Jiffy Stand

[58bob]

I have a repo jiffy stand for a '57 bobber I'm building.....apart from the fact it doesn't fit, well it does, its just the bike has no lean and is in danger of tipping over! A few bends here and there and its almost presentable, the thing I'm not sure about is the tab that bolts on top. Which way does the chamfer go? I have a Clymer manual page 466 that shows the shorter side to the rear, is that correct? Will post some pics soon of the project, cheers.

[Cotten]

58Bob!

Methinks Clymer stands must swing backwards!

.....Cotten

[58bob]

Thanks Cotton, so the way I had it was correct.....was just wondering after seeing that pic!

[Cotten]

58Bob!

There is still a 50/50 chance that someone will prove us wrong.

....Cotten

[FlatHeadSix]

There is still a 50/50 chance that someone will prove us wrong

or right

[steve_wood]

58Bob,

I had the same problem. I put some spacers on the bottom bolts to tip the whole assembly out some and that helped a bit.

steve

[58bob]

Yes Steve, after I had heated and bent the stand to a right angle it still only had a lean of around 5 deg. Not enough I thought for safety so did exactly what you did, spaced out the bottom 2 bolts with a 3mm tapered spacer, took a bit of grinding but now i have about 10deg lean, thanks everyone for the input.

[Cotten]

58Bob!

I was never able to get away with heating a kickstand and bending it.

Maybe they were made of drill rod or something,
because after the heat annealed them, they turned soft as spaghetti, and I would do a slow-motion roll-over like Arte Johnson? on 'Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in'.

Two or three are stashed around here somewhere to cherry in the grill, and toss into oil or whatever. It is hard to get around to such things.

....Cotten

[Robert Luland]

Let me ask ya a pertinent question. One I going to assume this is a Harley ridged frame? Does the leg bracket that the stand slides into smooth on the front or does it have two small holes in the face? The smooth one is for ridged and the one with the two holes is swing arm. They are two different angles. Notice the different heights of the metal spacers sandwiched in the bracket. If you use a swing arm bracket on a ridged frame you will get what your going through. Bob L



Swingarm left/ Ridged right




Ridged left/ Swingarm right

[58bob]

Yes, I hear what you're saying Cotton. I was aware the steel in either hardened or of a higher grade than 'normal'. A friend of mine owns a machine shop, so I told him about it, he heated it up to bend then put it a high temp oven and slow cooled it to maintain its strength. The bike is a new build and hasn't been started yet so I guess time will tell.
Rob, its a VT 27-1701 PN# '36-'57 rigid frame, parkerised, the full kit, so no holes. I wish the wear plates were as uniform in curvature as the one in your pic. The ones on mine have raised edges that are actually cutting into the round lever its self as its turned. I tried to smooth them out a bit with a rotary burr, but thats when i realised just how hard this steel is. I have seen pics of an original stand, the bend radius is tighter than the VT version and the welded washer appears closer to the bend as well, on the original. This would raise it off the deck a bit more than the repo.

[StueyC]

58Bob, wedges like you have made to achieve more lean angle are available off the shelf and are plated so they shouldn't rust. The only problem I see with them is the bolt heads and nuts will no longer sit flat once the wedge is fitted. This can't be good for the hardware once they are torqued up?

StueyC

[58bob]

Cheers Stuey, didn't know they were off the shelf items. Checked the angle, 3 deg or less, the 5/16 bolts are grade5 and tensile strength (breaking strength) is around 6500lbs.....and there are 4 of them. Should hold i reckon.

[King]

Interesting that you got too little lean Bob. I was plagued with what I considered too much and built up the spacers with a bit of weld. Still think Ive got a bit too much but what would be "correct"???

King

[58bob]

King,
I would think 8 to 10 deg would be an ok number, thats what I'm going for. I have noticed all the pics of original bikes i have seen seem to stand fairly upright anyway. Guess you don't want too much lean when you're trying to kick start it while its backed into the kerb. Like I said I initially had around 5 deg and it just didn't look right, to feel safe I would always be looking for sloping ground.

[john HD]

bob,

just out of curiosity what type of tires are you running?

modern low profile tires will make your bike stand more upright than original style full size ones.

the problem may not be your jiffy stand!

john