Ask this same question in the "performance" section of the boards and you will find the people who have removed the balancers from their TC. Quite a few have done it, most would not recommend it...


K.

 

Well, lots of parts on our Harley's weren't made or designed by Harley.
Kehin(spl/chk) carb?(Honda), Showa forks (even Sporty's & FX's of the 70's)
Wasn't the Evolution motor partially a German (Porsche) design.
Erik Buell designed the FXR & FLHT frame, correct?
The original FLT was supposed to have that (Lqd/cooled)4 cyl OHC "Nova" motor, but they pulled the plug on that and put a Shovelhead in it. The pic of that Nova project we see from time to time was just the base model.

Either way, the Softail frame and that Evolution motor saved Harley's A** in the mid 80's.

 

I love my solid mount EVO unbalanced motor in my 99 Softail Custom. But then I think the EVO has heavier flywheels than the Twin Cam. Mine has just the right vib's everyhere. Some people like electric motor smooth. I want to feel mine run. This is my own opinion here, but there is nothing like a solid mounted carbed EVO. No, I can't explain it.

 

it's done alot, take an ''a'' motor rotating assembly and have it welded and balance, and put in the softail, works just fine.

reason: the balancer has been known to slip and gets out of ballance, caused by extrmely hard accell and decel, like downshift to to high rpm.

doing this will not break the frame WTF kinda statement was that

 

totally agree, those balancers ARE known to slip & actually cause MORE vibration in the process, & it happens to a lot more bikes that you might think

Yes, you can take an A crank, weld it, balance it, & install it in a B motor

Benefits,

more horsepower, ( as your motor isn't turning the 9lb cb assembly & it takes 4/5 HP to spin the assy )
you can run the motor at higher RPM's
the motor spins up RPM's much quicker ( that means ya go faster yall )
smoother at ALL RPM's because it's fully balanced, & just like an A motor the more RPM's ya turn, the smoother it runs, where as a B motor, especially running higher RPM's, the counterbalance gets overwhelmed & kind of renders the assy useless

Cons,

it does produce more vibration at low RPM's ( what people call shake at idle, & just off idle ) but smooths out at 1500RPM

Chad Pickens, a member here, is running a forged SE, A crank, in his B motor

i do love to hear the replies like,, why the hell would ya wanna do that ??? the answer is like,,, why would ya wanna put a 400 crank in a 350 small block ? the answer is obvious :-)

 

an interesting read
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/engin...-balances.html

 

It is an interesting thread. With the right know how and money anything is possible. I bought my Heritage because I liked the way it looked and rode. I could have cared less about the the B motor vs the A. I have had 3 As and this is my first B motor. I did do the 103 on the B because I thought my previous 96 A Stg I was a dog. I wonder how many people choose the bike because it has a B vs an A. I guess my question is why. Is squeezing 5 more horses worth the time and money? As I said in the beginning it does make for a cool discussion. As far as the 400 crank in a 350 I am not that much of an expert on small block builds, but if its a 4 bolt main maybe just some good heads, mild cam, 10:1 pistons and a 650 Holley--no need to go crazy. Not sure I see the parallel with Harleys but its tough to beat the sound and performance of nicely built 400 Hp 350.

 

Weak analogy on the v8 .... the why do it goes to wtf do all work for nearly imperceptible increase in HP. It's just dumb .... unless you slipped the c/b's on the crank .... and rather than fix it ... you said fuxx it .... get an a crank, weld it and bench balance it.

 

my particular motor does indeed vibrate, like MANY of the B motors do, the more RPM's the more it vibrates, ( & the majority of the guys that says,, " well,, mine is smooth as glass " is lying thru their teeth, or their too BLANK to tell the difference )

dunno if my cb has shifted or not,, but when it does come time to crack the casses, i'll be damned if i'm gonna put in another cb assy that is prone to these issues

could give a *** if it vibrates a bit at idle,, if it's runnin, i'm rollin, & like a typical A motor,, the more you twist that wick, the smoother it rolls

yalls views on this issue may be different than mine,, & that's ok

 

I wasn't so sure about the balanced TC88's when they came to the shop. I set up a new one Heritage softail if I remember right and took it for a test ride before it went onto the floor. My first impression was that it's similar to a honda shadow 1100. However, it still had the HD character that I though would be lost from the balancers. After owning/riding iron heads and buells, I fell in love with the 88b motor as I got to test ride more that started coming in for their first service. So here I am years later, tons of HD's in and out of my garage from big bores to basic oil changes and I bought a Crossbones. I wouldn't take out the balancers, I don't miss my iron head days of vibration fatigue much at all. Vibration is like a hot 18yr old chick, fun as hell for a few rides and a pain in the a$$ after several more. To each their own though, I'll never get my dad off his pan/shovel until he's in his grave.

+1 for balancers.