Hello members.
I have a 2003 Harley Night train, and I am going for the 200 rear tire conversion. I bought a rear rim from 2006 Softail Standard, also have the 06 pulley+skinny belt+wide fender and struts.
But can I use my stock brake caliper....if not,,what is the next step???

Hope you can guide me through this.

Thanx

 

I just finished up a conversion on an 05' and the brake caliper information I found was incomplete, so I learned it all the hard way.

Here is what I found and would assume it to be the same for you.

The old caliper can be ground down in the area where it mounts to the frame to clear the wider wheel with no problem. It doesn't take much.

The width of the old caliper mount at the axle is around .300 wider than the 06/07' mount, so mine would not fit without being narrowed up. This means that the slot at the caliper end of the mount will also need to be machined deeper by this same amount, as you will be moving the caliper out towards the swingarm from the stock location.

Even after all of this work, the real PITA is that the one piece caliper and mount will not allow you to drop the wheel out or get the caliper off the wheel without removing the rotor as well. There is not enough room between the wheel lip and rotor to get the caliper out.

After all of this I purchased the 06/07' caliper and mount and everything was a direct bolt on and it resolves any wheel removal issues.

I recommend upgrading to the 06/07', but if saving some $$$ is your goal it can be done with your stock parts.

Don't forget that the bracket on the swingarm for the caliper will need to be ground down to clear the wider wheel as well. Again, it doesn't take a lot and is fairly easy.

One other issue that I didn't find in any search is for the struts. The wide tire struts use the furthest hole forward on the frame and mine was tapped 1/2" instead of 3/8". EZ-Loc makes a narrow wall insert to adapt it but I struggled to get one to fit. Come to find out you have to drill the current threads with a 29/64 bit to remove the tops of the threads because a narrow wall insert does not have full depth threads on the 1/2" side. I have the inserts if you want me send you a couple. Just PM me an address.

Good luck...

 

Ok great, thank you for this info.
Anyone got pictures of a project like that? Step by step...

 

subscribed... will be doing this conversion in the very near future.

 

No pics, but I did a write-up on a diy wide tire kit I did on my fatboy, complete with my measurements. Made my own spacers, and milled my caliper. Sounds like the same measurements as posted above. Search my old posts. Probably been a few years ago.....steve