I've spent days trying to find a nice 5 or 5.5 inch wide rim for my Dyna, but it seems the only ones I find that I like are touring wheels made for cush drive. So I am thinking of grinding off the cush drive housing and tap new holes for the pulley.

So here is the stupid question: is the alloy in the hub thick enough for this? I'm guessing it must be solid..

Anyone done this?

 

Nope! I used a Deuce wheel instead, although it is 4.5" x 17" and takes a 160 or 170 tyre. It is drilled and tapped for conventional pulley and rotor screws.

What does the other side of that hub look like? I doubt if the hub is literally solid. As a casting it is more likely to be hollowed out in some way, around the bearing pockets, to keep a reasonably uniform casting thickness.

 

It's not solid...and really is too thin for what you want to

 

Thanks guys.

That's too bad... Deuce wheels doesn't really match the rest of my plans for this bike.

I guess I could use a touring pulley with that wheel and convert the Dyna to cush drive though? If I can get the spacing right. Should be possible to machine it down slightly at least if needed.


Edit: Stock pulleys on my Dyna is 32t/70t and belt is 133t (1 1/8"). I'm thinking a 1" wide 68t pulley from a newer Street Glide could work, together with a 30t or 31t offset front pulley and 131t 1" wide belt. Any reason why converting it to cush drive would be a bad idea?

Edit 2: Offset front pulleys aren't possible for EVO's apparently? Then chain is the only way to go I guess, but chain conversion for cush drive is crazy expensive. Back to square one.

 

Yes, I have done just that. I actually used a 1 1'8" belt, but if I was doing it again I would stick with the stock Deuce pulley and use a 1" belt, if a suitable one is available.

I say that because the Deuce wheel hides a secret! It is a cast wheel, but hollow, to reduce weight and there are holes to the interior hiding behind the pulley and brake rotor. The stock Deuce pulley hides those holes, but a touring pulley doesn't, nor do some of the alternative rotors. Fortunately H-D sells a blanking shim which covers those holes and hence keeps out unwanted water.

 

Can't comment on a cush drive, as I haven't done that, nor looked into it. The '08 touring bikes had one that could possibly be transferred over, but I don't see any advantage, to be frank. For reasons I'm not sure of the MoCo decided to use a cush drive on the TC96 touring bikes. I'm running an S&S 107" Evo with just over 100/100 at the rear wheel and don't consider a cush drive has anything to add.

The front pulley on our bikes is much wider than the rear wheel pulley. I have gone from a 1 1/2" wide belt to 1 1/8" with no mods to the front pulley. I suspect the outer edge of the narrow belt is in roughly the same location as the original wide belt. In any event I haven't used any offset, although clearance between belt and tyre is close!

I mentioned being able to use a 170 tyre earlier, however on thinking about that I suspect it wouldn't go in, using a stock swingarm. While theoretically we could add a spacer behind the pulley, that is already very close to the swingarm and a spacer wouldn't work. One reason I've made this mod is to use the Avon Storm 160/70 tyre (actually around 167mm wide), to get its higher load rating of 79.

 

Thanks for the input. I've just bought a 2014 touring wheel - same as the picture in the first post - and a cush drive 68t 1" wide pulley. Only reason for this is that I like how the wheel looks and it matches the front 13 spoke mag wheel I have pretty well. I've done some measuring and I think I should be able to make it fit my Dyna with a 1" belt. The wheel I bought comes with a 180 tire, but if I can't make that work I'm swapping it for a 170.

If I can't make it work on the Dyna at all I'll put it on my '06 Sportster. Should fit there with an offset front pulley.

Of course I'll have to either swap the bearings for 3/4" ID, or get/fabricate some 25mm to 3/4" reducers for the Dyna. For the Sportster I will have to swap to 1" bearings.

Thanks! Good to know.

 

Let us know how you get on with your project!