Hi Everyone

In just the couple days I have been lurking here it has been a huge wealth of info and am glad to have it alongside my Factory Service Manual in my Ironhead resources.

I am getting my fathers 78 XLH1000 that was parked 30 years ago with oil and gasoline in the engine. He took excellent care of it while he rode it and followed the maintenance schedule to a T. My plan is to get it running to be a daily ride for my 12 mile commute to work. Here was my plan:

Treat gas tank with POR15 rust remover / tank sealer.
Clean carburetor, replace fuel lines.
New battery, wires and sparkplugs.
(hopefully) it will start.
Change oil with oil / kerosine mix to clean up (saw this idea online and it sounds good). Dump that oil and replace with new oil.
Ride it to cycle shop for tires and a new chain.

After that I plan on going over the braking systems and suspension / chassis. Any holes in my plan?

 

Don't know about the kerosene part , I'd just change all the fluids and use a low end motor oil , run it no more that a half hour or so and change the motor oil again . If she'd sat that long expect all the seals the gaskets to go very soon they will have dried out and gotten hard by now , another reason to skip the kero . Go over the wiring real closely and clean all grounds and anything that's plugs in or makes contact with something else using a bit of dielectric grease , may sound like a pain but this can prevent a whole slew of little buggy problems that lead you to thinking something big is wrong . Seen guys chase their tails for days over corroded electrical connections thinking the motor was going or hard parts where bad .

Post some pics please , love long lost old iron stories and bike in them .

 

I have not heard of the kero/oil mix idea before, and am suspicious of this idea. I have heard of using straight kero to clean the oil tank - this is in the factory service manual. It should be done once then should not be necessary again. Modern oils do not sludge up tanks as did oils back then.

Some tips/ideas may be unnecessary as you do know the history of the bike. I would be cautious of taking it to a shop too soon. They charge $50 to $100 per hour and it adds up fast. Absolutely i would avoid an HD dealership - use an indie shop that specializes in old bikes, especially old HDs, more especially IronHeads if there is a local guy.

Check out these tips for bikes that have been in storage for years ...

Tips For De-hibernating Your IronHead

 

No reason you can't install tires & tubes yourself. If you don't have decent tire irons, then you'll need them to make the job simple. Don't even think about using screwdrivers .

The $$$ you spend on tire irons is more than offset by the $$$ you save, not having someone else do it.

Besides, I doubt your brakes are working, so riding it anywhere (yet) may prove to be a challenge...... see next item

while you're replacing the tires / tubes go over your brakes. The fluid in the caliper pistons / brake lines / master cyl is probably totally gummed up.

 

You ought to clean or replace the petcock and screen too. Otherwise, cleaning the tank and carb won't solve any fuel delivery problems.

 

Sounds good. I am showing my (young) age when I assumed the tires were tubeless. With proper tire irons how is it compared to changing a bicycle tire / tube (have done that many times). Do I need to balance the wheels or anything fancy like that?

I will add brakes to the before-ride list as well. I will post pics when I pic it up on Saturday. Thanks for your help and feedback.

 

no they are a good bit harder than a bike tire, i hope you dont care about the wheels, if you use the tire irons they will be scratched up i have mounted everything from bike tires to semi tires and i will not mount motorcycle tires by hand, just not safe , besides it isnt that expensive to have it done right

 

The shop charges $40 a tire to mount it if you buy their tires. I thought it was pretty reasonable, I figured since they had the back wheel off I could have them put a new chain on as well.

I just read up on brakes and brake work, Definitely gonna tackle that myself and invest in tools. I am also gonna ditch the Kerosine idea and just change the oil twice in a day. I will inspect the petcock when I treat the tank, thanks for the tip! I was going to buy two fuel filters, one for after I clean and one to change after a day or so. I wish I had the service manual to read before I pick it up to get a head start (it is with the bike).

 

Don't get in a hurry and read the manual first , tip for doing any kind of work on older bikes is TAKE YOUR TIME and don't get frustrated . If you hit a tough spot where something gets real hard or isn't co-operating back off regroup and come back a bit later when you've calmed down it only get's much worse if you stay it . I specialize in older bikes been doing them for 30 + years .

Take your time , think through what your doing , read the manual and ask as many questions as needed we'll be glad to help in here and you do'll fine and get a very nice bike out of the deal .

 

I do most of the bike work myself. But two things i will not do are anything requiring a machine shop and changing tires. I leave these to my indie mechanic to do or send out, and to supervise.

My indie does not charge for tire installation if you buy the tires from him. Good deal.