Wide ASS on Softail

[Strawhead]

I know that there are a few of you out there who have succumbed to the temptation of increasing the tire size on the rear of their softails!

My cousin and i have an almost totally stripped 91 Springer and are hoping to marry up the wide ass swing arm this weekend.

1) max of 200 series tire
2) CC kit
3) Running standard style belt

we were hoping that those who have done this could place there pearls of wisdom on this thread in order to make doing this a little easier, any pitfalls/ advice/ thoughts etc

many thanks

Andy

[MacHarry]

any pictures maybe of the bike or cousin(lady)

Harry

[Strawhead]

will try and get some together this weekend, although to be fair think it looks better as it starts to get put back together.

wiring loom just arrived.

sorry Harry my cousin is a balding, chubby fellow and i would not wish to grace this good website with pictures of him, t'would scare people

[SX 150]

I'm running a 230/15 rear wheel,
The swing-arm has been cut and widened to fit the new wheel.
To keep the wheel in line my bike has the primaries (primmo),and the transmission offset by 1 1/4", & the final drive belt is now an 1 1/8"- to clear the wheel.
The rear wheel spacers had to be made to reset the wheel back in-line, and then belt rotor had to be offset to line up with the drive belt.-

Setting up the primary offsets was easy, the difficult bit was getting the rear wheel & drive to fit in line. A lot of measuring and a bit of trial and error.- I found the hardest part was getting the rear wheel spacers correct.

(just hope this makes sence).

[Strawhead]

Yes thanks does make sense, the kit came with the transmission offsets etc and all the relevant parts i think! aware of the nightmare of drive alignment, not done it before but from the site realise that belts will be eaten if not fitted properly

did you have to cut up the frame at all. mostly concerned with the fender struts that are on the frame and the need to cut them off. plus any other mods that need to be done with the supposedly all inclusive kits.

planning on dry fitting the kit this weekend with luck, so that we can sort out any mods to the frame prior to treatment, as it has seen better days

with thanks

[SX 150]

My bike has been converted,- not using a kit, Yes my frame was cut & widened by an 1 1/4" on the drive side as is the whole swing arm,- including the swing arm axle and pivot points,- not the easy way to do it but its seems to of worked out OK now.

The hard bit is first getting the rear wheel strait, then getting the belt to line with the drive. Not having a laith at home, for me it meant a few runs to a machine shop to get the drive rotor offset right.

[SX 150]

This photo shows the widened swing arm and frame, It's not really obvious unless you compare it to a stock bike.- Hope it helps.

[Music]

Have a look in my Garage section Strawhead there's a bit of a run down with some pic's of my bike when having the conversion.
Yes you will have to cut the fender struts at about a 50 degree angle
What rear fender are you fitting that is quite a crucial point. Also changing
the swingarm with the fatter wheel changes the rear suspension. I had to
get some harder units or you might find it bottoming out when two up.
I also expect you will need a seat made to fit the rear fender. I know a good chap down here if you do.

Good luck

Music.

[yorkshire_bloke]

Hi I used the zodiac kit.Running 200 tyre on 15" rim. On 97 fatboy.
1/ Had to buy 1 1/8" belt, stock belt offsets wheel.Plus pulley spacers.
2/ Besides cutting rear fender struts off needed to cut 2 v groves in the rear bottom bar of frame so shocks don't hit on swingarm compression.
3/ Found the stock brake didn't fit anymore, caliper bracket rubbed on tyre so had to fit a pfm universal brake.
4/ When putting primary back together remember to check the spacing
on front motor sprocket to clutch.(to get the primary chain to run straight). After fitting kit mine was out 4mm (forgot to check on dry build so now waitng for spacers).
Thats all I can think of at the minute. Even though I got a pulley spacer in the kit I still had to buy another and machine to fit. Also I've used a support bearing on the outside of the pulley.If it helps ther are some picks of the bike in this section.
Have fun kev

[Strawhead]

Thanks for the responses.

He is probably looking to cut an old rear fatboy fender in half and then weld an inch band in the middle.

Don't have any ideas what wheel to choose as yet, but probably a 16" spoked affair.

well the engine and gear box are coming out tomorrow and the springer front end is going to be removed. leaving us a bare naked frame ready to be fiddled with on friday

will update on progress