Can anyone help me find an inner primary cover for a 1986 softail. every parts website that i have been on does not offer one for models 1984-1988 is there a reason for this?

 

I had an 86 Softail...wish I still had that bike. Anyway...it likely has to do with the starter and starter-solenoid and the length from the compensator to the clutch. In 1989, the MoCo went to the starter/solenoid arrangement we have to this day, more-or-less. Since 89, there is no externally mounted solenoid as everything it takes to pull-in the starter is inside the unit. The early bikes had starter motors mounted on the inside of the primary and a seperate relay and solenoid that was used for pull-in. I have been in shops that just up-front stated they did not fool with any bike over 10-years old. I had a friend lay-over for three days in Texas, before he found a drive belt for an 95 Heritage. He had to lease a car and drive to a dealer that had one, then bring it back to the HD shop for them to install. However, none of this helps you a bit. I would suggest you try the salvage yards to see if you can come up with one, or fix the one you have now if you can. I had the inner primary crack on my 86 and had it welded back up. The clutch hub had broken and clanked the cover enough to pooch a hole through the lower side of it. A good welder that can handle aluminum can fix certain things for you and a machine shop can true it up if necessary. I am pretty sure nothing else will work, due to demensional differences between the rubber mounted engines and these solid mounted Softails. 86 was also the transitional year for the belt drive, but I don't think that had anything to do with the inner primay. I believe the Softail was introduced in 84 and then the starter system was modified in 89....thus you have you 84-89 specific problem. What's wrong anyway????

Good Luck!

 

Is your inner prim broken ? If it is how bad ? can it be welded to structural integrity ? Why not install a belt primary if not already ?

 

That is exactly what broke the inner primary on my 86 years ago. I went for a Belt Drives Ltd. belt drive that was "suppose" to run inside the primary. Anyway....I was crusing along and it blew-up. The clutch hub had broken off and jamed against the inner primary. If schn1jam does go to a belt drive, he needs to look at an exposed drive, which will be more expensive than fixing what he has. If he finds anyone with a belt drive that says it will fit inside the primary....BEWARE. Harley and Gates Rubber tried that for years and finally gave up and went back to the chain.

 

The inner primary cover is cracked and is leaking pretty badly. I still ride it around the way it is but this bike has a lot of mods to it and is showroom worthy. so inturn i would really like to get a new inner primary cover for it to keep it nice, I could have it welded but it is crome and i don't think it would look to nice after welded. so basically no one nows of a place that sells aftermarked or new crome inners for this year of bike? I really don't want to switch it over to belt. Can a person still buy this part directly from HD? Or do they not even sell it anymore? Thanks everyone for the replys, any help is always greatly appreciated.

 

you might check out ebay. you might find some one thats switched theres to a open belt drive setup. worse case you could have it welded and rechromed, but im sure that some place sells them. either new or from a bike wrecking yard.

 

HD dosen't have any problem at all discontinuing parts and it is not likely they have any at the factory. I was just supposing you had called a dealer to see if one could be ordered, but if you have not done that..I'd do that first. One thing you may can try is just get out the phone book and start calling dealers and see if they have one sitting on a shelf. You know there has just got to be one out there somewhere. The best you can probably do is to find a used one and you may have to chrome that anyway. It's going to be a high-dollar item and it may actually be cheaper to just have it welded and re-chromed. A good welder can fill that crack and polish it all up so it can be chromed. The major cost for this fix is going to be the re-chrome. The reason these things crack on this particular model is the solid mounting of the engine and transmission and the flex and alignment issues between these two components. When you get it all corrected, check into a product called a race brace. It may no longer be available, but it was a stylish aluminum bracket that bolted the transmission and motor together on the oil pump side and added strength to the motor/transmission connection.

 

Isn't that a 4 speed? Would Shovelhead parts work?

 

86 was the first year for the 5-speed and belt drive. I think HD introduced the Softail in 84, but I can't be sure. I really don't know if a Shovel would work or not. I know for sure all the rubber-mounted bikes (like the FXR) have a shorter spacing between the clutch bearing and the motor output shaft and had a different arrangement for the starter solenoid. I'd bet it will have to be Sofatil specific between 1984 through 88. Harley changed the starter set-up in 89.

 

Maybe here?

http://www.robsusedharleyparts.com/p...lbum=62&pos=14