Actually I have one of those, thanks for the suggestion!

 

Hammer and a beater screwdriver to chip out the really thick chunks and the needler cleans the rest up very nicely.

 

I got my screwdriver and hammer ready.




A 41 stock frame to compare



There's a frame in there somewhere.





Factory saddle joint with one tack weld visible which would be followed by furnace brazing. This joint was eliminated in 48 on the first wishbone frames. This frame is 47 down.



Single tack weld on axle clip, also followed by furnace brazing.



Axle clips put the frame around 1945. I'll see what the numbers are on the upper and lower frame post when I get there.




Was never a fan of the solid look between the backbone and lower strut, made the tank look out of place. Not pleased with the quality of the welds.




Neck is later than the rest of the frame having a lock cylinder in it. More "high quality" welding.

I'll use the scaler to clean off the leftover bondo.

 

Oh boy somebody got busy with an old Lincoln tombstone arc welder. No skill and I'd say besides the wrong rod it was old and water damaged from that bubble gum pile. Honestly surprised those didn't crack out on you.

Going to be having fun with the grinder I suspect. See a whole lot of bad language coming.

 

It gets worse. Im at a cross-roads. Promised my youngest daughter the chopper stays, it's here favourite bike but it needs some serious work. The legs are 1-1/8" and are joined to the 1" lower tubes mid-way under the transmission. Left side where the tube is squashed to clear the tin primary they welded what looks like angle iron over the joint. On the other side just a reduction in size from one tube to the other. Also the lower seat post forging isn't from a mechanical brake bike and the front engine mount has numbers I've not seen before. Being a chopper technically there's no such thing as a correct or incorrect part and the lower forging I can let slide, same with the front engine mount. But the thicker legs and how they are spliced in has me debating getting another frame thats oem but okay to chop because its been through the ringer - just not as badly as this one.

Or maybe I need to just sleep on it and replace what needs to be replaced, like the neck and clean up the rest of the mods. The thicker legs aren't a bad thing really and you see none of it when the bike is assembled. With a new neck done properly I might have a completely different outlook on it.

 

Bet your butt that's a chunk of water pipe got stuffed in there. Has to go. This point you got a couple options, stay the course spend some money and a lot of time unscrewing that or a new frame from Paughco or a $$$$ from somebody like John.

It'll cost but there's frame shops that will make that look factory. 65 I did for a widow was a pretzel and needed replacement tubes & bosses in a couple spots. I couldn't find any indication it wasn't bone stock or factory when I got it back. Paint was even correct.

Get it stripped and blasted then decide.

 

Agreed, I'll strip it and see what Im working with. I looked at Paughco tonight, V-twin replicas and so on and they're a nice option. To some it'll seem crazy because new is nice but if I spent the dough on this frame vs a replica from Tedd I can always say it a Harley frame.

 

The reinforcement. Im sure I can come up with a better way.

 

I've used a good few frames from Paughco, been to the factory over in Carson City Nv. Just took a peek, been a while, prices have all but doubled since my last build.

That kinda change having yours reworked isn't that scary anymore.

 

So I did more digging tonight, literally. On the weekend I was feeling pretty negative about using this frame but I think its more about me just liking things done a certain way, more than one way to skin a cat, I just needed to accept that. I needed to think, talk to some people (Johnjzjz being one of them) and it gave me a different perspective. Not to be so **** and remember what the bike is, something thats been chopped up not made from scratch in a state of the art shop with cnc benders and tig welders. Monday was a holiday here so I messed around with the frame and things started to make sense. I suspected it was a swing arm frame that had been converted to a hard tail when I found welds that pointed right to that. Thats when I nearly walked the frame over to the woods behind my house and tossed it as far away from me as possible.

I let it sit, did some googling looking at frames. Edlund, Paughco, Tedd, Kraftech etc. Tedd's I would cut into a chopper with a fresh new frame and no guilt. But then its made in Taiwan. I read on another forum where someone was using one of Tedds frames and found the right side tube from the upper seat post to the axle clip was lower than the left. D'oh! The other options are an off the shelf build which isn't what I want either.

Tonight I dug out the other side of the neck and its not so much of a dogs breakfast. The right side looks messy because of the fork lock hole and the location of the cut / weld near it.




They cut a small pie slice out and would've heated the rest of the forging to bend it from 30 to 45 degrees. The backbone weld is factory, the brace has to go and I will put a tube there like original so that area isn't solid. The neck will probably get a gusset on both sides then I'll have a Bondo party, Dan you're invited.



June 64 build date on the Frame, 1945 dates on the back half.



Where the 45 rigid section was attached to the duo-glide frame.