I'd have to look at it (or look at the manual) to remember, Rog. The rear caliper mount does slip over the swing arm but I don't recall off the top of my head if there is an attachement on the axel or not. And unfortunately, I can't just run out to the shop and take a look. I might get out there on Saturday...maybe.

 

No apologies necessary, guys. This is all good stuff.

 

You have more patience than I Ergo...not that you aren't or anything, but I'd be losing some serious sleep over the lack of time / access. I don't know how I ever lived in an apt.

 

You're right Jackal. This sucks, big time. And I do lay awake at night obsessing over all the things, big and small, that still need to be done as the winter days continue to just slip away. One problem is "mission creep". The original project as I envisioned it was much smaller than what it grew into. I was gonna replace the narrow front end with the wide glide and a fat front tire and do some basic mods like a tank lift, wire tuck and repaint the engine. The more I got into it, the more I decided to do. "Hell, while I 've got it all apart I might as well do "this"... Every little addition to the original plan adds time, and some mods have added a lot of time. When I started I had no intention of chopping the frame or chopping the cam and sproket covers or running the wires internally or replacing all the turn signals and brake/running lights with LEDs or repainting the tank and fender. I talked myself into that stuff. And the other problem is I don't have a lot of experience doing **** like this, so I had no frame of reference for the time it would take. I also thought I would be able to free up more time to actually work on it, which hasn't happened and is a constant source of frustration.

But as has been pointed out previously by others, I've gone this far with it, invested this much time and money and effort, I don't want to cut too many corners now and regret it down the road. I plan on keeping this baby for a lot of years. I just gotta keep pushing and complete what I can with whatever time I have available. Eventually it will get done.

 

Hell yea man! Gonna be awesome and I know you won't regret it. I've spend too damn much time and money just on rear LED lighting. Just found, and will order these today: http://www.customdynamics.com/Images...t_a_small.jpeg

Leaving the front incan so I don't have to run a load equalizer, but upgrading them to 2457 (I think it is) so I have the same output running light, but much improved signaling.

I kept my mods a LOT more simple, yet I'm STILL waiting on parts.

 

Thanks Jack. Sounds like a good plan. And relatively simple. I, on the other hand, have chosen complicated, confusing and time consuming, over simple and effective. I haven't gotten into yet so I don't know exactly what I'm gonna need to get all the lights working properly, but I'm chucking the turn signal outriggers on both the front and the rear. The outriggers will be replaced with Oberon LED bar end signals that flash front and back.



To replace the rear running/brake light (For non-Nightster owners, there is no tail light on the Nightster...the rear outriggers, in addition to being turn signals, also function as the running and brake lights) I've got a six inch LED light bar that will be mounted under the end of the rear fender, thusly. It's completely red for running/brake operation and flashes amber on the appropriate side in conjunction with the bar end turn signals.


I know I'm gonna have to rejigger the existing wiring to make this set up work properly but I haven't given it much thought yet. And I don't have any idea if I'll need a load equalizer or not. I'll get to it. But I think I'm gonna like the cleaner look of no obvious turn signals hanging off the forks and rear fender.

 

Yea, that's gonna be awesome man. I considered something like that, but didn't want the obvious look of high tech. Unfortunately there's no way now of hiding my huge LED tails with my simple drop-in. Oh well, leaves room for improvement down the road. Seriously can't wait to see your's "done".

 

The Vulcan wide glide front end has been giving me some problems from the beginning. First, they sent me a 25mm axel with the wide glide kit, but my Nightster has a 3/4" axel on the front. So, I called and they sent me a 3/4" axel. Which appeared fine...but they didn't send me any 3/4" spacers. So, I called and they sent me a single 2" long spacer. huh? So, I called again and they sent me two spacers that appeared to be the right size. But, when I finally got around to mounting the wheel I realized that they sent me what appears to be the axel for a stock narrow glide wheel for mounting in a wide glide front end. Here's the axel in the wide glide front end. You can see that the left side shoulder of the axel is way too long for a 16x3" wheel. Notice the long shoulder on the left side of the axel. That butts up against the wheel bearing and of course that had the wheel shifted way right in the forks. What a pain in my ***.

Ahh well. Instead of sending it back for a new one we simply chucked the axel up in the lathe and turned the shoulder down to create the proper spacing. It's fine now but without a lathe I would have been waiting yet another axel from Vulcan.

I have to say that while the Vulcan kit is of high quality, it hasn't been quite as easy an install as I had hoped it would be. I know rickss69 and other members have bought the Vulcan kit and had great success with it. I'm not bashing it by any means. But if you decide to go that route you need to know exactly what you need, articulate it in detail when you order and check the components very carefully when they arrive. I'm a noob and just assumed that they would send me all the right stuff the first time.

The other issue we had to deal with before finishing off the front end was the inner spacer that fits on the inside of the wheel between the bearings. The 16" wheel originally had a 25mm axel so the spacer was too big for my 3/4" axel. At first I was gonna just find a scrap piece of steel round bar, turn it down to the right OD, drill it for 3/4" ID and chop it to the right length. But instead, I found a piece of steel tubing in the shop that had a 3/4" ID and fit perfectly inside of the 25mm spacer. All I had to do was cut it down to the right width, finish off the ends and slide it into the original spacer.



Slid the whole assembly into the wheel, pressed the new 25mm wheel bearings into place and with the newly machined axel we will be able to get the front wheel mounted up. But, I ran out of time and didn't get the wheel bolted on before I had to leave.

Next weekend I hope to make more progress...

 

I did much the same Ergo, but used another spacer. I cut it a little shorter than the axle spacer as it's only function was to take up space inside the hub and keep the spacer aligned with the bearing holes should it decide to shift. Only the inner spacer is in contact with the bearing shoulder this way.







Can't for the life of me think why they did not send you the two proper spacers...

 

Me either man. Same with the axel. I mean, wtf? Good thing I'm not waiting to ride it.