Hey guys its been a long time since i have posted but since then i bought a 74 FXE got a great deal but i'm starting to find out why. The bike runs great but when i got it the inner primary and the 2 outer tabs that bolt to the motor had broken off and re weld, looked really bad. So i decided to change the inner primary and seeing as i was already deep into i decided to convert to a belt drive primary. But i have a very aggravating problem, as i went to put the new inner on it wouldn't fit flush on the motor. I tried the old one a couple of times just to make sure i wasn't doing something wrong and i wasn't, old one would snap right in to position. I realized that there was no longer a bearing in the old inner so i took the bearing out of the new inner and low and behold SNAP right into place so i came to the conclusion that my tranny is out of whack but i got no clue on where the start or how to square it with my motor. any help/experience with this would be greatly appreciated i came very close a couple of time smacking the **** out of it with a hammer hahahaha

 

Page 6-29 of the service manual: Primary Chain/Belt Case Assembly.

 

Short version...loosen trans mounting bolts...move trans and verify than motor,trans,inner primary will fit together properly...install and torque engine to inner primary bolts...install and torque trans to inner primary bolts...re-torque trans mounting bolts.

 

how much movement is in the motor and where/how is the best point to measure from and too

 

that would be good if i was smart and has a service manual hahaha

 

Find a panhead manual , it has a detailed section on setting and truing the drive train .

Short version , primary off , ALL the bolts loose on the tranny to plate studs and the plate to frame for the tranny including the one on the kicker cover side .

Loosen all the engine mounting bolts including the top motor mount . Torque the 2 REAR motor bolts , using a feeler gauge check to see if you have any clearance under the front mounts if so shim them tight and torque the front bolts .

Do the same to the upper mount , tighten the head studs and check for a gap between the mount & frame . again washer & shim to fit . This is where most your vibration & broken mounts come from things being stressed and pulled down instead of fitting up right .

Now with the tranny bolts all still loose , put the inner primary on and torque the front 4 bolts into the engine . Now pull in & torque the 4 nuts on the studs from the side of the trans case into the primary cover .

hand tighten the 4 nuts on the studs on the trans to plate , leaving the 4 bolts to frame loose still . Again take a feeler gauge and see it you have any gaps between the plate & frame mounts .*****

This is important , here's why most primary covers break tabs & crack on the inside around the trans shaft bearing , I've found gaps as big as 1/8" before , shim everything up solid and torque the plate mounts and the tranny studs .

Drive train is now as square as your frame and you should find a lot less vibration and later oil leaks if you do it right .

 

thanks twisted i'll give that a shot tomorrow i tried the bolting the primary to the motor side but the trans studs seemed to low and would not let me get the inner into position

 

The older frames sometimes had a twist to them I've found a lot of tranny's needing big shimming . Another tip beer or soda cans are about .002-.003" thick and cut nicely with scissors for shim stock and any Ace hardware has shim stock too , at least out here .
I'd also feel along the bottom frame rails for any dents , could be yours has hit a curb or something .

 

you need to buy the books parts and service - at some point you will be calling something what you think its called, and its really something else and you will be getting incorrect answers, as the guys use page numbers and sections in the books as a reference, you need to do that -- johnjzjz

 

Well i ordered a book for it today i was so frustated i didn't work on it yesterday. I was wondering if any one knows if the output shaft on the motor and input shaft of the trans are suppose to be veritclly the same i was thinking of trying to mesure from the frame to the shafts put dont know if they are suppose to be offset at all or how they are suppose to sit?