November 6, 2011

Making A Motor Mount Jockey Shifter

By bungking

In this post I am going to show you how I make a tank style Jockey Shifter with an integral motor mount on one of our panhead projects using some of our parts that come off the shelf as well as some custom made ones.  Pictured above is the rigid panhead I am starting with.

This is one of our off the shelf jockey shift motor mount kits from www.bungking.com  they are available in all common Harley motor types from pans to twin cams.  The kit comes with all of the machined parts you will need to make the motor mount and pivot, you will need to add your handle and shift rod of your choice.  The kit comes with the counterbore bungs that mount to the heads, a center bung with integral pivot which includes a bronze oilite bushing for long life a stainless shoulder bolt so you can tighten the bolt completely without binding up the free movement of the pivot and extra long round bar that can be trimmed to length.

This shows the couterbore bungs in place on the heads and the center bung mounted in place on the chassis tab in the center of the motor.  If you are making a motor mount for a pan or shovel make sure that the heads are bolted in place and clocked correctly to match up with the intake manifold. 

Next cut the supplied round bar to the correct length to span the gap between the two bungs.  After cut to length I tack them in place.

After the bulk of the motor mount was made I moved my attention to the jockey shift section of the piece.  First I made up a custom brass handle.  The customer requested a brass handle but wanted somewhat of a knife or pistol grip style handle and this is what I came up with on the fly.  Taking a piece of solid round brass and cutting four round reliefs in it to form the finger grooves on the mill.

Next I made up the upper and lower bars that would be located above and below the pivot of the motor mount, these were drilled and also milled a small slot in them for a little more texture and interest to the simple round bar.

Once all of the machining is done it is time to tack the parts to the pivot assembly, I also added one of our threaded bullets to the bottom of the shift arm for attachment of the shifter linkage.

I then measure the travel in straight line distance that the assembly has with proper clearance to all the parts around it in this case the tank and the cylinders.  In this assembly I have approximately 3 3/4″ of travel.

After I find out how much travel I have the ability to use I can then make some layout lines on the shifter arm that is attached to the transmission.  In the same fashion I will measure the travel needed at different points vertically to find a point on the arm that needs slightly less travel than the 3 3/4″ distance that is available from the other arm. I found a point that needed about 3 1/4″ of travel to complete both an up and down shift and marked its location. 

I am going to be using a purchased arm to save some time they are relatively inexpensive and the 5 holes drilled for mounting on a 4 speed have to be very precise.  I straightened the bends that this arm had in them and located the point at which I found earlier and drilled the center of the hole out to a 3/4″.  I am going to be welding another one of our threaded bullets for the rear location of the shifter linkage.  By drilling the hole before cutting the arm down to length you can achieve a tight gap free fit for the 3/4″ dia bung much faster than cutting the arm down and trying to cope it after.

This is the cut down arm with the bullet tacked into place and attached back on to the shift drum of the transmission.  We stock these bullets at www.bungking.com in variety of lengths and threaded pitches to fit your needs if you would like to see if we have the correct size for you check out tis link for sizing and pricing.

http://www.bungking.com/bungs-1/threaded-bullets.html

Next it’s time to measure the eye to eye length needed for the shift linkage to attach both of the arms together to complete the assembly.  It is best to keep the ars as vertical as possible in their rest condition ( when in between the u and downshift location) this will give you the most positive forward and back movement without having a bunch of un wanted up and down movement that is caused by the arch that the two pivots will cause these two points to move in. 

Next I made up a custom length shift linkage with our stainless heim joints in a 5/16 dia and some threaded 5/16 stainless rod threaded to the correct length.  We can custom make these to you specific size if you need one of your own, the individual heims are available as well through www.bungking.com the link to the linkages is http://www.bungking.com/accessories/shifter-linkage.html

The customer wanted to add an ignition switch to the motor mount as well.  I made up a sheet metal housing to hold the switch in place as well as cover it from view.  Most ignition switches have a flat spot machined into the threads to keep them from rotating once installed in place.  A trick you can use is to drill the hole to the proper hole size and then place a small tach on the edge of the hole in one location where needed.

I then finish sand the tach down and fit the key switch in place and this gives a key way in the hole to keep any rotation of the ignition switch down to a minimum.

I then disassemble the mount and fully weld all of the parts and reinstall to check and make sure all of the fitment is good before the parts are shipped off to the chromer.

Leave a comment | posted in Making a Jockey Shifter

October 25, 2011

Mounting a Sprung Solo Seat

By bungking

In this post I will show you how to mount a sprung solo seat using our seat pivot as well as our seat spring perches.

I will start with an aftermarket chassis that is an early reproduction frame with a fender and tank already mounted in place.  I recommend not installing your seat until you know exactly where both the gas tank and rear fender are going to live so you can really see what tis going to look like as well as it’s function, not hitting the fender and chipping the paint when the springs are fully depressed.  Leave a  little extra clearance for the seat pan under full compression , most pans especially those with a lot of cup or arch in them tend to deform back toword the fender under load. 

 

I am going to be using one of our Front Seat Pivots from www.bungking.com for use as a front pivot for this build.  The pivot has two flanged bronze oilite bushings in the locations where any continued rotation is going to be for extra long life without any wear and built in lubrication.  To lock down the bushings and the center bung the kit comes with stainless shouldered bolts and correct shim washers, the shoulder allows you to tighten the shoulder tightly against the bung to keep the bolt from loosening but allows enough clearance for bind free rotation.  Most people and manufacturers don’t understand how important keeping a tight slop free front pivot is, if the holes or bolts gain extra clearance over time with just springs on the back your seat will flop back and forth every time you shift your weight or take a turn making it worse and worse over time. 

Because all seat pans and chassis are different we do not send the pivot out with a tab with pre drilled holes, this would limit you to your seat location.  Most of us who have a welder have the ability to drill two holes in a piece of flat stock so do so in a location that fits your needs and tack the flat stock to the threaded bung that comes in the kit.

 

Once it cools off enough to not burn the leather on your new seat bolt the strap to the pan and assemble the front pivot to ge it ready to moch it up in it’s location on the frame.

 

Once the seat pan is mocked up in its correct location front to back as well as side to  side on the chassis it is time to tack the two tabs to the chassis itself.

 

With the front pivot located it is time to locate the back of the seat pan, in this case the customer wants to use round or beehive style springs to support the back of the seat.  Most solo seats have bungs welded to the pan to locate the top of the springs, the bungs seen above are our Seat Spring Perches that we offer at www.bungking.com .  The pin will locate the bottom of the spring to the chassis but allow you to quickly raise the seat to allow access to the battery or oil filler cap if needed.  Some manufactures add a horizontal hole in the pin to be able to insert a hitch pin in place, however on paper this looks good as soon as you sit on the seat and the spring compresses 90% of the time the spring will bend the hitch pin in such a way that you will need to use a set of pliers to remove or in worst cases have to cut them out.  If you set them up right a pin is not necessary it is more of a hassle than anything. 

This is the Seat spring perches tacked in place, we offer them on either a 1″ or 1 1/4″ cope dia to fit your needs.  They can be found at http://www.bungking.com/accessories/seat-parts/seat-spring-perch-mount.html.  If you weld the perches with the pins tilted slightly back at an angle this will resist them coming off of the pin when you do not want them too but still allowing you to remove them when needed.

 

 

After all of it is tacked into place remove the pan and the springs and fully weld all of the parts to the chassis.

After all of the parts cool to the touch you can install of the parts back in place to check all of there fitment and admire your work.

Leave a comment | posted in Uncategorized

October 18, 2011

Mounting a Rear Fender to a Rigid Chassis

By bungking

This is a step by step how to on mounting a ribbed rear fender to a rigid chassis done the Bung King way using a bunch of the parts we sell to make things easier for you.

This is the fender blank that I will be using, as you can see the fender radius already fits the radius of the tire pretty well so there is no need to shrink the edge to create the correct radius that is sometimes needed to be done.  The fender is a little long on the front side but I will wait to trim it until it is all mounted up.

I like to when I can, use factory holes that are already in place to give them some sort of purpose.  In this case it is a reproduction chassis based on the early original rigid chassis so there is a few holes already in place for the original fender strut.  I will be using some of our counterbore bungs in conjunction with these holes for the lower strut mount that supports the rear of the fender.   The counterbores can be found at http://www.bungking.com/bungs-1/counterbored.html

To keep the fender in place with enough gap away from the tire I use some 3/8 fuel line ( The actual outer dia of this tube is approximately 5/8″.  The tire the customer wants to use is a bias ply one so some room for tire growth at speed is a must.  The tube can simply be tapped down around the tire and wheel assembly with some electrical tape. 

For the rear fender mount I installed some of our Stepped Through Bungs http://www.bungking.com/bungs-1/stepped-flanged-bungs/stepped-flanged-through-threaded-bungs.html in a 5/16 x 18 thread.  These bungs will be welded in place with the flange on the outside of the fender.  First just drill two 1/2″ holes where you would like them to live and install the bungs in place with a small tack.  By using a threaded bung that has a little standoff from the fender you can help eliminate paint chipping in the future.  You simply need to clean of the paint from the face of the bung where the strut will mount and this creates a metal to metal relation with no chance of your custom paint job blistering from the pressure as well as keeping everything tight.

But before I make the rear strut I am going to mount the center of the fender to the chassis.  I will be using a few flat tabs with some slotted holes for adjustment later down the road. 

Two of the tabs are tacked to the chassis and the other two are welded to the fender.  This bike had a drum brake in the rear making tire changes more difficult with a fender mounted tight to it.  So keeping this in mind when creating the mounting system so that the fender can be removed easily with the tire in place so it can be out of the way if the rear wheel needs to be removed.

Once it is all locked down its time to work on the rear strut.  I set the bar in place and mark it to be trimmed to size.

The customer wanted to use the loop style strut.  So I started with one of our prebent fender loops, they can be found at http://www.bungking.com/kits/fender-strut/triumph-bsa-strut-kit.html

As you can see the fender loop comes extra long so that it can be trimmed to fit.  The strut is going to be going directly through the center of the mounting bungs so three separate pieces will be needed.

One all of the pieces are cut to size it is now time to start tacking the pieces into place.  As you can see I have taped the fender in place with some electrical tape, it works well for holding things in place, it remains somewhat flexible so slight adjustments can be made after in place for the perfect fit, as well as not leaving any residue behind on your chrome parts.

Here you can see the strut with all of the pieces tacked into place

Next I made a lower mount that mounts to the factory lower render tab.  The mount includes a .400″ thick threaded bung welded to the tank and the correct size spacer to fill the gap between the bung and the chassis tab.  The lower mount helps keep everything mounted tight and from flopping around or vibrating  at speed.

Once it is all tacked together it can be disassembled to be fully welded.  Once cooled the fender and sissy bar is mounted back in place to check fitment.

Leave a comment | posted in Mounting a Rigid Rear Fender

October 18, 2011

Mounting a Sporty Tank to an Early Rigid Chassis

By bungking

One of the most common gas tanks used on custom early style bikes is the classic sportster tank. It was a quick way to slim down the profile of your bike as well as save some weight. It was a style popular from the mid 60s till today

I am going to be using a later style tank that uses a rubber mounting system. The rubber mounts help reduce the vibration felt by the tank and thus increases is durability. You can rigid mount these tanks as well, the factory did early on however the rubber mounted tanks tend to live a longer crack free life. This is a very important thing to consider if you plan on keeping the bike for a long time as well as if you are going to be throwing a bunch of money in custom paint and do not want to have to weld on a painted piece in the future to seal up any cracks.

There is a decent size gap that needs to be filled between the fuel tank tabs and the backbone of the frame as seen in these pics. We are going to be mounting the tank in more of a frisco style and this will put the mounting hole in the center of the frame tube. You can insert one large threaded bung or sleeve into the backbone or do what I am doing here and make two coped bungs that can be welded to either side of the backbone.

To do this we chuck up a piece of 1″ stock in the lathe and drill and tap it to accept the 5/16 x 18 hardware. I am using the larger dia material to fully support the rubber bushing where too small of a dia can cut into the rubber over time and cause early breakdown of the bushing and a loose tank. Next we chuck it up in our mill and prep it for the coping process. The cope dia needed for the backbone in this case is 1 5/8″ so we install a hole saw of the correct size in the quill and proceed to cope the bung to the correct length.

In this case the standoff length needs to be approximately 3/8″ to fill the gap on either side.  We sell a variety of coped threaded bungs on our online store they can be found at http://www.bungking.com/bungs-1/coped.html

Once you find the location on the backbone that looks good to you mark the location of the center of the front mount on the backbone.   The insert isn’t very long and I don’t want the bolt to bottom out onto the chassis when welded in place causing a false sense of tightness so the cure is to drill a hole large enough to let the front mounting bolts pass through if the bolt is longer then the bungs thread.

It is now time to tack the front coped bungs in place, it is best to bolt them to the tank so during the welding process you can make sure that everything stays straight and exactly where you want it.  Just be carefull to not get to heavy handed when welding or the rubber mounts will melt into a puddle on your rocker box.  You need just a small tack or two and final welding can be done later.

With the front mount tacked in place it is now time to move the attention to the rear mount.  I am going to be using two of our Flanged Stepped Through Bungs in a 5/16 x 18 thread they can be found at http://www.bungking.com/bungs-1/stepped-flanged-bungs/stepped-flanged-through-threaded-bungs.html.

By using two separate bungs from either side as opposed to using one solid piece can help you in a few different ways.  With the stepped bung the hole that needs to be drilled is much smaller meaning easier drilling and less chance of weakening the chassis.  The other plus is if you are going to be running any wiring through the backbone it keeps the tube free and clear.  I mark the location of the center of the hole of the mounting hole with the front of the tank still bolted in place and then move the tank out of the way so the frame tube can be drilled.  Once the two holes are drilled the two stepped bungs are tacked in place, then the tank is dropped back onto it to make sure it all fits nicely before it is all fully welded.

With everything welded in place you will have a sturdy mount that will stand the test of time and it is designed in a way that the factory intended it to mount.

Leave a comment | posted in Mounting a Sporty Tank

October 5, 2011

Rigid Sporty

By bungking

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For those who have been cost conscious the sporty has almost always been a great option.  When building a custom bike these days one of the most cost-effective ways to go is purchasing a complete stock bike and using all of th drivetrain, wheels, brakes forks electronics and so on and put it all in a new rigid chassis with some new sheet metal.  You cant beat the initial cost of picking up a late model sporty along with their great reliability over an earlier big twin.  Just keep in mind that when you go to sell it, it will not be worth nearly what a big twin is either though.  But if you aren’t planning on flipping it and want to get on the road it is a good choice.  This bike was built once but after a mishap on the road it needed to be revamped again.  This time he wanted that 70′s look  super skinny yet very tall with a big sissy bar and large upswept pipes.  I made the pipes, sissy bar, handlebars, mounted and modified the tank, and oil tank.

The oil tank is one of our F’ Bomb Kits  http://www.bungking.com/tanks/oil-tanks.html

The handlebar inserts can be found at  http://www.bungking.com/bungs-1/handlebar-bungs.html

The weld in 22mm petcock bung http://www.bungking.com/bungs-1/petcock-npt-bungs/late-hd-style-22mm-petcock-bung.html

And the other various mounting bungs as well can be found at www.bungking.com 

Leave a comment | posted in Rigid Sporty

October 5, 2011

Triumph Tiger

By bungking

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This is a bike owned by a good friend of the shop, not sure of the year exactly but it started it’s life in his hands as a retired flat track bike with no brakes other than the kill switch on the handlebars and welded struts in place of the shocks bolted to the factory swingarm.  I made him up one of our triumph bolt on hard tails, back when I was producing them, with a 4″ stretch in length.  He produced his own pipes and modified the factory chassis.  I gave him parts for one of our 6″ pipe bomb oil tank kits and he added some of his own style to it with some pieces of flat stock.  He always loved the Fox suspension seat I had on display so I got him set up with one of those as well.  When it came to controls he got a little held up so he brought it down to the shop to have me make some up.  I used some of my Knurled Aluminum Foot Pegs, a bronze pivot bushing, some of our PM pivots along with some other raw materials to make up these mid controls.  I also made him up a seat pan to work with the Fox set up and got it all welded up and dialed in for him.  Cant wait to see what else he comes up with, it’s great sometimes to collaborate on projects it keeps the mind moving.  

The oil Tank parts can be found at http://www.bungking.com/tanks/oil-tanks.html

The footpegs and pivots cna be found at http://www.bungking.com/accessories/foot-controls.html

The Seat Shock Kit can be found at http://www.bungking.com/accessories/seat-parts.html

Leave a comment | posted in Triumph Tiger

October 5, 2011

Modified V-Star Chassis

By bungking

 

 

Not all of the custom bikes we work on are always from Milwaukee, like most anything in the custom industry there are always customers with a wide range of interests.  Some of our customers because of cost, reliability, sentimental value, or many other reasons have a vision of building something out of the ordinary.  In this case we had a customer who wanted to take is V-Star to the next level and turn the chassis into a more 70′s styled chopper by adding more rake, a few more inches in the backbone, and a few more inches of rise in the neck.  All to create that 70′s style rake with that long front end.  To help make the backbone more appealing and give endless options for a gas tank, the backbone was replaced with a single 1 5/8″ tube similar to aftermarket HD chassis. 

I braced up the factory frame before lopping off what was not needed, be sure to brace around all of the motor mounts so the relationships of the holes do not change.   During the original welding process a lot of spring can be created in the chassis and with out bracing simply cutting into the tubes can cause  a large amount of distortion.  After the neck is cut free I cleaned it all up grinding away any remnants of the old tubes or weld beads, and mocked it back up in our jig in the requested location.  You can reuse the stock neck if you can find tubes made by your manufacturer of the correct length or you can always search the HD aftermarket for one that is set up for Harley front forks.  There is usually a lot more aftermarket choices for front ends in the HD market than from the Japanese manufacturers.

 

After all of the tubes are welded into meet the neck it is time to create a gusset to help support everything.  A little gusset can go a long way to creating strength and stability to your welded assembly. It also helps spread the load of pressure and stress over a larger area thus creating more strength.  It is also important to use a thicker wall tubing for the backbone, especially when running an extended front fork.  A wall thickness of over .187″ is recommended, I have seen many .120″ wall backbones on aftermarket chassis crack completely in half during the big chopper boom in the late 90′s and 2000′s before manufactures started to figure this out.

 

The customer also wanted to turn back the clock a little bit as well and turn this straight leg frame into a wishbone, so I bent up some tubes to create that look of a wishbone .  All and all this took an ugly chassis with little to no choices for a fuel tank into a very universal chassis that could make you mind wonder with all the options. 

Article By www.Bungking.com

Leave a comment | posted in Uncategorized

September 23, 2011

T-Bars For Dyna Street Bobs

By bungking

When HD introduced the new Street Bob in the Dyna line in 07 one of the differences from the standard Dyna was the upper triple clamp for the 49mm fork.  The clap on these models came with an integral handle bar riser cast into the tree.  This was fine for most customers accept for those who wanted to bolt a set of T-bars to them.  Yes you can go down to the dealer and purchase the other upper clamp that comes on the dyna standard but you may be surprised to find out when you order it that it is about 300 bucks.  This can make an already costly handle bar change to an even more costly one.  These bars can be found at http://www.bungking.com/adjustable-gusseted-t-bars.html

We have had customers complain of this from 2007 and what we have done for the local customers and even some of the local dealers is build a different version of our Gusseted T-bar.  The welded in handlebar inserts are replaced with a 1″ dia crossbar that the factory triple clamp will accept.  This does make the uprights slightly wider than the standard t-bar but some do not seem to mind given the cost difference for the other option.  They are still built to the same high quality standards we have become known for and always 100% TIG welded for strength and good looks.

The lower crossbar  is knurled to reduce any slipping in the riser clamp.  With this crossbar the handlebars also become adjustable like all standard handlebars are.  So now you can adjust the bar to the exact pitch that feels good to you but still keep that tough t-bar look.

I make them in various heights like all of our other bars and custom sizes like normal are always available.  The standard width is 29.5″ and standard heights would be a measurement of 8,10, 12, 14″ overall.  They come all set up for internal wire, the wires come out of the bottom of the riser bar just above the fork tube.

If you would like to own a set for yourself you can check out this link at Bungking.com to purchase

http://www.bungking.com/adjustable-gusseted-t-bars.html

Leave a comment | posted in Street Bob T-bars

September 20, 2011

49mm Harley Quarter Fairing Adapter Brackets For 07 and Up Dynas

By bungking

To purchase some of your own please visit http://www.bungking.com/accessories/late-model-dyna-parts/49mm-quarter-fairing-bracket.html

For a full description of the product please read the post or visit our website

Back in 07 when the new Dyna’s were unveiled by Harley customers were left with few options of protection from the wind.   With this front newer fork the availability to use any of the previous fairings provided from the factory without modification of their bracketry was not an option.  Your only choice for the bolt on customer was either a standard windshield or nothing at all.  Although the 49mm fork was new to the Dyna model in 07 it was not new to Harley.  This was the same fork that had been used on the V-rod from the beginning. 

Because the 49mm fork was available for a few years before some products were available for them one of them was a quick release windshield clamp available in a standard or locking version.  When we decided to make some adapter brackets to create the missing link for these front forks I decided to use these ready made brackets.  For what they are, and their quality, they were surprisingly inexpensive in HD standards.  This would allow easy rigid mounting with some of the engineering from the factory taken advantage of as well.  They also have a clamping surface lined with rubber meaning if you do decide to remove them you are not left with scratches or gouges in your fork tubes which is always a plus.

I  wanted to use as much of the factory parts as possible to create that OEM look yet make it slightly stronger with slightly thicker material so the parts would stand the test of time under high stress.  The adapter brackets I came up with replace the factory outer bracket that normally hooked onto the rubber gromets that were normally clamped to the fork.  The factory inner bracket is reused, this is the one that bolts to the fairing itself and is slotted in a vertical direction fo adjustment.  The adapter brackets supplied by Bungking.com are like the factory other brackets slotted horizontally for adjustment there as well.  This allows for around 1.5-2″ in adjustment both in the vertical and horizontal directions for greater flexibility.

To get the quick releases to clear the fairing, headlight and front end it’s mounting plate had to be welded in at a special angle.  The quick releases replace what was normally a bolted on band clamp with a rubber grommet that the steel brackets slip over.  For anyone that has used this original system they will tell you it isn’t the greatest out there, the new updated clamps are much better.  And best of all when the fairing is removed nothing is left behind unlike before.

To help with the redirecting of air it was decided to raise the fairing a little higher than normal.  In turn the headlight also needed to be raised to fit inside the headlight pocket of the Quarter Fairing.  To do this supplied in the kit is a 1″ tall polished aluminum spacer and longer headlight bolt.  The spacer is placed between the original headlight mount and the lower tree.  Also to help seat the headlight correctly in the pocket it is recommended to remove the original headlight mounting block and rotate it 180 degrees.  The factory headlight mount is drilled offset and by rotating the mount it will place it approximately 1/2″ further forward.  This will guarantee that the headlight seats itself in the rubber seal of the headlight pocket.

All in all this kit is completely a bolt on set up and with just a few minor hand tools can be installed and adjusted in well under an hour.  Because it is the missing link for the Harley dealers to selling Quarter fairings to their newer 07 and up dynas many of them have jumped on board and started carrying them.  If you do not have a local dealer that stocks them you can always purchase them at www.bungking.com  the link to the product page is as follows:

 http://www.bungking.com/accessories/late-model-dyna-parts.html

And for the installation instructions for this kit you can download a PDF version here  by clicking this link

49mm Quarter Fairing Install Instructions

Leave a comment | posted in 49mm Quarter Fairing Adapter Brackets

September 20, 2011

Printable PDF Bungking.com Catalog

By bungking

Some of you have contacted us for a printable version of our online store at www.bungking.com. If you would like to print your own copy of the Bungking catalogue you can click on this link and it will download a PDF version of our catalog for you. For some, this is faster to find the options that are available to help you on your project. The prices can vary from the catalog and the site, all current pricing is on the website, it gets updated more often than the catalogue. There also may be some new parts on the site that have not yet made it to the catalog.

For the PDF download please click here CATALOG

Leave a comment | posted in Printable Catalogue

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