a friend of mine is too afraid to ask anyone but he is wanting to build a hardtail bike using a tc 88 motor i believe all i know is its off a 04 softail. he keeps sayin he thinks theres a difference between a hardtail motor and a softtail motor. is there? honestly i dont know so i turn to this forum hopefully getting a good answer. anyways thanks for your time and hope is not the stupidest question youve come across. lol thanks again

 

Just needs to buy the correct frame and the motor won't know the difference!

 

Well he had a 04 softtail frame he chopped and made hardtail anyone see any problem or should I tell him to stop thinkin to much? He has spec of the fra
so far it's lookin good Hes just bothered by it. What makes it even funnier is he's too embarassed to get on a forum and ask so I figured what the hell I'll ask a d Im not bothered if it's a dumb question I'd rather ask then not at all.

 

If he is asking questions like that... I say he should stop where he is at.

Unless the question was mis-interpeted...

Charlie D.

 

Ok, my knowledge is limited here, but the question may have become confused between the counter balanced twin cam engine and the rubber mounted twin cams. If I'm not mistaken, the counter balanced twin cam engines are not rubber mounted but have a more solid motor mounting system?

The counter balanced twin cam, is not prone to quite as much vibration, so the mounts were built more solid than with the rubber mounted engines. Some one with a better understanding will come along soon, and correct my mistakes, but that's what it sounds like to me.

The Softail models, again if I'm not mistaken, had/have the counter balanced engine and solid mounts? All of our stock bikes are 'soft tails', being as they have a swing arm and shock absorbers. But not all of them are the Softail model. A rigid chopper frame would benefit from a counter balanced engine, but one could also adapt a rubber mounted twin cam to a rigid frame.

I think it might add some amount of stress to the drive belt/chain, since the rear wheel would be a solid connection to the frame while the engine would be allowed to move about a bit with the rubber mounts. But then, they were all solid mounted engines when the first rigid frames came out, (this is where our beloved Harleys got the reputation of tossing parts on the ground, cracking frame members, and leaking all over yer pant legs... ), and the rubber mounts would (to me) seem to provide a bit of a relief to the frame itself.



Hope you understand what I'm saying. I think Gumby or some of our other members will clear this up soon...



No offense intended dbleagle, but I hope these type questions never stop. And personally, I would enjoy MORE. If we all succumb to the notion that you shouldn't do anything you know nothing about, we might one day end up being a nation of fools who have to rely on third world countries to do things for us...

 

Sounds to me like he wants another frame,so it really does not matter what the mounts are.Softtail and rigid mounts have always been the same.

 

There (A) motor and (B) motor.

(A) motors are dyna and tour bikes, the rubber mounted engines

(B) motors are the counter balanced twin cam, the softtail motor are solid mounts.

Just make your frame able to mount your motor in the right place on your for your muonting. It's easyer to get the right frame first.

 

Let's see if we can git "your friend" () on the 'right page', first.

Hardtail and Softtail, refer to the 'frame'. Softtail 'looks' like a hardtail, but shocks underneath. (Look at a Heritge or a Fatboy swingarm)

Motors come in 2 basic types, Solid and Rubber mount.

Solid - motor is bolted directly to the frame. Transmission is a separate unit, also bolted to frame. ALL Harleys up to '79 were solid mount.

Rubber - the motor and tranny are bolted together as one unit, and then they are 'suspended' in the frame, by rubber mounts(vibration isolation), front and rear (like a hammock) Also, the swingarm is mounted to the tranny, in order for ALL components to "stay in alignment". Motor, tranny and rear end, 'move' as ONE unit. This is what causes that "wishy washy" rear end on the tourers.

In 1999, with the advent of the Twin Cam, they also added 'counterbalancing' - this is the '88B' (Softtail, solid mount motor). The '88', was NOT counterbalanced, but rubber mounted.

IF he is going 'hardtail' frame, then he needs 88B motor, solid mount.

Watch a rubber mount motor at idle. It dammd near flops out of the frame, but smooths way out, above idle. You CANNOT have that kind of movement/'misalignment' going on, with a rigidly mounted rear end, and that would be a softtail, or a hardtail.

Make sense, nw ?????

Just go to a dealer, look at a Heritage (softtail, solid mount) and then a Road King (tourer, rubber mount) You'll see the diff, real fast.

IMFUO, IF I were gonna build a hardtail chop, I'd use an EVO(pre '99) motor vs an 88B. Real simple, the EVO doesn't have all the extra moving parts inside. Yes, the 88B would be a bit "smoother" running, only ONE PROB, it's a friggin' HARDTAIL. If you or he, is worried about 'smoothness', definitely starting OFF, on the WRONG foot with a hardtail.

NOW, if he's going with a 'softtail' chopper, yep, then comtemplate the 88B. But hardtail??? EVO, "KISS" - Keep It Simple Stupid. Plus, you can get more 'snoose' with out all the 'counterbalancing' internals.

NOW it really makes sense, right ?????

PARTY ON, Garth !!!!





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I really do appreciate all your guys help and seriously lol this is info for a friend a good friend he's just too stubborn and I guess you'd say embarrassed to ask these question. He's actually goin to wyotech at the moment I told him to ask one of his instructors and he insist he'll be made fun of so me not giiving a **** what someone says I found this site and hoped to get some useful info. So far so good I've passed it along to him hopefully he's happy with what I've found out from you guys. He'll prolly have more question which u guys will prolly get achance to hear lol anyways thanks a bunch