got meself a shovel

hi to all. eventually picked up a bobbed 70' flh. was an unfinished project with a lot of quality work done, but not running properly and in need of some 'fettling'.

well after rebuilding the kicker assembly with some patient bush reaming with appropriately sized sockets and some wet and dry i had a reliable means of attempting to start it (no leccy start).

once running i had ignition problems when hot; misfiring and nightmare to restart once warm/hot. tracked this down to the coil, which i replaced. i've since put a couple of hundred miles on it hassle free. after tuning the timing i got it starting pretty much first time from cold and within three kicks warm/hot. though i think the idle wants slight adjustment. it's running a cv carb, which i've been told should work well?

the donks been rebuilt and i'm in the process of running it in, but i got a very slight oil leak from what looks like behind the alternator. not too worried about this. i'll pull the alty and replace the seal at some point.

i was slightly concerned about the whirring noise when riding it and the somewhat clunky/crunchy downgear change. i thought i'd pull the box out over the winter and rebuild it, as it's not been touched and history somewhat unknown. but aftre reading youngjohns post about whirring shovel, all seems normal. gear changes are getting better with experience, definately felt the difference at lower rev changes, much better. changing into first can soemtimes be abit crunchy, but i think this is due to the idle being a tad too fast? still rebuilt the box over winter though.

i'm getting a slight metallic scraping noise when the clutch is pulled on (plates released). stripping the clutch i couldn't see any tell-tale marks. i thought it was the clutch cage wobble at first, but from what i've read some wobble is normal? it's a dry clutch having a belt conversion on it. i'm sure it didn't do it before i rebuilt the kicker, so maybe it's the release bearing, but the noise does seem to come from the clutch side of the bike. next job is to pull the kicker case and have a look inside. any thoughts on this?

apart from fettling mechanicals etc i'm in the process of returning it to fl guise with some personal touches. firmly on the road to getting my dream bike.

well sorry for going on abit. can't wait to meet up with yous guys and talk shop over a beer or two. kinda finding my way round via common sense etc. got loads to learn and loads to ask.

laters

[the_french_owl]

No doubts you'll have a well sorted Shovel in the end, welcome!!!

Patrick

[The Yukon Sizzler]

You might want to consider a ram jett clutch retainer . Cheap and easily fitted , transformed my pan , sweeter gear changes , no clutch drag , can find neutral at standstill, much quieter primary. Worth its weight in gold.

[kiwidave]

a clutch tamer/retainer is generally the No 1 choice of mod for all dry clutch Harleys.

The ring-a-ding-ding of the chattering plates is part of the joy!

Have fun

[S.T.Chapman]

unless im strongly mistaken?
It was nice to see it this last weekend Jooles

hi s.t. yes, guilty. forgive as i'm not sure who you are. going trough the first names in my head. some i can remember, others not. not alot beginning with 's' i'm afraid.

i'll look into those clutch kit things. though after speaking to various bods at the s.m rally (south mid's, not sado mas') i think i just got it badly adjusted, as in not enough play and to expect abit of noise as it's running dry and to some extent they are abit noisy etc etc. it's o.k for now and i got bigger fish to fry so to speak.

o.k thanks to all for their guidance/help.

laters, j.

[Simon_Y]

Jools

Further to the above, I would thouroughly recommend the clutch tamer and long bearing set in place of the dubious OEM caged bearing affair and restraining spring clips. These two things will transfrom the perfromace of the clutch and make setting it up a piece of p*ss. I note from your earlier post that you think you may have a leak from you main crank seal , I assume you are running your Primary belt open as, if its closed you run the real risk of totalling the belt in short order and leaving yourself with a long push home, the belts are not at all tolerent to heat &/or oil in any combination. in fact, I went through two belts in the space of two years and eventually reverted to a chain primary with an evo style oil set up, since doing that 6 years ago - no further problems.

Have fun and enjoy the bike.

Simon

hi simon, thanks for that i'll look into those clutch kits for sure now. i've seen the long bearings available, but i'm thinking you gotta get a new clutch basket to fit them, as they won't fit in the saddles of shorter rollers?

i'm actually running the primary closed. i'll pull the case of tomorrow to have a nose, but i have to say the leak is really quite small. i was hoping to forget about it for now and redo the seals over winter.

s'pose if there's any sign of the belt getting oil splashed i'll have to think about it sooner rather than later.

regards.

Hi, the long rollers replace the whole cage and small rollers. they just fit loose(no cage). I have heard very rarely on some hubs you may have to hone the hub slightly if they are too tight. Never seen that though. plates rattle on belt drives thats normal.
The crunchy box on changing down could well be a fast idle. the revs have to be just right. The stock gear ratios are pretty crap. theres a huge gap twixt second and third. terrible to ride somewhere like slow twisty roads in the lakes, 2nds too low and 3rds too high. andrews gears cures that.
Clutch,personally on mine I found just fitting a ram-jet style retainer was fine without the long rollers.
What size belt are you running? 8 11 or 14 mm? Seems like the only one I know who hasn't snapped a belt is running an 8mm. must be a better wrap!
Also what area is the whirring noise coming from?
mart.

[tricky]

jzk....Just thought I'd chip in on the belt subject...I've been running 11mm on my Pan( 2 yrs), and 8mm on my 45(4 yrs)...both enclosed, no probs with either. Although that means I'll now have a break down on the way to New Forest later I suppose ....anyway, in the early days there were apparently lots of probs with belts. However I do think things have moved on since then. My personal opinion is that its the alignment that is critical, so I use a laser pointer to check the pulley and clutch are perfectly in line...not running them too tight....and keeping them free from contamination. The belt when adjusted correctly will not run hot, and will only take on the temperature of the environment its working in...for example, after a long run my belts are warm, but not hot.