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Freewheeler Chop & ... Not Quite Sure Yet
This is maybe my third thread, I'm still new here, but thanks everyone for welcoming me. :D
I have wanted a Freewheeler for years. It's going to sound nuts but I always wanted to make it a solo bike, and run the exhaust up behind me in two vertical stacks, with rain flaps, that shoot fire. Like some sort of Mad Max setup.
Anyway, when the Performance Orange came out this year, I decided it was time. I recently got the bike .. and while the stacks are going to take some time .. I got right to chopping. I started a thread to share how I deleted the passenger grab handles for a cleaner look. Since then, here is a running tally of all the chopping I've done:
1. Deleted the "Harley-Davidson" logo on the trunk, as well as the reflectors under the trunk latch, and on the fenders. (If you want to do this -- I used a heat gun on the lowest setting, and Stoner's Tarminator to remove the adhesive.
2. Removed the passenger boards and mounts. (If you want to do this, I want to say it was a 5/16" hex, and I needed my impact wrench to break the bolts free from their Loctite.)
3. Deleted the grab handles. (Here's my [URL="https://www.triketalk.com/forum/threads/57346-2020-Freewheeler-How-to-delete-passenger-grab-handles-cleanly"]post[/URL] on how I did it.)
4. Installed the H-D Black Diamond solo passenger seat (P/N 52000248). You'll see when I attach pictures below that the fitment isn't perfect -- yet. When you remove the seat, there are two screw holes that are set up for 1/4"-20t.p. screws, I think I used 1.25" length chrome screws from Home Depot. You screw them in from underneath and then the seat includes two nice thumbscrews that fasten the seat down on them.
The problem is that the new seat doesn't hit the tank at a steep enough angle. You can shove it on there without harming anything, but as you can see in the pictures the diamond pattern isn't perfectly square to the tank. I'm gonna pull out my Dremel soon and widen the slot on the bottom of the seat, so it's a little more forgiving when it hooks onto the tank. I expect this will solve the fitment and will update this thread as I go.
5. So now it's getting a bit more radical. The fenders had to go .. now it looks like a really mean bike! It was really pretty easy. Bought a floor jack at Home Depot, I jacked it at the frame member nearest each of the rear wheels. Take the wheels off. There are five or six Torx screws that can be easily removed with a small hand ratchet, but be sure to unhook, and unclip the turn signal / rear light assembly first so you can set the fender on the ground when the screws come out!
It looks like the factory folks use some heavy duty two-sided tape to hold the fenders in place while they screw them in. You have to remove that. Learn from my mistake and USE A PLASTIC SCRAPER along with heavy application of Stoner's Tarminator which basically turns that strong adhesive to butter (but is clear coat safe). I used a plastic scraper for 3 of the 4, but made the mistake of using a standard sticker-pusher razor on the first one, and now I have to go get some super fine sandpaper and buff out a few small scratches hidden behind the wheel.
(Any recommendations on how to get best results?) :D
So where it's at now is --
- Need to Dremel the part of the solo seat where it hooks to the tank, to allow for more adjustment / slack / fitment.
- Need to fab up some kind of low-profile cowl for where the passenger pillion was.
- Row of tiny scratches hidden on the orange panel behind passenger wheel -- need to sand / buff these out somehow.
- Need to fab up a simple, ultra low profile metal piece that screws in where the passenger pillion did. License plate holder and two holes on each side. I ordered up the small "bullet style" turn signals from H-D and wired them in perfectly using the logic boards from the stock rear lights. (I will write up how to do this soon. It is not hard. Soldering and weatherproofing them will be medium skill.) Essentially relocating the lamps and license plate to right where the passenger pillion used to screw in.
Sorry a couple of the pictures are sideways but I can't figure out how to rotate them!
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Relocating License Plate Bracket
So .. you removed your fenders .. or you just want to put the license plate elsewhere for your own reasons. In this post I'll explain how I relocated my license plate from the standard place, to a simple bolt-on with perfect fit behind the passenger seat.
Basically, I took out my calipers, spent a bunch of time measuring around the license plate and the seat, made a technical drawing, and found some awesome partners in Todd and Christine, the husband and wife business called Accufast 2D based out of Tennessee. You can find them at [email]accufast@united.net[/email] .. Todd is a metalworking professional who specializes in custom motorcycle parts. What can I say .. he lived up to his business name .. accurate and fast .. and very helpful in guiding me on what is practical to do with metalworking.
So if you like the way mine turned out, you can simply download a copy of the drawing here and send it to Todd, and he can make you one with the exact same fitment.
Practical decisions / deviations from the attached drawing:
- I had Todd use a rustproof black paint on mine since powder-coating was a longer lead time item and I was itchy to get my bike back on the road
- Instead of drilling circular holes for the plate mount, he ended up drilling out ovals for better compatibility with different states' license plates.
The only other thing you have to do to get this license plate mount to work is, the bolt holding in your seat is a 1/4"-20 coarse threaded bolt. Pick up a new chrome bolt at Home Depot, as I think the stock Harley one that holds in just the seat is probably a 1/2" or 3/4" length, and you will need a 1" or 1 1/4" one for the very best fitment once you add the plate bracket.
All best. :Coffee:
Mud
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Bullet Rear Turn Signal build
Again .. if you remove your fender .. you may find yourself in need of a place to mount rear turn signal / brake lights. You may also just want to place them in a different spot for looks.
Anyway, one place you can put them is where the sissy bar would otherwise mount. (Obviously this means you can't have a sissy bar so it is a design choice!)
Inital shopping list:
- Buy some extra plastic inserts that go in the sissy bar hole when you don't have a sissy bar. They are cheap and you will make mistakes drilling. HD Part Number 6130 0135 $6.99 per. If you can afford, I would buy six or eight of them unless you are awesome at measuring.
- 69736-02 H-D Bullet Turn Signal. $33.95 per. Quantity 2. You DO NOT need the corresponding metal standoffs, you'll need to make your own which I will guide you through.
- 73154-96BK H-D wiring harness. Probably buy enough that you have 4 total although you'll only need two, depending on your skill with electrical stuff. It is straightforward to do a quality job rather than using wire nuts, I will teach you how to use an OEM wiring harness for perfect fit.
- 73190-96 and 73191-96 HD wiring leads. These two are the male and female of the same, and you really only need the female ones for this work. You need six of the female ones to do the job but I recommend buying at least ten in case you make a mistake. They are maybe $1.00 each or less.
- You will need two 1/4"-20 to 5/16"-18 nut couplers, as close to 1" in size as you can get. This is basically a two-sided nut with one size on one end, and another size on the other. These are tricky to find but I found mine on Amazon through a seller named Greschler's Hardware. Grainger has them also. Try to get something rust-resistant like zinc plated or stainless.
- Then you'll need to buy a length (2' min) of 1/4"-20 threaded bar, and a similar length of 5/16"-18 threaded bar. These are basically long nuts without a head.
TOOLS NEEDED:
- Fine toothed hacksaw
- Pliers
- Drill (1/4", 5/16", and 3/8" bits)
- Electric wire cutter
- Needle nose pliers
- Very small (eyeglasses type) flathead screw driver
I will come back to this post and write up the HOW TO shortly.
How to Build the Bullet Tail-Lights
For some reason it won't let me edit my last post .. so I will explain how I assembled the bullet tail lights shown in my previous post now, using the raw materials I listed in that post.
[B]Step 1: Cutting 5/16" bar.[/B] Screw the 5/16"-18 bar into one of the bullet taillights as far as it will go (the bolt hole on the tail lights is this thread pitch) -- hand tight. Use a dry erase marker to mark the threads on the bar, closest to where it enters the light (so you have a record of the depth of the light). Unscrew the light.
Now hold up the nut coupler to where the dry erase mark is. Make another dry erase mark further down the bar, [I]half the length[/I] of the nut coupler (the two bars, 5/16" and 1/4" will meet in the middle). Finally, add about 1/16" of an inch (two threads maybe) for a washer. So you have three dry erase marks, each further down into the bar than the last. It is this furthest mark that represents the depth of the taillight, plus the depth of a washer, and half the depth of the nut coupler.
Take out your hacksaw and do your best to cut [I]in between the threads[/I] rather than straight down on it. This will result in you sawing at a slight bit of an angle to stay between the threads. Your measurements don't have to be [I]perfect[/I] but it is better to be a little bit under than a little bit over. I didn't use my calipers for this job.
Now, cut a second piece of the 5/16" bar stock of the same length.
[B]Step 2. Cutting the 1/4" bar.[/B] First, remove the black plastic spacer that covers the sissy bar insert on your trike's body. Simply get under it with your fingernails or something flat that won't scratch your paint, it's not hard to pry. Notice there are two screw-holes, you will be mounting the lights in the screw holes towards the back of the bike.
Remove the seat.
Now, screw the bar stock into that screw-hole, while holding your finger underneath of it. Keep screwing the bar stock in until it touches your finger on the bottom, i.e. you have screwed it all the way through the hole. Use your dry erase marker to mark off this depth on the bar stock. Add another 1/4" for clearance through the plastic cover, and another 1/16" for a washer. Then, hold up the nut coupler as you did with the 5/16" bar and add half the depth of the nut coupler. Unscrew the bar stock from the motorcycle and you'll have several dry erase marks on the bar stock -- the furthest one in represents the depth of the screw-hole, plus a space for the plastic cover, a washer, and half the depth of the nut coupler. You should always do your best to be accurate, but with this cut it doesn't matter if you're a little bit over, as any extra bar stock can just come out the bottom of the hole where you held your finger.
Cut the bar stock, then cut a second piece for the second light.
[B]Step 3. Drilling out the plastic covers.[/B] Cut another 1" piece from your 1/4"-20 bar stock. Careful with these as the ends tend to be very sharp. Hand screw it into one of the holes where you will be installing your light, but careful not to screw it in so far that it gets stuck in there! Leave at least 1/4" of stock sticking up out of the hole for you to grab with a pair of pliers. Take a q-tip and put a bit of motor oil or Vaseline on the top of the screw. Line up the plastic cover and try to push it straight down, back into place -- it shouldn't go because the screw is raised enough to keep it from going in, but just barely. Now pull it straight up. There should be a small greasy dot right where you need to drill out the hole!
Start by drilling out a 5/16" hole, centered where the greasy dot was. If your measuring was awesome, then you should be able to screw in the 1/4" bar stock, push down the plastic cover, and have the bar stock fit nice and cleanly through the hole. If your measuring was not awesome, you have two choices -- burn another cover and try again (the second time was a charm for me) -- or step it up to a 3/8" hole. If your hole is so far off it won't go through 3/8" -- burn another cover and try again, or you'll have to use bigger washers and it's not quite as clean a look.
Be sure to do the oil-dot trick on each of the two sides of the bike, as the offsets are a little different on both sides.
Once you have two plastic covers that are drilled to your liking, you'll need to drill another hole in each for the light's wiring. Underneath and in the middle of every plastic cover is a little circle outline, perfectly centered. Simply drill this out with a 5/16" bit and you're set.
[B]Step 4. Assembly. [/B]I forgot to tell you that you need two 5/16" chrome washers, and two 1/4" chrome washers, these can be found in the hardware aisle at Home Depot (they helpfully have a whole assortment of chrome bits for us bikers :D). Sorry for not including these on the shopping list above.
For each side --
[LIST]
[*]Screw the cut 5/16" bar stock fully into the light assembly -- hand tight.
[*]Put a 5/16" washer onto the bar stock.
[*]Screw the 5/16" side of the nut coupler fully onto the bar stock.
[*]If this assembly is not fully tight, gently take a pair of pliers and you can get another couple of turns out of it without damaging anything.
[*](If you still have slack -- re-cut another length of the 5/16" bar to be shorter)
[*]Now, screw the 1/4" stock into the bottom of the nut coupler until hand tight.
[*]Place a 1/4" washer onto the 1/4" bar stock.
[*][I]Make sure the plastic cover is inserted into the trike![/I]
[*]Insert the 1/4" bar stock (careful with the washer) through the hole and screw it into the bike ...
[/LIST]
You will know when to stop turning the assembly when it just begins to stress the plastic cover, obviously ensure it is lined up rear-facing and to your liking. Feed the turn-signal wiring through the other hole, zip-tying it along the way until it meets along with most of the other wiring under your saddle. Now you need to do the wiring.
[B]Step 5. Wiring. [/B]Examine your old light assembly, which consists of a bulb, three wires, going into a plastic harness / plug. Note the colors - red, black, and blue, and CAREFULLY note which terminals each goes into. Note that the plug only orients one way, be sure not to get your wires reversed. Unplug the light bulb / wire / harness assembly from the little circuit board, and use a paper towel to wipe some of the electrical jelly off.
You'll now need that eyeglass screw driver. Looking into the part of the harness that was once inserted into the circuit board, you'll see there is a little bit of space in the connector above each wire terminal. Insert the screw driver as deep as you can into that space, and use it as a lever to push down until you hear a [I]click[/I]. Giving a gentle wiggle and pull on the other side, the wires will readily pull out of the connector, leaving you able to reuse the connector with other wires.
Take out the package of female connectors that match the ones on the end of these wires you just removed from the socket. Look carefully at one of the wires you just removed and see how there is one crimp that acts as a [I]collar[/I] for strength and as [I]second crimp[/I] that contacts the bare wire.
Now, for each of your new turn signal lights, carefully strip a bit extra of the outer jacketing .. say another inch on each. If you cut too deeply and stripped the inner wires, cut the whole thing off and start again. You have room to try a few times.
Then, for the inner wires, strip each one to bare copper about 1/8" or 3/16" -- look at the ones you just removed from the harness as a reference and try to copy them as best you can.
Cut one of the female connectors off of the strip you bought, then remove the bottom tab that connects it to the others (you can see this part is not on the ones that just came off your bike). Holding the wire in the connector with one hand, carefully use the needle nose pliers to crimp one side of the bare-wire catch, then fold the other side down on it, and then use the needle nose to shape it so that it is tight, but is no wider on any side than the square-shaped terminal in front of it. Repeat for the outer catch that strengthens the connector's hold on the wire.
If someone's interested in a demo or more info on the crimping let me know. I had a mechanic at the dealership show me once and it really helped me get a handle on it quickly. If you are uncomfortable with the crimping, another option is to cut the wires on the original light fixtures, and simply do a solder join with heat-shring tubing for waterproofness.
Anyway -- the most important part -- push the newly made wires with connector ends back into the harness. This is pretty easy -- but the mapping is -- new blue goes where the old blue went. New black goes where the old black went. Purple on the new goes where red went on the old. (Harley seems to use purple to mean a hot wire, sometimes switched.)
Now you can plug the bike's light connector into the circuit board that came with your rear light, and your new bullet turn signal into the place where the old connector once was, and it should work just fine. Test: left, right, running lights, and high-intensity (brake applied). If they don't light, it is almost certainly that your connectors need work.
[B]Step 6. Clean-up.[/B] Finally, use some wire-ties to neaten up the work you just completed. Keep in mind that the underside of the bike [1] can be exposed to elements, so you will want to waterproof these connections somehow, for example by sealing in plastic wrap, or a small waterproof box that you fasten; and [2] the cables run a bit long and the axle and belt are exposed nearby, so you need to make liberal use of wire ties to keep everything well separated. It is not hard to make a quality job out of it.
I hope you enjoy this write up and find some value in it.
:Coffee:
Mud
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Wheels, Lugnuts, and Locks - oh my
I'm still wrenching on the trike .. lots of parts coming in the next week or so and then she goes under the knife .. will report back.
In the meantime, I figured out what I want to do with the wheels. There are so many options it makes your head spin .. and on my iPad here there's a free app called Adobe Photoshop Mix that's easy to use, lets you superimpose one picture on another. So I was able to download pictures of wheels I liked and mock them up on a picture of my trike. I'll upload an example.
Anyway, I knew I wanted a set of 3 wheels the same, and finally I decided I wanted them to be 60-spoke wire wheels. There were a few wheelmakers online but I ended up going with HDWheels.com since they seemed to be the most focused on Harley. Andrei over there was patient with me and we discussed all the various options to ensure correct fit. I will share pictures when the wheels arrive.
Until then .. here is a bunch of information to help you with wheels ..
[B]FRONT END[/B]
The stock front tire is a Dunlop D408F, made by Dunlop exclusively for Harley. On my 2020 model it is a 130/60-B19 bias ply tire with a 61H service rating (567lbs / 130mph). The stock tire is mounted on a stock wheel, 3.5" x 19".
Everyone seems to think that you can go up to 21" without any problems so that is what I am trying out, will report back. That means buying a wheel that is 3.5" x 21", getting a fender riser, and running a new tire.
Most people who go up to the 21 have seemed to run Avon Cobra or Metzeler ME888, however I am OCD and wanted the tires to be the same make. The only tire brand that makes both a motorcycle front tire and a passenger rear tire, that I could find was Dunlop. Dunlop makes a D408F in 130/60-B21 that I would have gone with, but since HDWheels is doing the mounting and balancing they didn't want to have to go to a Harley dealer to get the tire. Instead, I'll run the Dunlop American Elite which I'm told is basically the D408F sold to everyone but Harley.
[B]REAR END[/B]
The stock rear tire is a Dunlop Signature car tire. On my 2020 model, it is a P205/65-R15 radial tire with a 92T (1390lbs / 118mph) service rating. The stock tire is mounted on a stock wheel, 5.5" x 15". Its lugnut pattern is 4 x 4.25" (108mm).
As you know from reading the forum, everyone has their own approach to the rear tires on a Freewheeler, but it seems the main decision you have to make is whether you want to run wheel adapters (to step up to a 5-lug wheel) and/or wheel spacers (seems like this can afford you more backspace for larger tires).
I spent a lot of time reading this forum and other sites, and talking to Harley mechanics. It seemed like there was some risk involved with the wheel adapters and spacers unless you really knew your stuff -- talk of avoiding cheap ones, of Free Bird needing to re-machine his when they arrived from trhe distributor, just thinking, this is one part I didn't want to fail on me while I was riding down the road at speed. I decided to take a more conservative approach and stick with the 15" diameter but step up slightly to a 6" width. Thus, no need for spacers or adapters, just keep the 4-lug setup.
[B]WHEEL LOCKS[/B]
[I]You don't need wheel locks until you do.[/I] I'll never forget the day my mom was out of town, I was taking care of the house, and the Volvo crapped out. I took it to the dealer and they gave me a nice new Camry for a loaner. What a waste of a day. I get home, go to sleep, and wake up the next morning, some idiots took one of the front wheels and they even left their floor jack under the car when they ran off, leaving the car sitting on its disc. Too bad it was a cheap jack!
Anyway, if you want to lock your rear wheels, it's easy. The lug nuts are a 1/2" - 20 (fine) thread pitch. The total outside length of each lugnut is 1 & 11/32", and they are tightened using a 3/4" impact wrench. The inside length of each lugnut is 1 & 10/32"; of this inside length, about half is threaded and half is just open space that can not grab the lug bolt.
Long story short, McGard is a top brand in wheel locks, and an O'Reilly's near by had model number 24010 in stock which will fit your Freewheeler perfectly. Put one on each wheel and you have two to spare; I recommend you order a second key from McGard using the key code in the package.
[B]CONCLUSION[/B]
It's gonna be a little weird running tubes in my tires, but I really wanted spokes and besides, if I end up hating it I still have the original wheels to come back to. Stainless steel rims, black matte powder coat, polished stainless 60 spokes, black hubs and chrome baby moon hubcaps. We'll see what comes back ..
Until then .. wheel side down :Coffee:
Mud
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