Hey folks,

Newby here on this site.

I have an '80-80 FLH with what I think are 41 mm front forks. One of the front fender bolt bosses cracked and fell off; two of the other three holes are stripped and in need of a helicoil/other insert so I'm running it w/o the front fender until I can get a new right side lower fork (at a minimum and repair the stripped boss holes on the LH side).

My thought is as long as I'm in the market for new/used fork lowers, why not upgrade to a dual disk setup. From what I've seen, the '80-'83 FXWG forks seem to be the right size and come setup for dual disks.

Is this the way to go? Will this wide glide setup work with the trees, headlight cowing, etc., on my FLH? Should I plan on replacing the tubes/bushings/seals while I'm at it? I've never had a front end apart but I'm about to learn now.

Thanks for your help.

John

 

Why not go for it.

 

that early twin disc set up the brakes are not very good actually almost all Harley brakes till the 2000s sucked

after market calipers only a few actually do the job - if your going away from the stock set up do your home work

the proportional calipers do stop the bike like one would actually want but they are costly

 

John,

So something like PMI calipers will adequately squeeze it? How about those FXWG forks; will they work with the rest of my FLH front end?

Thanks.

John

 

... the proportional calipers do stop the bike like one would actually want but they are costly

John,

Very true; I contacted PMI yesterday and they still sell a 4-piston caliper kit for '80-'83 FXWG for $700/pr. I'm guessing they'll stop me fine, though I'm not scratching that check just yet...

John

 

Note the blob looking part of the Sliders on an FXWG, the part about fender mount location... Will that clear your cowbells???? how will that part of the Sliders appear [looks may be important] with cowbells???
I dislike it personally.. 41mm being 41mm, I would be inclined to obtain later model MoCo parts...Only caveat is the Axle size changes later [post 2000??] so that must be taken into account...

 

Marty,

The bottom of the cowbells on my FLH extend down to about the top of the fender, while the fender mount location is at the bottom of the fender, maybe 3"-4" away. Is the thought that at a hard brake/front end compression, the bottom of the cowbell would come down and hit that blob/ridge at the fender attachment point?

Not a big fan of that blob either; what later year lowers are you thinking of? Dave at Mid-USA said the Heritage Softail and Fatboy forks are set for dual discs and would fit 41 mm's, but he doubted their fender mounting holes would line up with my FLH fender, so I'd need to change out the fender, too. Thanks for the input.

John

 

The touring bikes used 41mm forks all the way up to 2013, and I think the fender didn't change in all that time. That's what I'd use if I was upgrading an FLH front end, with the Brembo calipers. Road King Classic used a 16" spoked wheel too.

 

Not being a fan of Aftrtmarket crap, I would go MoCo stuff...and any 41mm stuff works as long as you keep it grouped by year [ie pre or post 2000 I believe]
example, I helped a friend put tubes lowers and wheel from a later [post 2000] touring model onto his Shovel... used his Trees and Fender as i recall...
as JoeRK states...I do Not believe the Fender changed... nor did it for the FXWG, I just have never tried a Touring front fender onto an FXWG front end..
I guess I am having a hard time Visualizing the Cowbells onto the FXWG... as I never considered that an option I guess...