Pre- 1989 softail swing arm
 

I am lookign for some info. on pre-1989 softail shocks and their mounting position on the swing arm. I have a 1988, replaced the shocks last winter, but still struggling with proper adjustments. Got into looking at how mine are mounted to the swingarm compared to my dad's (1994) and there is a major difference. Mine used a bolt to attach the swing arm to a steel block. This bolt runs parallel to the bike. The block runs perpendicular to the bike and on each side the shock eyelet is mounted. The drawing attached is my current set-up and the picture attached is the 1994. My question is did the PO of this bike do some kind of modification to this swing arm or are all 1988 and lower the same? Thanks alot.

Never seen anything close to what you are describing...sounds like an owner mod/repair. I have seen several older swingarms with obvious repairs to the "tab" that mounts to the shock...so it was not unusual for the older ones to break. Any 86-99 should work...84-85..were different...plenty on ebay. Post a pic of yours.
http://i43.tinypic.com/2wog7ec.jpg

What size tire is on it? It may have a newer style wide swingarm.

I will post pic as soon as I can probably tomorrow. I'm starting to think it is a PO fix (he did some goofy stuff). Standard size swingarm. Thanks for the quick replies

Yes pics please , I hear you on the goofy part seen a boat load of that .

Here are some pics. of the setup on my swing arm. There doesn't seem to be evidence of damage to swingarm (broken tab compared to the newer style).

its factory, my 87 is the same way, and ive had to extract those bolts 3 times because they shear off- hence why it was chnaged on later models

Thanks alot. Any tips you could offer to adjust the ride quality. Lots of sag and will almost bounce me out of the seat.

http://i40.tinypic.com/ayq14o.jpg


I have never seen anything like the circled area. I went and looked at my 84 swingarm and it has a tab, but it looks homemade. I am running santee swingarm from a widetire kit that says it was for 86-99...when I changed, it lowered my bike and solved a problem I was having with it bottoming out...rides much better. I would just change swingarms...they are cheap on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HARLEY-SOFTA...item2ebadccb51

Your setup looks like what the last go round Indians used ( 1999 -2003 ) for a shock mounting system on their frames . Is your frame OEM or aftermarket ?