Enclosed Chain Drive
Oops
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 333
Likes: 0
From: Pantego,NC.
LOL..Told ya it is alot work and money....You cant put a regular belt pulley on it cuase the splines are diffrent,I even changed the main drive gear to a belt spline style,but then you have to cut the inner primary for clearance which puts you having to run the dry clutch and primary belt....Just putting a regular chain or even a oring chain is strait forward. the only issue is when replacing a chain you should also replace both sprockets.Problem here is the rear one..It cant be bought.Harley discontinued it long ago.Only used it for 3yrs or so.No aftermarket company makes one that i know of and ive looked belive me.So youre back to taking all that s#$it off an replacing the rear wheel.Its pretty straight forward,youre just gonna have to work out the spacing of the wheel in the swingarm,and then the alignment of the sprockets.All pretty easy tasks.Just look for an old mag wheel from an sporty or superglide or really anything that has timken bearings with 3/4 axle and is 16in rear.Ive even put sealed bearing fatboy rims on em before.They are really easy to find.Hell,ive got 2 hanging on the wall....Personally,i would do this,and then go ahead and put new sprockets and a good oring chain and be done with it.All this shouldnt cost more than 300-400 bux on the high side.With most of the cost being the chain.And personally i prefer diamond chains.Hope all this helps.
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,121
Likes: 6
From: Huntersville, NC
If you're going to run it open take the housing off from around the sprocket.
been there, done that runnin it open after chain snapped and it blew out the housing. Lubing that chain aint fun. I'd fix it if it were mine.
been there, done that runnin it open after chain snapped and it blew out the housing. Lubing that chain aint fun. I'd fix it if it were mine.
Oops
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 333
Likes: 0
From: Pantego,NC.
Hence the oring chain.Requires less maintinace,and has alot lot longer life.Even still pop off the saddlebag spray on some lube and youre good to go...You still run into the problem of replacing the rear sprocket.Youre chain didnt break for no reason.If it was worn out so are youre sprockets.
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,121
Likes: 6
From: Huntersville, NC
Hence the oring chain.Requires less maintinace,and has alot lot longer life.Even still pop off the saddlebag spray on some lube and youre good to go...You still run into the problem of replacing the rear sprocket.Youre chain didnt break for no reason.If it was worn out so are youre sprockets.
Oops
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 333
Likes: 0
From: Pantego,NC.
Isnt that the truth.Ive searched high and low for an inner primary,and rear sprocket before finnally converting over to a rear belt...The enclosed chain was a great idea,but just a bad desing.Pepole wouldnt check the tension,the oil level,or the alingment,and all three of these lead to chain failures,and the god awful leaks.I can say im alot happier with the rear belt though.
HDF Community Team
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 5,404
Likes: 2,605
From: NC USA
There was a guy from Arizona posted a good while back on another thread singing praise on the enclosed chain setup. He bought an "undelivered" FLHP ordered for the State Troopers and had over 100,000 miles on all the original stuff riding in state mostly and lot of dirt road... some parts/machines just hold up well while others fail sometimes for no apparent reason. Of course, proper maintenance is required, regardless.
Thread Starter
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Tourer
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 292
Likes: 3
From: Westland, Michigan
LOL..Told ya it is alot work and money....You cant put a regular belt pulley on it cuase the splines are diffrent,I even changed the main drive gear to a belt spline style,but then you have to cut the inner primary for clearance which puts you having to run the dry clutch and primary belt....Just putting a regular chain or even a oring chain is strait forward. the only issue is when replacing a chain you should also replace both sprockets.Problem here is the rear one..It cant be bought.Harley discontinued it long ago.Only used it for 3yrs or so.No aftermarket company makes one that i know of and ive looked belive me.So youre back to taking all that s#$it off an replacing the rear wheel.Its pretty straight forward,youre just gonna have to work out the spacing of the wheel in the swingarm,and then the alignment of the sprockets.All pretty easy tasks.Just look for an old mag wheel from an sporty or superglide or really anything that has timken bearings with 3/4 axle and is 16in rear.Ive even put sealed bearing fatboy rims on em before.They are really easy to find.Hell,ive got 2 hanging on the wall....Personally,i would do this,and then go ahead and put new sprockets and a good oring chain and be done with it.All this shouldnt cost more than 300-400 bux on the high side.With most of the cost being the chain.And personally i prefer diamond chains.Hope all this helps.
Oops
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 333
Likes: 0
From: Pantego,NC.
What type of dry clutch? The factory clutch setup was called dry,but it still "squrited" oil on the primary chain.This wont work with the rear belt setup....You will have to put a aftermarket primary belt drive setup such as Bdl,or Primo.There are 2 kits that convert the bike to rear belt but both require double belts,Karata,which i dont recommend,and a company called Supermax.The supermax kit is Really nice kit,but its like 1500.00 or something like that.
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Road Captain
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 533
Likes: 2
From: Virginia
Figuring out my new-to-me '84 FXRT
OK folks - I've got the FSM, and it's not a lotta help in figuring our how to check and adjust the final drive-chain (enclosed chain - enclosure's in good shape).
I've enjoyed the enclosed-chain to Belt conversion talks - and if I go this route, I'll go w/a '94-99 tranny/primary/clutch/starter, and move the oil tank down under the bike and get some of the heat away from my butt. (I like the newer clutch-actuator a bit more, too).
Anyway - 'til that sometime in the future point gets here - How does one check the final drive adjustment and set it when ya can't see the chain!?!?!?
Thanks!
I've enjoyed the enclosed-chain to Belt conversion talks - and if I go this route, I'll go w/a '94-99 tranny/primary/clutch/starter, and move the oil tank down under the bike and get some of the heat away from my butt. (I like the newer clutch-actuator a bit more, too).
Anyway - 'til that sometime in the future point gets here - How does one check the final drive adjustment and set it when ya can't see the chain!?!?!?
Thanks!
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
Likes: 2,898
From: Bedford UK
That adjustment procedure must be published somewhere! It can't be a state secret. I have the 84-90 FSM and agree there is no useful info there.
I have ridden enclosed chain bikes of a different hue for donkey's years, but they have flexible tubes the chain runs through, which makes feeling the chain fairly easy.
As an aside, I came by a tin of graphite grease early in my ownership of those bikes and noticed that the only recommended use was for lubricating chains! So that is what I used exclusively for over 100k miles.
I have ridden enclosed chain bikes of a different hue for donkey's years, but they have flexible tubes the chain runs through, which makes feeling the chain fairly easy.
As an aside, I came by a tin of graphite grease early in my ownership of those bikes and noticed that the only recommended use was for lubricating chains! So that is what I used exclusively for over 100k miles.