I finally got this 77 xlh running good enough to take her out for a spin today, I went about 5 miles and as I was turning a corner and shifting to second the loudest noise from the primary almost made me crap my britches. It shifted itself back to 1st and it sounded as though the primary chain came off jumping sproket. I got the bike back to the shop pulled the primary cover and the chain was ok. The clutch releasing disc collar came out and was laying in the bottom of the primary case cover. I couldnt find anything wrong so I put it all back together. I started the engine and I am hear rattling noise and I cant shift the transmission. I wondered if this as happened to anyone. Is it possible my clutch wrecked or my transmission? Sure had a good time during that 5 mile ride. I am down to 200 bucks a mile now.

Thanks Pakrat

 

Im buying a 77 xlh on Monday, just was wondering what did you do to get such good value per mile lol Whish I could help but when it comes to trannies I take mine to a guru and pay...Best o Luck

 

I'm not familiar with Sportys, but I had a similar thing happened to my 4 speed Shovel. The threads on those 3 finger studs on the clutch hub were worn (underneath the adjuster nuts!), which after about 5,000 miles eventuallyworked loose enough where they'd backed itselfoff the studs (it's what you don't see can kill ya!). This happened when I was doing about 50 on a lonely country road (off course, where else, right?!) When this happened, I heard a click, click, clack, clack, clack, and then a high pitch whine. Then no power to the rear wheel. I pulled her over to the shoulder, and noticed that I didn'thave any clutch pressure, and mah clutch lever was doing a limp spaghetti thing. So I shut her off, got out mah tool bag, and took the primary cover off. Lo and behold, mah clutch basket and its contents were all over d' place! I'd tried and did put the clutch back together, but the bike wouldn't go into neutral. So, forturnately, a chase truck (Iwas part of a poker run) came along and saved mah sorry ****. But that's another story.

Anyway, here are the things that were bent, broken, or generally trashed,andhave to be chitcanned andreplaced:

- Bent clutch pressure plate.
- Bent clutch push rod.
- Bent and/or broken springs.
- Badly cut up primary drive belt.

Needless-to-say, the clutch innards looked so bad, I thought I'd betta take the tranny outand look inside just to be sure. I have to say, HD 4 speeds are one tought mudda! Other than the above-mentioned scrap metal, the tranny's innards looked unscathed; but to be sure, I'd checked clareances,tolerances and runouts, especially on the mainshaft. And much to my relief were all within tolerance.

So sinceI hadto rebuild my clutch anyway, I took the opportunity to replace seals and a few other things while I had the primary and tranny (somewhat) apart -I isgenerally alazy bloke, so usually I like to do things only once.

Including the above trashed parts, here are other parts I've changed:

- Throw out bearing (the old one was a lttle sloppy).
- Kickstarter gasket.
- Kickstart arm and pedalhardware (cleaned up the rusty spots too - now she's nice and tight).
- Rachet top gasket.
- Mainshaft oil seals.
- Little L-key for mainshaft/drive gear spacer (important little buggar; without it, the spacer will chew up your oil seal!).
- Mainshaft sproket nut (upgrade with built-in oil seal and O-ring).
- Tranny drain plug and washer (upgrade with magnetic plug)
- Tranny fill plug (upgrade with chromed hex head and O-ring seal, instead of the one with that stupid giganticPaul Bunyan screwdriverslot - who the ***** thought of that one!).
- Entirely new clutch hub (upgrade with 5 finger studs).
- New clutch friction plates.
- Motor sprocket shaft oil seal.
- Big round skinny O-ring that goes in between inner primary and crankcase, right behind the alternator rotor.
- Inner primary support bearing and oil seal.
- And of course new tranny oil.

I'd also decided to put those new fangolong roller cluctch hubbearings in place of the shorty bearings and basket; however, this left absolutely no wiggle room in the clutch basket (it was a bear getting the primary belt back on). I didn't like the way it made my clutch felt afterward (difficult shifting between first and second), so I switched it back to the sloppy shorty bearings and basket. I equate a Harley to a1911 .45 automatic. If you drop a1911 ona sandybeach, you'd simply wipe her off, and it'll still fire and discourage any would be muggers, because a 1911's tolerence is pretty loose fitting. But if you drop a Browning Hi-Power 9 mill (with very close tolerence), you're screwed. If a single grai

 

Hope you found a bargain, I beleive you said a Pawn Shop had the bike. I gave 900 bucks for mine, Engine was froze and bike had its fair share of Gulf Coast gonnerra. (rust). I spent 15 bucks on gaskets,15 on a throttle cable and 100 on a Zenith carb. I was hoping I would have anyother issues but thats the way it goes. I just got a quote from the local bike shop. They charge 65 bucks an hour. they said 2 hours tear down and 2 hours putting it back together.Depending on how much damage was done to the Tranny for part replacement thats 260 in labor cost. That to me is a good incentive to learn about these old bikes. This is suppose to be fun! I guess it was during that 10 mile ride Hi HI. It sure ran well .Keep me posted about that Ironhead . Sounds like it could be a project in the making!
Pakrat (aka Greg)

 

Let me tellya you dont know how bad I wish it was just a clutch problem. Somthing tells me it has somthing to do with the shifter breaking and getting into the transmission gears. I am glad I wasnt on a dirt road like you where. I dont think I could have held it up. I am sure it would have gone down with me on it. I was 3/4 way into the turn and had just shifted into 2nd gear. I was probably ruinning 20 to 25 mph. The indy at the shop said it might be good thing I was only going 25 mph because lots of the time the transmission housing or trap door get damaged beyond repair. Have a nice day .

Pakrat

 

PakRat,
Hope you end up just having to replace the tranny, I had a `67 xlch that still had the trans speedo drive unit in it. NO ONE told me about these things, anyway, I was on a LONG ride poker run and had that gear drive bind up and ended up knocking that corner of the case out! Was a REAL bitch trying to get it home and THEN find another set of cases, yea, bitch about a sporter being unit cases you have to find a complete lower end to fix a busted trans case OR find one hell of a wielder that can do aluminum. ANYWAY,,,, hardest part of replacing the tranny is getting the clutch basket off, something like a 1 3/4 or 1 5/8th socket and busting that nut loose. Once you get that all apart it's like 5 bolts on the trap door and it all slides out as a one piece unit. Oh yea, you have to remove the rear drive sprocket also.....

You might check e-bay or ask someone over at www.xlforum.net to see if you can find another tranny..... Hope this helps,,,,

 

I hope it is somthing simple Robert, I was talking with a Tech today and he told me if I wasnt going to fast when it happened it may not have busted the case. I was listening real close as it all happened ,like a slow motion movie. I didnt hear anything that would resemble aluminum bursting. I have heard plenty of beer cans crushing never reminded me of that. Hi Hi. I will break into it as soon as I get all my tools together I will need a couple of new gadgets to help me with the job. Such as that hold down bar to keep the clutch from hittting me in the face and the hub puller to remove it. I also believe i may have to get a spanner wrench to take that front sprocket of when removing the Primary Chain as one whole piece. It will be a learning process for me . Just like the cams that fell out when I took the cam cover off. Anyway have a nice day catch ya later.


Pakrat

 

Hey Pakrat;
on the Ironhead forum there are some guys that know all about them trannies and clutches, and even how to make the clutch compressor to remove the clutchFact last week there was a discussion on clutch removal and the tools needed check it out Dusty