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99 Fatboy solid wheels on 99 softail

Marcus Thomas

Marcus Thomas

Member
My 99 softail originally had spoke wheels. I am switching to solid fatboy wheels. I installed the rear wheel and discovered that it is too far to the left. Can the same spacers from spoke wheels be used on the solid wheels? I'm wrenching myself, and I'm a machinist and can make new spacers if I have to, but I'm not sure if I just used the spacers on the wrong sides.
 
In looking at a parts diag. there should be 3 spacers on the rear wheel. All the same for spoke or mag..
1@ 1.225", goes on left side, and 2 @ .7500" long that go inside the seals on each side. Those are for a Fat Boy. It appears as though all Softail models have the same spacers. What front end do you have, did it mount up right? What model Softail do you have?
tourbox
 
It's a custom build. The original owner pulled the front end from a Fatboy that was hit in the left side swing arm. The frame came from the Harley re-furbishing plant i. West Virginia. As well as the motor and tranny. The primary came from a dealership in Arizona. The swing arm assembly was taken from a Fatboy that was stolen and stripped. He bought it from an insurance auction. It's a mongrel class, but she's my first Harley. The owner I bought it from thought he was an electrician and installed some custom tail lites and head lites. He did a major hack job with the dash. I didn't catch it when I bought it, and I'll be rewiring the dash with all kit. Originally I had her down to replace the stator. That was a mistake cause I started looking at itand thinking " if I do this it'll look awesome......the tins are repainted. A new cam. Painted engine parts.....Basically it'll be a partial restore when I'm done. She'll run without issues and be beautiful. Thanks for the info.
 
If it is the correct year rear wheel then the spacers are the same for laced and solid wheels on the right side the brake mount bracket acts as the spacer then between it and the wheel there is a short spacer that goes through the oil seal and bears on the bearing
on the left side a short spacer through the oil seal and onto the bearing then a long spacer

Brian
 
I see a mistake I made on the left side. I put the long spacer inside and the .750 spacer against the inside of the swingarm. Would that really make a difference? I installed AllBalls wheel bearings and measure from the edge of the race to the top of the bore to ensure both were the same and were all the way down. I'll post some pics in a sec. The solids were said to have come off a 99 fatboy, but I didn't have any way to prove it.
 
When the new bearings were installed did you check the end float as the bearing spacer may need to be may need to be adjusted
correct placement of all spacers is critical for a safe bike

Brian
 
Are you referring to the top of the bearing when it is seated in the race? If so, I checked them on a sine plate before installation and the height was the same. After I installed the races I checked with a depth mic and calipers to make sure each race was seated the same distance in. I've been researching this and I've been reading that all softails have an off center rear wheel. It's got something to do with the ttansmission pulley, belt alignment, and the rear pulley. It can be changed but would involve a lot of work tearing into the primary and tranny. One tech said that some harleys he's seen come from the factory with nearly .500 offset, and that wheel alignment is more critical. I just pulled the rear wheel and switched the .750 spacer and the 2.225 to the correct way. I don't have it tensioned and aligned to the pivot arm, but the offset is the same. The break caliper and rotor line up perfectly as doea the belt and pully. It just bugs the machinist side of me knowing it's off center.
 
When the bearings have been replaced once the axle is fitted and torqued to factory spec there should be a small amount of end float on the axle the end float is adjusted by thin spacers between the centre spacer and the left side bearing this should be checked dry prior to greasing the bearing
it is a bit of a pest to do but the correct end float is required to allow for heat expansion full procedure is in the service manual

Brian
 
When I bought my 2009 (I think it was) Fat Boy, it had solid wheels on it, which was one of the key features of the Fat Boy, by the way. You could always tell a Fat Boy when you saw one, because of the wheels.

Anyway I didn't like him that much functionally, because the wind would push the bike. It had all those little tiny holes all the way around but that didn't stop a good wind gust from messing around with my gyroscopic affect.

They probably look nice on just about any bike you put them on, but your still going to have the same issue.
 
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