72 1000 kickstart xlch Girder assistance

[Mjasch]

Aquired this 72 Harley a few months ago and tried to see if the girder that came with the sale would fit. It's a one inch neck but the girder has an inch and a quarter stem that is also quite longer than the original stem. I really want to make this fit the cheapest and easiest way possible. If y'all have any direction I could go with this, it would be greatly appreciated. I really don't want to chop the neck and get a bigger one since money is short ATM. I called a local shop and he mentioned spacers for the top and bottom. I still need bearing that would fit. My only idea is fabricating a unique stem that can fit the original 1" neck, but the ends would have threads that add the extra quarter inch diameter and extra length needed.
Any thoughts?
One mechanic said to sell this girder and find one that fits the neck. I really like this girder look but don't have any information on it!

Best regards,

Matthew

[Mjasch]

Forgot to post a full pic of this beaut for y'all!

[Tattooo]

Why not buy the correct neck cups and you will be good to go.........

After looking at it again, You might need to change the stem it looks odd for some reason.......

Can you post a pic of it off the bike???

[Tattooo]

Is that your shifter sticking up there???

[TriNortchopz]

What front end was on the bike when you got it? Do you have the original stem to compare?
Do you have the bearing cups and bearings? Need cups to hold the steering bearings.
You can keep the 7/8" bearings and make the neck to fit the bearings.

Here is a set of Sportster bearing cups with races for $20:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Harley-Steering-Head-Fork-Neck-Bearing-Cups-for-45s-and-Early-Sportster/202578429485?hash=item2f2a9d862d:g:FKAAAOSwLNxcTqCd:rk:13:pf:0&vxp=mtr

How much slop in those linkage arms? Best to pull it apart and check bushings as part of the adaptation/rebuild.

The attached thumbnail below are original instructions from P&P to install their girder; note that neck has the bearings fitting inside the neck - it does not use bearing cups like your Sportster.

I found that both P&P and Durfee girders do nut use a top nut to adjust the bearing tension - they just use the crown nut on top of the upper tree to adjust the bearing tension and hold the whole assembly together...I modified this by making it like a Jammer springer (most springers) with a top nut with a 'spigot' to adjust bearings, then the bore in the upper tree fits over the top nut 'spigot', then the crown nut, which also has a spigot, fits down into the bore of the top tree and acts as a lock nut for the top nut and locks the whole assembly together. It will take a bit of machine work to make it right.

[TriNortchopz]

Bit of inspiration for ya:

[Dragstews]

You already have the stem ... Just pull it out of the lower tree and have it machined down to the 7/8" specks ....

And do use the Timken bearings fork cups ... You can get those with a 3 degree rake built in ... Plug & Plug ..



Looks like you could use a bit of rake with that fork ....

[Mjasch]

This is a great idea! Thank you!

[Mjasch]

Suicide shifter!

[Mjasch]

Thank you for this great Info! The original is a 1 inch off the Sportster but the girder stem is 1/4 in larger. I'll definitely be looking at those specs you've provided!

[Mjasch]

Wow can't wait to get this thing Rollin!

[TriNortchopz]

Thie pic below is something I found a while ago and added my notes to assemble the top bearing, top nut and crown nut - it is for a springer, but also how I mount a girder, as it seems no top nut below the upper tree was how Durfee and P&P assembled their girders.
The outer bearing race fits into the bearing cup, then bearing, dust cap, top nut to adjust bearing tension, then the upper tree, and crown nut. Note the two nuts have spigots which are the same size as the bore in the upper tree, a semi-tight sliding fit...like size-on-size. The neck can be threaded to UNEF or UNS, depending on tooling available (I have a 7/8" 20 TPI UNEF tap, so my go-to size).
for 1" threads:
1" UNEF = 20 TPI
1" UNS = 24 TPI (used by HD)



could also find a top sleeve nut that HD used as a crown nut:

[Mjasch]

Y'all have been really helpful! I'll post with an update when it's coming together! Thanks!