Final Drive Transplant _ Kudos 2 Chop!

[HobbyMan]

In the future, maby some one could come up with a titanium 1st and 2nd gear and a new 5th gear with a higher ratio. No more 1st and 2d problems and 5th gear would allow you to really lower your rpms. On a side note, I was talking to an HD mechanic about 6gear transmissions. He confirmed what I thought. The gear ratio of the new 6th gear is almost if not exactly the same as the old 5th. In other words, just more shifting to reach the same speed. Just thought that I would add that.

[xschop]

harleys at 70

harleys are a joke at 70, my friend has a 1200 sportster that can't keep up with the blue streak at hiway speeds. If I wanted to race in the streets I could pop my xs11 stock FD back on in less than one hour! I can do 80-90mph all day long at 45mpg. He'll have to stop for petro before we get where we're going.

[Dan Hodges]

stop light racing

Originally posted by pggg
I retract my statement about the XS losing 'character' with tall gearing, but it's an unforgetable, tragic and traumatic experience when a Harley whips an XS between traffic lights tho!!

For the type riding I do, I do not need the tall high gear,but in years past riding across west Texas it would have nice.My Eleven has some pretty big melons and I love beating up on Harleys and metric V- twins out on the highway where there is room to rock & roll but impromto races at a stop light is not kosher because there is normally not enough room to really have a go at it.If some hard tail fat boy with a 1900 V-twin and a rear tire a foot wide wants to rattle the windows with his exhaust and go for the next light so be it, because I will wave good goodbye as soon as we hit the highway.Stop light drag racing is a sure fired way to meet the butt of a Ford Taurus driven by the little ole lady from somewhere or the infamous telephone pole.

[John]

Now Patrick

Be nice. I had mine out for a short ride after work today, and I think the new gearing is great. It's not as sluggish as you are thinking. At 60, I am turning an indicated 35-36k rpm and at 80 it's 5 k. First and second gaer are 'longer' now, and when the engine is in it's powerband, it's a lot of fun. I can feel a difference in the lower rpm's, but it's not that bad. I wanted this set up, as there aren't any twisties anywhere around here. It's all flat. Where you live, is probably full of twisties, and you would want the lower gearing.

[John]

Gas milage increase

On my first round trip to work today, I clocked 33.2 miles, and used .910 gals for an astonishing 35.9 mpg. That is a 6 mpg increase over what I was getting before. That alone is another 20 miles per tank.

[MAXIMAN]

Re: Now Patrick

Originally posted by John
It's all flat. Where you live, is probably full of twisties, and you would want the lower gearing.

And even then it's not a problem. It's called DOWNSHIFT!

If you would normally rip a twisty in fourth...then drop to 3rd.

[pggg]

A lot of the twisties down here are also steep and hilly, riddled with hairpins and 1st and 2nd gear corners, it's a case of gassing it hard from corner to corner, on the eleven I do the 'slow in - fast out' technique which really suits these bikes. Little 250's and the like eat me mid-corner, but the old dunger hauls them in again within seconds - before getting out-braked and out-cornered again, a good buzz though.

[HobbyMan]

To do this mod, do you have to buy a drive shaft too, or just the rear differential?

[MAXIMAN]

Just the drive. If you actually read the procedure you'll use yur Eleven shaft and a spacer.

[HobbyMan]

Thats what I thought. I just wanted to make sure.

[DeanR]

Just another clarification. This is only the 750 final drive we're dealing with, correct? I remember someone referring to an 850 also.

[50gary]

Laxdad, I mentioned the XS850. I went to a salvage yard Monday and he had an XS850 with the same part number on it. 1J7Y0. I didn't turn and count the revs to verify that it was 2.91/1 though. He wanted $50.00 so I declined.
Cheers, 50gary

[John]

850 final drive

I just finished my final drive conversion a couple of days ago. I bought an 850SG swingarm and FD. The P/N was 1J7YO. The same as the 750's. I did a MPG check yesterday, and it was 35.9 Up from the usual 30 mpg. It truly is like having an overdrive. 60 mph in FOURTH is about 4300. That's not much more than 60 in fifth before the swap. I got lucky and found the only 750-850 FD that was listed on ebay at the time, and I got it for $25 out the door. The bidding ended early in the morning on Thursday, and it was delivered to my door the next afternoon. Once you do the mods and complete the swap, you'll think" Wow, that was easy", and it is. I'll bet I don't have a total of three hours in it, andthat includes soaking and cleaning it, plugging the oil return holes, and fitting the copper spacer. I was even able to re-insert the drive shaft into the the U joint yoke without having to dick around trying to position the yoke at the middle drive.

[kennewick58]

I have the parts comming!

I too have decided to attempt this mod. It seemed something I could do. I bought a low mile 81 special swing and shaft/ end pumpkin. also a low mile 750 drive. This will have the triple guys liken the ole Road Kill. Anyway what I want to know is what kind of thought is behind the copper spacer. Just cost, availability. Will there be any wear on the soft metal. What about a stainless spacer?

I thank the thinking here!!

[John]

A couple of little side notes

A couple of things I discovered when doing my swap: 1) Do not remove the small phillips head screw on the flange where the four mounting studs protrude through, and in fact, place a couple of washers on two of the studs, and run nuts down on them snugly. This will prevent the pinion from coming out of the housing when pulling the drive shaft/oil seal out, and possibly disturbing the shimming of the pinion. In place of a slide hammer to pull the driveshaft, you could clamp onto it with a vise grip, and strike the vise grip with a hammer. That will drive it out.
2) Another tip is that the large 1/2 inch washer that Maximan calls for can be substituted with the washer that is in use on the XS11 FD. It is the correct size, and it completely covers the oil return holes. Maximan cautions about reinserting the pinion back in place so that the oil holes line up. Of course if you do not remove the pinion from the housing, then this caution is needless, but if it does come out, everything will realign when you line up the hole for the small phillips head screw when reassembling the FD.
It truly is an easy swap over, and you will enjoy higher fuel economy, and less wear n' tear on your engine at highway speeds.
WK and I are going for a long ride today, and I will report back with my fuel economy numbers this evening.