Buying Parts for Police Bikes Query : V-Twin Forum: Harley Davidson Forums

Bro.Tiag · 08-12-2009, 01:44 PM

Greetings and Salutations,

I'm happy to find this forum and I'm sure their will be more then enough help offered.

A wee bit of info. I ride a 1992 FLHTP. I have put all but four (which is what it had when I bought it) of the 135K + miles on myself. I don't go anywhere (Sturgis, Daytona, Myrtle Beach, Laconia) but I ride every day, year round, here in the North East (aye, even when it snows).

Today I'm walking, not because of the seized rear bearings I started working on Saturday past. Rather it's because I'm having trouble finding swingarm pivot replacement parts.

I'm not a fan of buying parts from my local dealer. Mostly because they never have what I need, and it has to be ordered. Paid for up front. It always takes a week to ten days to come in. If I don't call and check they don't let me know that they are in.

I now seem to be having trouble ordering parts from catalogs & on-line. I have found swingarm pivot kits for Big Twins, but in the descriptions they list for "FLT/FXR".

[solved]So my question is can I buy parts for an "FLT" and expect it to work with my FLHTP?[/solved] It appears that I can use "FLT" parts, since the "T" (in FLT) stands for "tour" & the "H" (in FLHTP) for a fork mounted windscreen.

While I'm asking questions, where do most of you get parts from.

Cheers

jetlag · 08-13-2009, 01:45 AM

Hi, and welcome to the forum. I buy parts from a number of sources, including the local dealers, ebay, online from chicago harley or latus harley (portland or), and from a couple of local hookups. There's no particular order to that, just based on avalability and price. If it's not in stock locally, there's usually gonna be some sort of wait associated with getting parts, whether it's waiting for a special order part to come in, or whether it's waiting for the ups guy to come with a package purchased online.

Deciphering the designators in, unfortunately, not always simple. I think the FLT designator was used for the tour glide, back in the early 80's. The H has stood for different things, including heavy duty, and high performance. FXR is a Dyna super glide. Parts from that bike would almost certainly not fit your bike. Your best bet is to look for FLHT parts, since your bike is an electra glide.

FL and FX just tells you what front end is on the bike, either the fat forks (fl) or the skinny forks (fx). So there's FX dyna's and FX softails, and there's FL touring and FL softails. The FX designator is never used on a touring bike, and the Fl designator is never used on a dyna. Hope that helps a little.

Bro.Tiag · 08-13-2009, 09:19 AM

Thanks for the reply there jetlag. It just seems to me that Harley Davidson Parts Departments would stock things to keep a bike on the road as opposed to chrome replacement parts & bolt on doodads.

This whole adventure in finding replacement parts started last Wednesday when my clutch cable broke on the way home from work. Non of the three H-D dealers near by had a clutch cable for an Electraglide. Since I had to order a clutch cable, and to defray the shipping costs, I figured a tyre and some brake parts would be in order.

I suppose it's a good thing that I bought a new tyre and decided to put it on. That's how I found out I had a seized rear bearing (seized to the axle not the hub). Thus discovered by removing the swingarm to press out the axle that I had badly warn parts in the swingarm pivot.

It's just frustrating that I can get any number of ancillary chrome parts for my swingarm from my local dealers but not the required parts to get back on the road without ordering them.

Anyhow, also thanks for the explanation regarding the designators. I did a bunch more googleing and finally found a few sites that also explained the codes. Of course when I got home and looked at my Service Manual that I bought when I bought the bike it says it's for "FLT/FXR" models. All these years and it never sunk into this thick micks head.

Thanks again.
Cheers

K9r · 08-13-2009, 08:43 PM

bro tiag I ride a 1988 FLHTP so i understand the parts hunt. on bearings if they still have a # on them you can call a bearing suppllier and depending where you are in pa(bearings and drives in Montco )if you take the bearings to them they'll match them up if you don't have # by the way you a Shamrock?

Bro.Tiag · 08-15-2009, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K9r

bro tiag I ride a 1988 FLHTP so i understand the parts hunt. on bearings if they still have a # on them you can call a bearing suppllier and depending where you are in pa(bearings and drives in Montco )if you take the bearings to them they'll match them up if you don't have # by the way you a Shamrock?

I actually, already have/had a set of bearings, but thanks for the tip. I'm in the SE, north of the Philthy city.

Interesting development regarding my parts quest. I happened by a local bike shop, not a Harley shop, whom I'm friends with the proprietor. Expressed my ordering parts woes so he offered to help. Turns out when he called our local H-D dealer the parts were in stock & much cheaper then the prices quoted me. Now I'm back in the wind.

Cheers
Aye, a Shamrock, with a Red Hand.