Finaly brought home a softail project to work on. After 24 years of riding my knowledge is still very limited when it comes to working on them. I figured I would start this thread so I could keep track of what I did to it and be able to see the progress, and hopefully get some input. this will probably not be a fast paced project, and funds are about gone after buying bike, and if I get the motor I want.
Bike is a 1987 softail custom that I picked up for $2500 w/title. Got it with no motor. I helped the po remove the motor when I picked up the bike. He was going to use it in his next project, but through a change in plans it looks as if I will be buying it from him. It was built by Shumaker racing engines (think I spelled that right).
My first thing i'm having problems trying to figure out is the rear wheel. I picked up a like new set of spoke rims with very good tires and a chrome narrow belt pully from a 2006 wide glide for a case of beer from a buddy. The bike has A 130 rear tire and the new set has a 180. I'm trying to figure out some way to get a wider tire on this for under say $300. All the info I seem to find for going to a wider tire is for 1990 models and up.
Here are a couple options I came up with:

Put 150 or 160 (if they have 160) tire on stock rim and use the narrow belt pulley from the new set. (would I have to change the front pulley)

Use the 180 tire set and switch to a chain drive. (if so do I need the dished rear pulley? How far do I need to offset the new front pulley, and can I offset it that far? How many teeth on sprokets?)

put a smaller tire on the new set and use a narrow belt.

At this point I am not even sure if the axels are the same size from a 1987 softail to a 06 dyna. all I have done is put the bike on the table, and removed the tins, and put on a set of heritage bars to see how they looked.

The rear fender struts will be comming if needed to fit a larger tire. This will be a bar hopper so form over function rules

Here is a couple pics..all comments and suggestions are welcome good or bad.



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put the 180 tire on just to get an idea of where things stand.
First thing is the bearings are 1" and the axels are 3/4". shouldn't be a big deal to get new bearings put in.
second thing: wheel will not fit with the narrow belt pulley, so it looks like if i'm gonna make this work it's gonna have to be with a chain drive.
The wheel is a little offset right now but when the bearings are changed the right side spacer should fit into the center about 3/8" wich will hopefully put the wheel on center.
It looks really cool and the bike, hope it works out. Picked up my motor over the weekend, will post some pics later.

 

Congrats on the new project. I've never done this type of mod before but I have a buddy that has, we had a conversation one day about me getting sent the wrong sprocket spacer, I got the wide one and needed the narrower one and he had stated that was the differnce with installing the wider rim on his bike was the sprocket spacer. I can't remember the name of the part for sure but its the part on the mainshaft that the sprocket butts against, could be Inner Race (OEM 34091-85) but differnt width for the application. My buddy made one up for his project on his lathe.

 

Ok found it in a jreh catalog

96-615

96-707

96-825

96-826 TRANS SPACER LATE 1994 & LATER .60”. IMPORT (OEM 33344-94)

 

Thanks for the input. I'll look into those part numbers. I also have access to a lathe (sometimes) but it looks like measuring how wide to make them would be harder then actuallly making them..hopefully looking at these part numbers will help.

 

I want to keep an eye on this project. Congrats man!!!

 

Been there done that, I put a 200 on my 84 and am going to a 250 this winter...first if $300 is your budget for putting a wide tire on...quit now. When going from 1" to 3/4" use reducers...cheaper than bearings and you won't have to have a center spacer made:http://www.bkrider.com/bkrider/SKUSe...eria=C01001516

Vulcanworks makes fat tire kits for chain conversions... but be forewarned,they are far from complete...you still have to provide a lot of parts...and modify parts you have. If you call them they can help you on which one you need: http://vulcanworks.net/store_4/home....ction=0&page=2

Several company's make kits with wider swingarms and primary/transmission offsets. While these may look more expensive at first, you can reuse virtually all the parts you have now...including your wide belt... and by the time your are done, the price works out close to piecing together all the parts, is easier. and you get more professional results: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Softail-EVO-...item5d309664e9

Anyway you go you will have to cut the struts for a wider fender. You can weld them back on in a wider position, use bolt on struts. or use a strutless fender. The strutless is not your best choice for riding two up.

Looks like you have a nice project going there Good Luck.

 

Here my .02cent i was going to convert a sporty over to a softail long story short didnt happen but i have some part i bought that might help out i have i think set of 99 or 00 strut that i think are a lot wider then your stock one now and i have a 01 or 02 fender brand new tack of for a softail if you measure the fender you need let me know we could work something out if you are interested in it just PM

 

Thanks for the good info Tom and for the links.
I was hoping that i could switch to 3/4 axel, make spacers to center the wheel, witch to chain sprockets and and use spacers to line them up. Looks like there might be more to it than that after looking at some of the links that you posted. I see that the kit has a transmission plate, what is this for? does the whole trasmission need to be offset or just the sproket?
I was planning on loosing the struts if i could get the wider tire to fit. Bike will be solo only when done so that is not a problem.
If it's looking like this is going to cost much more than $300 to get the tire mounted then it may have to go on the back burnner for next years project on the bike. After buying the bike and the motor my funds are a little low at the moment.
Here are a couple pics of the motor I picked up.

 

Its looking like this will be a cool project. Keep the pics coming.


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