Harley Question

[ragdol]

A fellow stopped in the shop who is restoring a '84 Soft Tail. His bike had the rear wheel changed, he got an original wheel, but the hub was painted. Had the paint stripped with plastic media. Now he wants the hub to match the front. Front appears to be polished bare metal.  The question is, what kind of metal are the hubs made of? They do not appear to have any kind of coating, but do not rust. They are magnetic however. Can the hub be polished, he has the wheel apart, & the welds also?

[GPster]

Back around those years I think the hubs were the same for all the 16" wheels. I had an '84 Soft Tail and I ran the rear wheel off of a '77 Super Glide on the front to get the 21" wheel off of it. If he's got the wheel clear down (spokes and all) I'd get a new hub. If it's clear down and after any kind of blasting/cleaning , I'd treat the hub to new bearings and races and I'd be carefull about it and let a dealer do it. The hubs have tapered bearings and when you replace them and the races there is a machined "tube" that goes over the axel between the bearings so when the bearing are properly in their races they are drawn towards one/another for proper clearance to run. Too short and the bearing will be too tight and weld themselves to the races or too loose and the wheel will wobble. A dealer usually has a selection of these spacing tubes and will usually trade them around with the one in your assembley to make it work correctly. The back hub might have been painted for a reason. An '84 would still have been "chain drive" and they could be greasy and messy. While he's at it have the motor rebuilt and figure on a set of rods. I've known of a few '84s that needed them after a few miles because they got noisey. GPster              P.S.  I didn't answer your question, did I?