Hi,

I inherited a 72 FLH. The bike is complete. Original tanks and saddlebags. However, it sat outside under a tarp for 10 Chicago winters and summers. Its pretty much apart. The only thing that saved it was he had so many oil leaks, everything was coated.

When i took off the primary to get the mainseal replaced, I could see there was Enough water in the primary to put a light coating of rust on just about everything. He did have the primary blocked off, so that's good.

Drained the trans, and that came out fine...no signs of water. Took ratchet off and gears are ok...no rust.

So...i popped the timing plug and could see the flywheels had a light coating of rust. So, what would you do?

 

It sounds like you want to get it running without rebuilding, if possible.
A "light" coating of rust on the wheels doesn't sound too bad. It's not good, but it's the bearings and cylinder walls that are the main concern.
You can pull the plugs and check the cylinder walls, if you see more "light" rust, squirt oil into the cylinders and with a fresh oil change crank the engine over with the electric starter and listen for bad noises.
If it sounds okay, do what it takes to get it to run. That, of course, is when you will know much more about the condition of the engine.
If the plan is to rebuild it anyway, ya might as well do that.

 

Megawatt posted some good info .. Good luck on your build. I have a 73 that we rebuilt,Now I can trust it ..

 

Cylinders are fine. Already looked. Owner would squirt oil in the plugs and crank the engine over from time to time. Wish there was a way to drain cases and see what's in there.I replaced the sprocket shaft seal and the oil that came out looked fine. Course the water would be on the bottom, if there is any.

 

look at the cam if the lobes are pitted you can be almost sure the crank pin and pinion shaft bearing areas are also pitted - I have seen it not do that but that is a one time thing and the bike was stored inside -- then again you could get lucky -- if you don't tear it down and it starts knocking away this summer don't drive it till it explodes take it apart

 

Yeah, he liked to drink a lot and dropped it a few times. Needs a new cam cover, anyway. Scored a chrome cover for 25 locally off Craig's list. Ill swap it out when i get around to that side of the bike.

 

72 had dedicated nosecone, the oil passages on the block are just little different and if you put the wrong cover on you can cut the oil supply to the pinion shaft. There also 2 different types of pinion bushing that feed differently, the 72 feeds the pinion from a hole on the side of the shaft and later models fed through the end of the pinion shaft. You seriously need to be aware of these differences also make sure any gasket you get has the correct spaced holes.

There's a little modification you can make to the oiling passage on the side of the block to use the later covers , S&S had a tech bulletin in there download section tell you how.

 

Wow...didnt know that. Better look into this. Thanks!