I've just been looking at the engine cases, transmission and rear mounts on my 96 Electra Glide Ultra Classic.

it's hard to see anything down there but this bike is certainly different to any shovel head I ever saw.

Looks to me that there is a sump (oil pan) under the motor, between the frame rails. There's no oil tank. The transmission is bolted onto what was the rear mounts on a shovelled.

There must be, then, from experience of Norton Commando Isolastic systems, a big lug on the back of the transmission which forms the swingarm mount?

How is all this held together, those two vusible bolts on thr back if the cases can't be holding the whole bike together?

 

Oil pan.oil reserve tank, is under the transmission. Bolt on left hand side 21, drains the tran, while bolt 21 on right and side, drains the oil pan below the trans (top of oil pan, sisters up to bottom of trans.





Yes on rear rubber isolators, with rear swing arm axle going through trans in the center, swing arm having these rubber mount isolators in it (32).

then side rubber isolators on end of swing arm rubber(33) fit into sockets of the bolt on side plates.24 and 25 below.


Here are diagrams if you want to pull them up for the entire bike.
https://partsfinder.onlinemicrofiche...davidsonmc/222

So back of motor/trans/swing arm are not bolted solid to frame, but have rubber isolators, and what causes a great deal of harley death wobble as well. Hence not only flex to side plates of the axle at ends, but the rubber insulators in the swing arm, that cause the entire back tire to pitch to the high side in a corner, and get worse with it bounces off end of flex and back to center over and over again.

So step one, get rid of these rubber swing arm bushings, and go to either delrin bushing or spherical bushing that are solid, so swing arm is not flexing on the axle shaft.
Step two, either add in another stabilizer link on the side plate to trans, or go with different side isolators that reduce the amount that the ends of axles can flex to begin with.

Myself, went to spherical swing arm bushings (like on the newer touring bikes), and tour link to resolve the back end flexing,

but with the problem I have been having with helm joints on linkagae wearing out yearly, may pull the lot to just go to another system when it time to change the spherical bushings in the swing arm.

So, front of motor has stabilizer linkage for it front placement in the frame,and is rubber isolator motor mount to reduce motor vibration to the frame there, top of motor has adjustable stabilizer linkage to adjust the amount of cant that the drive line has in the frame,
motor is connect to trans, with swing arm axle through rear channel of trans and axle to rubber isolators at swinarm and sides isolators to frame side plate socket, and for most part, its just the two tension linkages that are holding the entire drive line parts in alignment to the frame on the three isolators when not flexing.
Hence to correct swing arm angle to frame so bike is not pulling left or right, its done back up at the front of motor via that tension adjuster linkage. rear wheel to swing arm is not canted swingarm, done via the rod method, so center of rear axle is, same both sides to side swing arm aligment holes.


I bring this all up,since when you start to replace mounts and side isolators front motor mount, your need to align the entire drive line back up to the frame center line.
You can play the string game for the front stabiler linkage, and messure shock mounting point lenghts to each other to get the top stablalizer linkage adjusted correctly (engine/swing arm level to frame), or you can just get the motor alignment tool set, that centers the swing arm bolt to the side plate channels to put the drive line in line with the frame that way, then adjust the stabilizer linkages to that.


hence red parts bolt to side plate, and then dark bolt as used to center the rear fork axles to center of side plates through centers of red parts.
the kit includes parts for the evo's, as well at twin cam bikes as well, so not a bad deal for the hundereds of dollars that the motor alingmnet tool cost.



Also to point out, it was not until 2006 that Harley put the rear wheel in the same index line as the front tire on the touring bikes (why touring bikes that year and newer got the narrower drive belts, so they could push the rear tire in the swing arm in line with the front tire.
So if doing string method down the side of the bike off the front tire to align the drive liine, keep in mind that rear tire on oem touring frames before 2006, will be more towards the brake pedal, away from the foot shifter side of the bike in the swing arm and it tire sides, not the same as the front tire sides with the front tire straight.


To add, on the latest of HD touring models, they did away with the adjustable stabilizer links,
from these,


To these,


But as frame is jigged and being welding up, the heat from the welds can pull the frame slightly out of dimensions once released from the welding jig, and cause the bike to pull to one side. So by changing back to adjustable stabilizer links, you can fine tune the motor/trans/swing arm to frame alignment, to get the bike to not pull to one side in the end.

This should have your covered for this round of questions, but is need other answers as you need to strip the bike down for repairs, feel free to ask, and one of us can cover them as well.

 

OK thanks. That's all very much like the old Norton Isolastic system. Isolastic worked fine provided it was properly shimmed up... if you sat on the bike and shook the handlebars, you could feel the bike shimmy and you knew you needed new shims!

Isolastic was much simpler but didnt hold its adjustment for long.

Im not aiming to do anything to the Glide right now but its worth understanding the bike.

 

No worries, and just bookmark the below link, so you can get oem part numbers for replacement parts.
Also, if no price is show, then HD not longer makes the part, but can use the factory part number to find after market parts.
https://partsfinder.onlinemicrofiche...davidsonmc/222

Also, when you are looking for the side swing arm shaft isolators 33 to replace them, not if our side plate 23 and 24, have just the roll type pin ****, or the slotted tab isntead.

Yours should have just the pin, and the ones for it just have the small round channel for the pin,


While if you end up with the ones with the slot (later style), can still make them work,but will need to lathe up sleeves to press on to the side plate pins, so slot indexes correctly on the pin in the first place.

https://vtwincity.fi/kuva-data/17-996486.JPG

I bring this up, since the spherical bushing kit that comes with new rubber mounts will have the slotted bushings if you go that way, and will need to add press on sleeves to the side plate pins to make then work correctly. the press on sleeve is easy to make since just center drill a piece of SS rod to fit the roll pin firmly, then OD the sleeve the width of the bushing slot, then do the cut off on them the same as the depth of the slot in the bushing.

 

And to add, change out the air front forks to 15weight shock fluid at oem level (oem is 10w), change our the rear shocks oil to 10weight 10.5 oz (oem is 7weight), get rid of the swing arm flex on rubber bushing and go spherical or delrin bushings, and solve the flex in the end bushings, and bike will handle like it on rails/not longer have Harley death wobble.

Other mod, HD front fork range, that will prevent helmet buffing at speed from the wind coming up under the faring, and they act like steering damper at speed over 20mph, and bike will hold is place in lane rock solid, and no fear of taking your hands off the bars are over 100mhp.

https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/e...rs/p/57400146A