Looking to upgrade the wheels on our 76 FLH from factory spokes to cast wheels.

What type of mods or fabbing would I have to do to fit a set of cast wheels from say..a 98 Road King?

 

Sounds like a PITA, but anything is possible. Things to look at, axle diameter and hub width which brings up wheel spacers. Then you have bolt spacing for rotors will not be the same. Shovel rotors had a smaller outside diameter.

HD made cast wheels for Shovels, if you want to get away from spokes I would look for a set of those, good luck.

 

FWIW, bearings are easy to swap, and they make conversion kits for 3/4" axles into modern 1" or 25mm wheels.

 

A quick peek on ebay gives me some choices, but most are oxidized or have some sort of damage, but I'm gonna keep looking.

 

... and the bearings for the older wheels are the tapered roller type and simple to replace... there should be a variety of the older HD cast wheels available to fit your scooter

 

Wheels will swap, bearings are still 3/4" but you should check before buying the center hub width to make sure the new wheels aren't too wide for the sprocket and rotors to sit correctly. You can space things out but you can't trim it down. I've done a lot of mix & matching like this, probably won't be a direct bolt up and you'll have to play with spacers to get everything aligned correctly. If you can find the rear caliper setup for the late rear also it's a huge improvement and take some the fit games out.

 

Yes that reminds me, the softail 4-piston brake and 11" rotor are a huge improvement! You do need to weld a tab on the swingarm though.

 

I did that on a 74 FLH. I had spacers made for me by a machinist and it worked fantastically.

 

use a 2004 sportster rear calliper, its a 4 pot brembo and almost bo;ts straight on, you need one spacer made about 1/4''wide, i fitted a road king 'wagon wheel' to the rear of my fx and it took about a half a day,..i fitted a 11.5'' disc and a dished sprocket

 

Thanks for all the pointers gents, I appreciate it!!

Might have to stick with the spokes for now. I've got the shovelhead to get back together and My 85 Low Rider project thats been gathering dust for about 8 years....