WR, KR, XLR, and early XR balance spindle

[Steve Little]

Hi. Hope everyone is well.
Wondering if anyone knows if S&S, Eastern or Enfield or any other manufacturer makes a balance spindle for any of the Harley R series race engines?
Harley might have made them, but I cant see them in the R part manuals that I have.

P4180003.jpg

[kitabel]

Since (most of?) those engines use a stepped crankpin, IIRC the pin taper of the WR is stock 45 @ 1.00" (with 1.25" journal), and the later "R" tapers are stock XL @ 1.25" (with 1.50" journal).
Whether those spindles are long enough, IDK.

[T. Cotten]

Hi. Hope everyone is well.
Wondering if anyone knows if S&S, Eastern or Enfield or any other manufacturer makes a balance spindle for any of the Harley R series race engines?
Harley might have made them, but I cant see them in the R part manuals that I have.

You really think you need one, Steve?

There are other ways to skin the cat! (Do you think the MOCO did it like that?)

Unless you are carving your wheels from scratch, treating individual wheels is a tedious exercise, with very, very little benefit. Stay healthy,..

...Cotten
PS: I've a spindle like that that, never used, that I'll sell cheap. Then you could carve its tapers any way you want!
PPS: More importantly, did you calculate the original factor before you tore them apart?

[Steve Little]

Hi kitabel. I appreciate you taking time to reply.
I am thinking you are relating crank pin tapers. The crank pin tapers on my XLR’s are the same as Sporty and Big twin and I have that bob weight in the S&S kit. I also made one for the earlier knuckle stepped crank pin. See picture:

P4190001.jpg

The flywheel balance spindle goes through the pinion and sprocket shaft tapers. The taper sizes may be the same a W models. But most definitely WR, KR, and XLR…the last being my passion/focus.

Hi Tom. Thanks for contributing and thank you for offering the red light special price on the spindle. Before troubling you good folk on this forum, I looked at my S&S balance spindle to see if I could make some modification to fit to it. But the 9/16” spindle shaft is too big. If there was ever such a tool for WLA’s, I think that spindle might work, but I will probably have to make one with a 7/16” bright shaft spindle with the taper I need and incorporate a standard W nut to tighten it to the flywheel.
I like sinking into the concentration of tedious jobs. Got lots of time at the moment. And just for fun I will weigh all the parts out to see if it factors in when I get a spindle.
Hope I have written that in a legible way.
Regards Steve

[T. Cotten]

Steve!

My point was that you don't need a 'spindle' to balance a crank assembly.

With sufficiently tall knife-edges, you can balance all of it together.
Indeed, it is best to put an assembly on edges before it is disassembled, to determine its existing factor.

Especially since so many factors are hearsay, or picked out of thin air!

....Cotten

[kitabel]

Duh! Sorry, brain engaged too late.

[Steve Little]

Duh! Sorry, brain engaged too late.

There is no laughing emoji.... but I am. Thanks for contributing.