OEM 180mm Tire Install on a '07 or '08 - A How To
 

I mentioned before that I intended to fit a set of '10 Ultra takeoff wheels & tires on my '07 FLHP. I know a 180 has been fitted by others using aftermarket wheels and custom hubs but I got a great deal on the Ultra wheels, complete with bearings and the IDS (cushdrive).
The problem taking this approach, using OEM, has always been that there just was not enough room within the stock swingarm to allow for the wheel & 180mm tire along with the IDS (cushdrive pulley) as well as mounting the brake caliper and keeping the tire centered in between the struts.
So I needed a new, wider swingarm.
I got some much needed help from fellow forum member "DanDman" when he sent me a comparison pic of a stock '06 swingarm and a wider CVO swingarm used in '07 & '08 to mount the 170mm tires. It became obvious to me looking at the pic, just how the MoCo went about making a wider swingarm. Thanks Dan, I needed the inspiration!
All I had to do was disect my stock swingarm and piece it back together with new legs making the bends further along and DONE...a wider swingarm is born.

thats one way to do it. the pic's don't show any welds....they are welded right? You would think someone would prefab a kit to do this.

A kit really isn't needed. I used a few cutting wheels on my die grinder and another on my disc grinder.
I enlisted the help of a friend who has much better welding equipment than I do. The forged steel axle openings are very thick and it takes some serious power for the welds to penetrate. Total cost about $30.00 and beer.
My title says '07-'08 because those two years lend themselves to this modification perfectly. In '07 they went to the 1" belt which makes it all the easier and the stock belt is compatible with the cush drives '09 and up as well.

The 1"X2" rectangular tubing I got for $15. It was the heaviest my supplier had with a wall thickness of .120 which is the same as the stock swingarm was constructed from.
I brought it to a local shop here that has a heavy hydraulic press that they use for custom bending in the manufacturing of trailer hitches. That was a freebie.
It was very easy to get the width exact before welding by simply sliding the 1"X2" tubing in or out slightly before welding, then cutting to length before welding the forged steel ends on.

I ordered new axles for the front and rear. The new 25mm rear axle is 1 1/2" longer than the '07 1" axle. I reused my '07 axle nut & camplate adjuster for the rear but had to buy a new nut & washer for the front axle as well as new tapered spacers in order to mount the front wheel. On my second attempt I got the rear wheel spacers right so that the rotor was positioned in the center of the caliper and the wheel/tire was centered inbetween the struts, leaving 1/4" clearance in between the pulley and the swingarm. Just a bit of trial & error.

I swapped out my '07 rotors with the ones that came on the Ultra wheels so I could use my '07 calipers. The '07 rotors have ABS tone rings mounted. I like the ABS and it was important to keep the system intact, otherwise it would have been a good time to switch over to Brembos.

How does it fit under the rear fender?


M.A.C.

It doesn't. Not without a lot of stretching and finagaling, so what I did was keep my eye out for a takeoff fender of the '09 up variety. It didn't take long and I got an unused 2010 FLHP take off fender in the same birch white as my bike complete with tailight, lower running light and bumper for under $100. Color, really didn't matter as I think a repaint will be needed.

Edit: I ended up using both the '07 & '09 rear fenders to create a hybrid fender that fits/looks much more like a stock fender than could have been done by using the 2010 fender alone. Read on to see how it was done.

Fat Baggers sells a spacer kit for 07 and 07 touring bikes to fit a 180 tire. No swingarm mods necessary, and I don't know if it's compatible with IDS or OEM wheels. Still need a wide fender, of course.

http://store.fatbaggers.com/fbi-fat-tire-kits.html

Trying to understand why your modifying the swing arm, I am using a 08 swing arm (02 - 08 are the same) on my 00 RK with a 180/55/18 tire and 5.5 rim, with a chain drive (530) which is a little over inch wide. you could also run the one inch belt without doing mods to the swing arm and center the wheel between the fender, I am using a 09 fender that was narrowed to fit between the older frame rails and also made my own metal fascia.



http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...20King/049.jpg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/.../180-55-18.jpg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/...nlopin08SG.jpg

Great work by both. Looks really good and if you have the know how it must save some cash. I just think if it was me and I was going through all the work I would have tried modding an 06 or newer softail 200mm or bigger to fit.
Great work.

boogaloodude, the fatbagger kit is one way to go, if you want to spend the money. I don't believe they use OEM wheels with an IDS though.

JohnCA58, beautiful work! As for why modify the swingarm...I did have the OEM wheel & tire mocked up using my stock swingarm but I could not get the wheel centered, insert a spacer or mount the caliper in the conventional manner. The IDS was butted right up against the swingarm as well. It couldn't be done, not enough room. Not without some drastic milling of the caliper and IDS anyhow. I thought about it.
Thanks HD, It was a relatively easy mod to do.
I would rather spend a few hours disecting a swing arm than laying out the cash they want for a kit. I did it because I can.