor was never apart. I've done the bottom end once, replaced pistons twice ( .020 over currently), and did the valves 3 times. She still runs like a champ and a new 96 incher doesn't run away on her to bad. I'd call that good service, I'm happy anyway.

[Rubone]

I replaced crankcases on one '70 FLH and knew of one other with the same problem. The cast in sleeve to hold the left main bearing came loose in the case. The castings were corrected by H-D and the problem was not very wide spread. It did occur on some early 1970 which were the first cases with the alternator boss. The Sportsters were big problems during the transition to 1000cc. Most of the bikes were OK until the switchover to assembly at York. That is when quality control really fell apart. As far as sabotage goes, I did get a couple engines with snap rings missing and one with a bolt in the crankcase. Also a new FLH with no oil to the lifters and discovered a broken off drill bit in the oil passage. Mistake or intentional? Who knows! By the late '70s things were much better. I bought a new '80 FLHT and if the drunk driver had missed me I would likely still have it!
Robbie