What is the trick to pull transmission on 47 Chief and not motor?

[KNUCK]

Need to put in a couple heli coil one on left side for primary bolt and on top for chain guard mount. So got trans loose and realized no clearance to pull it. Maybe slide motor forward? Have not had to do this as a stand alone pull before. Another question is where do you buy your Chief tools?

[someozybloke]

It is easier to lift the Trans and Motor out in one piece and then separate them.... Not sure it is even possible to remove the trans as there would be no support for the rear of the motor.

Try Greer or Starklite or Kiwi for specialist Indian Tools

[KNUCK]

Chief is already on a lift, gears out, so I was thinking I could block up under the motor take out engine mount bolts, then move engine up a little to gain access for trans to lift out. Pulling motor and trans at once is a whole different deal. Wondering if anybody tried this.

[gsottl]

The Indian Chief, in contrast to a Harley is a unit construction, meaning that motor, transmission and primary are one bolted together unit not intended to be removed seperately. If you want to repair the 1/4"-20 thread in the transmission for the bolt just below the clutch, you need to remove the drivetrain from the frame.

I would highly recommand to get an Indian workshop manual before you start working.....what you describe above sounds dangerous for primary drive case and the transmission lugs!

[PRG]

Howdy sir,

Actually a Chief is no different from an BT HD, is component not unit construction - but with a sealed primary, and all of it tied together, just better - an example of the latter is a Vincent or late BSA, Triumph twin wherein the engine and trans case are cast as one.

Now, that trans can be removed from the frame motor intact (held in place by top motor bracket and very robust from motor mount. But, by the time you have removed the primary/contents, trans top, final drive etc you are basically 2 bolts and 2 oil lines from engine removal. If this was a resto by others without history, knowing how how these machines are extensively shimmed to make up for inadequate wornout factory tooling I’d be tempted to pull the motor and ensure everything is aligned to include the four (possible) shims between motor and trans. Best done on a bench.

On the other hand, field dressing this machine while removing the primary drive and chain guard but not the trans. The chain guard stud drilling does not pass entirely through the trans case, I’d prep the existing trans drilling and shorten my insert so it could bottomed out and locked in this hole and alter the replacement stud to suit. This attachment point is not under excessive load and in the unlikely event a stud not Loctited backing out would drop on the ground harmlessly.

The primary bolt you’re referring to is likely the one to the right of the level bolt on the primary. That drilling does indeed go all the way through. I’d drain my trans, run some lacquer thinner or other estringent through it and delicately locate some clay or other material to catch the crumbs against the drilling opening into the bottom of the trans case, measure the depth of the original thread bore and do the same thing as above. Again, this is a relatively low load point. Turning a steel bolt in to threaded alloy, as opposed to having a stud, is the least preferred attachment method but I guess with Indian it was a matter of aesthetics in matching bolt heads to the primary cover face rather than having a stud protrude with a nut on it. These were commonly stripped over the years, either through over torquing or the owner not mindful of this different thread pitch from the others and then running it down ruining the threads.

[tfburke3]

To move the motor up you need to take out the top motor mount,which requires carb removal,and even then you need to remove head to get the mount out or else you are only going to able to raise the thickness of the spacer and shim so you are pretty close to being able to pull motor.
It will also make reassembly easier when you start aligning the primary and trans and shimming any soft feet on the trans to case bolts.
Tom

[KNUCK]

Thanks for all the help. I was able to move the motor forward just enough to remove the transmission. Was actually rather easy, even got the heli coils installed tonight. I had already removed the fuel tanks so it was easy to see what I was doing.

[fillibuster]

Thanks for all the help. I was able to move the motor forward just enough to remove the transmission. Was actually rather easy, even got the heli coils installed tonight. I had already removed the fuel tanks so it was easy to see what I was doing.

durned knuckle-headers, anyway! Just wait 'til I get my hands on a harley!