Have a nostalgia front engine rail with a 36 Ford front axle. Would like to adapt 16 inch, 40 spoke motorcycle wheels to the Ford spindles. Does anybody know what model, year, etc. wheels are suitable? Any advise greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
1999 and older Harley's use tapered wheel bearings and a 3/4" straight axle shaft, with a spacer to set pre-load. The bearings used are the same as late '50s/'60s Ford car front outers. In 2000 Harley went to sealed bearings with a 1" shaft. The Harley front wheels won't have enough meat in the OEM aluminum hubs to allow machining for a tapered spindle; I believe that there used to be special aftermarket hubs available for this, that's probably not true anymore. I'd look at pre-2000 rear wheels, as these use a steel hub that would be easier to modify. As an alternative, build your own spindles with a straight shaft, in which case the later wheels with the larger axle would be preferred.
On a lot of the earlier Harleys the hub on the front and rear wheels are the same, so you don't necessarily need to look for rear wheels only.
Also, I am pretty sure that Sportsters and Super Glides used a 5/8" axle, through 1973 at least. I have never owned one newer than that though..
That's true, but those are only used on the larger 'dresser' bikes, while the rear wheels are all the same across nearly all models. I'll also point out that many early dragsters used the 19" front wheel which is lighter and has more roll-out due to it's larger diameter.
I know a Harley restorer who sold wheels to Jeremey Baye (Owner of 1945 Speed and Custom) for his Flathead dragster project. I believe they use 36-39 VL wheels and machined the hubs. I am no Harley Davidson expert this seems correct from memory, of what they told me.
You might want to look around at some of the 'other' cruiser bikes. The 16" rear/19" front wheel combo is nearly 'standard', you may find something a bit closer to what you need.
I believe the Lyndwood rails built in the early 1960's used Harley sidecar wheels, the hubs are different than the two on the bikes. Bob
Check out page 2 from this thread by @rottenleonard. He modifies the Harley hubs to fit A or T spindles. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-no-frame-model-a-modified.1079177/
I think you would be a head to look at Harley hubs from 1937 up to about 1969 on full size bikes.They used a wheel know as the Star hub.Its a beefy steel hub that uses roller bearings that look like they came out of a car they are so big.Do a utube search for how to pack Harley star hub bearings,or how to set up Harley star hubs.You can see what they look like.Harley after about 69 went to prepacked sealed ball bearing units you cant service.Years back a company named Hallcraft made spoke wheels for T bucket guys that fit either early Ford spindles,or 49 Chevy.They may still be around making them.Check the Speedway T bucket catalog they still sell bucket kits,and may have those wheels.
Good info irishsteve! OP Get a hold of VonWergener here on the HAMB, he is very familiar with HD parts and old school ways of how they did it and what to use and where to get it!
Or you can call Jon at Hayden. He can set you up with just about anything that you might want. http://www.haydenent.com/index.html Roo
Motorcycle rims were common on early dragster and then later on T-Buckets. I have seen and owned several sets of custom made hubs to fit either early Ford or Anglia spindles. These hubs are relatively easy to make on a lathe. The spoke holes do not have to be perfectly spaced as the spokes can be adjusted for that. You do not need an indexing table as long as you get 20 holes halfway evenly spaced in a flange you are good to go. I'm sure if you placed a wanted ad here on the HAMB somebody will have a set of hubs for you.
You use different size bearings the original bearings for a Haley wheel of the era was 5/8". If you want to stay totally trad you used the wheels from a 36-68 big twin. They were a 16x3 and ran on ball bearings. the trick was to convert them to Timken Bearings (no one used cheap Japanese knock offs back then). If you go to a '68-71 big twin wheel they are easier to adapt that use a sealed bearing from the factory. Now here is an interesting side note, some builders adapted the spindle to the wheel. Didn't change the bearings. I don't suggest that but it was also done.
Yeah, I seem to remember seeing a pin used, that went through the hub, and shouldered against the spindle, after the shaft was cut off of the spindle, and a hole was drilled through it. Might be fine for something that is really light on the front end, but I personally would rather adapt the hubs to the spindle.
I used to even modify my wheels for Timken Bearings on my old bikes. Pretty easy mod. If you find juice brakes like say from an early shovelhead you can even run front brakes. Use the rears not the fronts they use a bigger dia master and you will still need to use a proportioning valve to compensate for master cylinder size.