I do a lot of off the wall stuff to my old shovel trying new or supposedly better ways or products and just make her run better stuff , get's into heavy mod's and redesign stuff sometimes .

Been a few asked about going rear belts on shovels lately so though some may find this enlightening or at least entertaining . Did a rear belt conversion on mine years ago without a kit which does the same exact thing I did but charges at least 3 times what I spent for parts . Works wonderful done correctly and knocks the vibration way down, the sweet spot on highway was a comfortable 75 with nothing shaking off the bike , down side was my gear ratios went so far up that I eventually spun the out put shaft with the 88" motor doing hole shots and burn outs .

here's what you have to do to get it to work with out stock parts , notice all the material that has to be removed to get clearance ? And that's the new smaller pulley 3 teeth less than the first I put in . Keep in mind you still have to clearance the inside of the frame where the low side of the belt travels see the new reinforcement web added on the frame on the bottom inside by the primary cover ? and the swingarm mods .



Things can get a bit dicey with shovel starters when you take off that support material so it very important to make sure the other end is supported solidly or you'll bust the reduction housing or the inner primary cover will stress crack around the pull in arm & the mount stud hole . Don't ask how I know ...

This is one of the new style aftermarket starters , going to see if it will turn this healthy mother over any better than the Big ***** joke I have now . 93" @ at over 11-1 comp. is hard on the button , thank god for 240lbs and kicker .



So now I went to smaller pulleys to get the ratios manageable which put everything past the limits on belt length and there are no shorter available so more mods where needed like lengthening the axle adjuster slots to the max like 3/4" more and making new adjusters to strengthen the area a bit since it looked a bit weak .

Big slot now , hum ..........



The after with the upgrade .. I like beefy stuff cause I know I'll test the limits at some point , got priors for breakage .





While this all cool I'm going to mod another complete swing arm a bit later making it 3/4" longer redo the shock mounts with 2 mount holes one 1" lower inline for a cleaner look and adaptability and reinforce the webbing around the pivot a bit because they do tweak with a owner with a heavy happy hand I discovered .

It's and on going labor of pure love and the shovelhead is the most forgiving and receptive beast ever made for this stuff may they live forever .

I'll update as I go got idea's to play with yet , keeps the winter woes away .

 

TwiZted .... Did you ever think when you were doin' this the first time that one day you'd be posting pictures on something called the "Internet" .... I did mine with mostly HD stuff from a "Sturgis" model and it worked out well ... Good article with great pictures ... mine is an 88" S&S stroker with the 495 cam and I know what you mean about "Hard on the Button" .... but .... no kicker here ( bad knee) Ride safe!

 

You know what bro , I just felt a need to share what I believe are fast becoming lost skills with today's buy it now world and I've always been all about sharing the knowledge . Getting to be a rare breed who wants something bad enough to go after it a part at a time or make something anymore , they all want to buy and ride right now . This was how you got a bike when I fell into this at 17 who had money to go out and drop 25 K on a scooter ? Your talking house prices there when I was learning to make do .

 

I enjoyed the little write up and it sure is nice to see some one that uses their head and takes the time to figure it out..I know that with some of my older stuff that you cant find parts for that sometimes I need to get a little creative..Good for you man.

 

Thanks for the writeup. Very interesting. Your bike is too damn clean!!!

Will you have a flexing problem with a new longer rear fork and would it also be a good idea to go up an axle size? Just wondering.

 

No bigger axle with the present swing arm too much meat gone then a the flex is issue would become real . Hasn't happen yet bit I'm pretty sure all swing arm since 1974 flex to some degree there just isn't enough there not to under heavy hard handling . I knock out a pivot bolt every 2 years on the average so .....

I'm going to completely rework a stock arm and add some gussets , a little length and do some trick stuff for a new dual caliper rear brake system I'm making up using twin Brembo's off the back of the Ducati 800 series . I have setup now running 2 4 piston JayBrake units but they use tiny *** pads the run like $20 plus a set and I've got 4 sets , plus the new one will cleaner and more compact .

Always screwing around with something so I think I'll kind of make a habit of throwing up posts like this during everything , kinda fun and I get a picture record so 15 yrs from now when I look at again I won't be scratching the head going " Ok what did I do here ? "