Long term project...1934 Harley Davidson VLD

[Kamyu]

Hey all,

So here it is. The beginning of my first motorcycle build. A 1934 Harley Davidson VLD.

Here is what I saw when I bought it:

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And here it is in my garage:

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Managed to pick up this lovely bit of metal, flaking paint, and rust recently. Was found in a chicken coop of all places. Overall pretty solid rolling chassis. Don't see any obvious problems so far. Heck, the transmission even moves freely and shifts crisply. Will be interesting what the inside looks like once I pull it out and open it up.

Will update as I go. Working on the motor currently which didn't come with this rolling chassis. But the rolling chassis is a 1934 which matches my motor. ^_^v Has the dents and everything for the rear fender. :P

Later!

~Kamyu

[hairynob24]

that's good looking roller happy days

[Steve Slocombe]

Yup, my first Harley was a 1934 VLD too. It's a milestone bike with the 36 horsepower engine and the full-on Art Deco styling, plus easy to restore and a blast to ride. Keep having fun with old bikes!

[Jim]

Nice to know another "VL" will be running and back on the road!!

[HDSmitty]

Welcome to the VLD fold. Good start ya have there. Smitty

[exeric]

I had a 1933 V, and next to the Indian Chiefs I have owned, it was the second best Harley I have owned. My '51FL has been the best H-D I have ever owned. In the old days, they called H-D's V series the Harley-Davidson "Indian" because H-D threw in the towel in 1930 and committed to the BT sidevalve type engine that Indian started building in 1916. I'm not putting down the H-D V series because everyone loves them, and with good reason. Just putting some historical context into the conversation. You'll have a lot of fun building that bike, Kamyu and with the help of Steve Slocombe, and the many VL enthusiasts out there, it should be a rewarding journey.

[knucklehead 61]

i love riding my 34VD, my favorite bike in my collection to ride.

[Kamyu]

Hey all,

So while I'm waiting for parts for the motor, I decided to start working on disassembly of my rolling chassis.

Not as much progress as I'd like, but after a couple days of penetrating oil and some liberal use of a 4 lb sledge, I managed to get the ride control off. That pin was stuck good. I'm assuming some rubber gasket was between everything and it had hardened into some type of hard plastic which had basically glued the entire thing together. >.<

But I managed to disassemble it mostly intact. :P

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Next up on the disassembly, the handle bars and the triple tree and from the looks of it, I got more hardened rubber down in it as it doesn't even budge when I remove the screws from it.

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Think I'm going to have to get some short screws and put them in backwards to open up the triple tree a little so I can hopefully break the bars loose.

Any tips for removing handlebars and the triple tree, feel free to chime in.

Later

~Kamyu

[exeric]

You'll need a hammer to move the bars. I have used 1" split colars on the bars so the hammer won't put dents in the tubing.

[Kamyu]

Hey all,

Success!

Was heading to bed when I had a thought. Liberal use of the 4 lb sledge, a piece of 2x4 wood, and about 15 minutes of time and I managed to finally remove the handle bars and triple tree.

Basically I used the wood as my buffer and got the triple tree to move up to as high as it would go to loosen the tube the bars were in, then the hard part and put the wood under the bars next to the riser and applied some 4 lb persuasion.

The end result, the bars moved and finally came out along with the triple tree.

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Next up, the forks. Gonna have to order a tool for that. :P

Later,

~Kamyu