Transmission mounting plate??

[George Greer]

I just got the mounting plate for the transmission that I have been waiting for here in Oregon,

But... only three of the plates holes line up with the frame, the two rear ones... and one that is forward right, the one on the left front well....it is at least a 1/2" away from the mounting location on the frame. It has enough materal on it to just drill the other mounting hole.

The transmission mounts up nice and snug, and all the other holes line up with the transmission just fine.

Can anyone give me some info as to what mounting plate I have???

Thanks,

George

[Bosheff]

Just mount it up in the frame and drill it out. You may have to mark it and remove it from frame and drill it on the bench or in a drill press. Other than the hole being out of location they should be identical. If memory serves me the change year for the plate was 65 but I may be mistaken....bosheff

[George Greer]

Bosheff,,

Thanks, I was going to take a scribe to it to mark the hole and do just that.

But first I wanted to make sure I was not destroying a part that may be correct for anothers project/restoration.

And since this is just going to be "whatever fits" bike, that suits my wallet/time and taste....I'ma gonna go for it.

Thanks again.

George

[steve_wood]

You might want to check the sprocket alignment before you drill any holes. Install the transmission, plate, trans sprocket and engine sprocket and check the alignment. If it's off, you'll have to elongate the holes in the plate to get it in the right position. Once you get it lined up, THEN you can drill the fourth hole.

[George Greer]

Steve,

Thanks for tip...but the frame plate, transmission, front fork assy is in Portland Oregon, Engine is at home in Germany.

Still got a looong way to go with this project.

George

[Hog54]

Are you sure you have the right plate?Does your plate have 3 holes up front?It should look like this on a panhead.










I cant remember if this one is for newer or older ones,but there was a reason they added the extra hole.

[Robert Luland]

Enough of this ridiculousness, George ya got a 36-57 tranny plate. The one with the double holes is aftermarket junk? I don't know if the factory ever made one. The one you need has holes the same in the front as the rear. You have to be careful here as I've told you before. As per Rob, they didn't machine the plate starting with 65. You can't tell the difference by eye. You need to mic it or have a tranny case handy. You can weld up the hole on the one you have and drill the hole proper, your call. There are a lot of these around. There's no reason to put your self though this shit. Bob L

[Hog54]

The 3 hole one isnt aftermarket junk.I have 3 holes up front on mine and mine came from a harley dealer 20 years ago in the original package and was black parkerized.I even still have the bill.

[Robert Luland]

Go back and read my post again!

[Hog54]

Now that I thought about it,the one with 3 holes up front is for panheads and shovelheads.The outermost hole is for shovelheads which would make the holes evenly apart and the inner hole is for panheads,or the other way around?The reason all the aftermarket plates have three holes is so they fit both.If his plate isnt fitting his frame and it only has 4 holes,then he is either trying to put a pan plate on a shovel frame or his frame is really screwedup.Or he could have an original shovel plate and trying to put it on a pan frame.Or maybe even the swingarm panhead frames have different spaced mounts than the rigids?

[George Greer]

thanks for the replys.

I now know that all I am going to do is drill out the hole and use it as is.

George

[Sir_Rat]

My head hurts......

[George Greer]

My head hurts......

Sir,

At times mine does too.

But this site has quite a few smart folks that know their stuff, and IF someone don't have years and years of experience (such as me)....asking questions, and avoiding mistakes is one of the reasons for sites like this.

3 Asprin, lots of water.

[UPSROD]

1958 and up uses the wide front bolt spacing.

[Speeding Big Twin]

The photo below is an edited version of one posted on another forum by Chris Haynes and the full view is also on page 568 of Palme's book. The bike is a mid-40s Knuckle and the trans plate's two front mounting holes are visible:



This would seem to be the type of plate used on 1937-47 Knuckleheads, 1937-48 BT Flatheads and 1948-57 Panheads. The 1936 Knuckle used a plate of similar size and similar overall shape but it had raised sections at each end instead of being solid all the way across and apparently it was only used for that one model year. There's a photo of a 36 Knuckle plate on page 66 of Palmer's.

For Panheads, my H-D parts catalogs indicate that four different trans plates were used:
1. #47698-36 (old #2804-36) for 1948-57.
2 and 3. There may have been two plates used in the period 1958-64. I imagine the front left mounting hole on both of them was further out than on the earlier plates but there must have been some difference between the two of them because my 58-68 catalog lists #47698-58A which should mean there was also a #47698-58.
4. #47698-65 for 1965. Eric