1989 Springer Softail Assembly
Here's the gearset, and a new gasket stuck with Hylomar, my favorite sealer. It never hardens but gets tacky very quickly.
With that accomplished, I installed the shift forks and drum. The pawl adjustment was a bit off, so I fixed that.
There it is, ready to install. I won't be riding this for a year, so I'm leaving a note for my future self. I may fill it before I leave, it'll be a good way to see if I fixed all the leaks.
Anyone who's done this knows what a PITA it is getting all the bolts in. I found it easier to loosely bolt the plate to the transmission, then install the plate bolts. I used a hex bolt from the top for the front left one, because I can see it'll be a bear to tighten everything up with the inner primary in place. The shock is in the way of doing it from the bottom.
This is done, I hope never to come off again! You can't see them, but I couldn't resist using chrome bolts for the two front motor holes.
When I installed the top motor mount there was a gap to the frame that I needed to find a couple of thick washers to fill. I don't know why things are different now, but there's no tension on the mount.
After lunch I'll turn my attention to the front fender, it's been bugging me since I installed the forks.
First, as promised, I put the fender on. The aftermarket kit was missing a couple of fiber washers that I could not find. So I used bronze washers, turned down with my bench grinder, and thin neoprene ones. A little anti-seize on the sliders and they should be good forever.
The kit lets the fender follow the wheel, and not the dirtbike look they originally came with. I also transferred the patent emblem from the original shock to a new one. The cover on the original was loose and rattled like a bell. I found a cool copper emblem of a Roman Centurian for the caliper.
Here's the new tail light with the old chevron cover. I didn't like the blue dot that was in the middle.
The belt guards cleaned and polished up very well. I think the bike was pretty well cared for until the flood.
One more glamor shot!
Tomorrow I'll disassemble and clean up the original wheels, and maybe start lacing the good rims and spokes on the original hubs.
Strange one-eyed creature on my workbench.
The Best of Harley-Davidson for Lifelong Riders
Everything is cleaned up and polished, read for assembly once I find two spokes. I'll text my friend in the morning.
Worse comes to worse, I'll clean up and use two of the twisted chrome ones that were on the original wheel.













