I am looking at buying a 58 pan that is pretty oringal. I have a question about the vin# and what it stands for. The vin on the case is 58FLH14xx and the bike has a foot shifter but have read that the FL was a foot shift and tha FLH had a tank shifter? Does the case3 mean this or did tha FLH come with either or? Any help on this would be great.

Dave

 

If I'm remembering correctly, the FL had a lower compression than the FLH. Either could have a hand or foot shift.

 

Here's a bit more that I found:

58-FL 74ci OHV V-twin
58-FLF Foot shift version of FL
58-FLH Super Sports version of the FL
58-FLHF Foot shift version of the FLH

But don't take this info as gospel, 'cause there's been plenty of slip-ups 'tween the factory and the showroom floor.

 

Hi thanks for the replys I have been looking more into the meanigs of the #s and have also found what you said. The F being 74 inch big twin, the L being higher compression, and the H being high performance or heavy duty. This bike has a sidecar so heavy duty would be fitting. I found this info on a site called Harley-Daivdson alphabet.

Dave

 

FL was low compression
FLH was high compression
The final F for foot shift was never part of the VIN

 

Starting in either '52 or '54, can't remember which, FL's and FLH's were offered with hand shift as standard or foot shift as an option. The exception was the FLH intended for sidecar use. On those, the choices were 4 speed tank shift or 3 speeds and reverse.

 

The foot shift was offered as a limited option on late 51s but was formally introduced in 52. HD did not stamp the final "F" into the cases so there is no way to tell wheteher a 52 and lated actually came with foot or handshift.

In 53 HD offered the new high compression FL motors. Each motor was available with hand or foot shift and also available with side car option. But Moco did not stamp the final letters, so only FL or FLE appeared.

In 55 HD offered the FLH motors (8:1 compression) and still offered FL and FLE motors.

In 57 only the FL and FLH motors were available; riders still had a choice of standard, police, or sidecar gearing with foot or gear shift

This carried over to 58. But as stated earlier, there is no way to determine if your motor was originally a tank shift or foot shift or if it was designated for sidecar use because the final letters were not stamped into the cases.