WL/WLA wheel assemblies

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Waiting
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WL/WLA wheel assemblies

#1

Post by Waiting »

Due to family medical issues my motorcycle projects have been on the back burner for about 4 years. I'm still pretty ignorant about everything so please excuse my bonehead questions. I'm also very slow at getting things done, I ponder a lot.

Right now I intend to focus on my '51 WL and am waiting for the appropriate parts book to arrive.

The entire front wheel assembly on mine has been chromed (as has the whole fork assembly) and I'd like to do away with all of the shiny bits. I'm thinking I might just buy a painted wheel assembly rather than strip the chrome off of what I have. So, my question: is the front wheel assembly on the WL basically identical to the WLA assembly, other than wheel diameter?

Thank you

gary
RUBONE
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Re: WL/WLA wheel assemblies

#2

Post by RUBONE »

Basically all 45 wheels are the same. From '40 up when the drum changed slightly from flat backed to domed they remained the same until the end in '52. Both 18" and 16" were available from '40 on as well. Most civilian WLs came with 16" with 18" being an option, all WLA came with 18" (except some South Africa models). The 16" front rim is unique to 45, Big Twin rims do not fit due to spoke pattern drilling and nipple size. 45s handle better with 18" wheels but 16" were the rage so most owners went with them.
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Re: WL/WLA wheel assemblies

#3

Post by kitabel »

The only exceptions that I know of are the WLC (Canadian military) and late Servi-Car which use the big twin star hub and (detachable) drum brake.
panhead
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Re: WL/WLA wheel assemblies

#4

Post by panhead »

And the WLH
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Re: WL/WLA wheel assemblies

#5

Post by Pascal »

ALL WLA/ WLCs came with 18 inches.
The South Africans rode '41 WLs, NOT WLAs.
And yes; they had 16" balloon tires.

FYI; many a WLA on russian soil eventually ended up with 19" Ural rims, cos the russians wanted to carry just one tiresize around.
Since their MMZ (later IMZ...later Ural) M72 had 19" wheels, many WLAs were respoked with the same rims.
Last edited by Pascal on Thu Oct 13, 2022 8:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
wannchev
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Re: WL/WLA wheel assemblies

#6

Post by wannchev »

Hi Rubone you are correct about the South African tire size on "our" WL's. The bikes were ordered starting in 1939 and the order varied per ship load. In total 4000 bikes were delivered together with 1000 RH sidecar (LLE) Ul's.
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