I bought a 69 iron head chopper project to rebuild. It was leaking oil pretty bad so i tore it apart to split the cases and reseal. I sealed the cases, rebuilt and installed the oil pump,put the cams back in, rebuilt and installed the clutch and primary. As I was congratulating myself with a cold beer I noticed a small C shaped piece of metal with teeth mixed in a pile of parts on my bench. @#$%&!! crank pin nut lock plate !!! Do I need to tear the engine completely apart again? Will the nut back off and my piston rods fly off without it?

 

Just for peace of mind I would tear it back apart and make sure it's right. If it comes apart and puts a hole in the case it would be a mess.

 

There are old guys still around who know these engines inside out, every detail. One of the things I have picked up on in the past 10+ years on these forums is that they hold the Harley Davidson factory engineers in very high regard - each detail in the engine design is well thought out, based on sound principles, essential. You are not the first one to do this, or similar oversights

I would never feel comfortable with that engine roaring along at 4000 RPM along a highway, right down there between my legs, with that piece missing.

 

You already know the answer.

Good news is you will tear it apart and rebuild it much faster than the first time.

And you will be an expert by the time you are done.

Good luck.

 

I knew the answer when I saw it. I took it back apart and split the cases this morning. Hopefully I will be back at my last stopping point by this evening. Not looking forward to all those needle bearings again!

 

If it has the same little needle bearings that were in my 45's transmission, I wish you luck and patience. Both are required, the latter being the most important.

Before you know it will be done and you will feel better about the entire project. It would suck to be riding around worrying all the time about it.

 

Probably similar. 23 little individual rollers. I found it helps to put the grease in the freezer for a while to make it stiff enough to hold them in place. Still a pain in the @$$ though.

 

Yeh, don't want to mess with those little f-ers when it is hot in the shop!!!!

 

Just for fun you might want to scrounge around the workbench a little and see if anything else is sitting around that looks like it came from the inside of that motor.


before you put it back together again, of course.

carl

 

HD is a cheap son of bitch , they don't put parts in the motor that you don't need . probably best that you decided to tear it back down .
post pics if you get a chance