People say I should "seek professional help", and when it comes to spoking and truing wheels, I agree. The Parts Manager at my local Harley dealer was a mechanic at local dealers for a long time, so I had him do it my 54 KH 19" wheels.
I put the rear wheel on my bike today, and got a surprise.
The difference between (tire centerline to left fender strut) and (tire centerline to right fender strut) is about 1", so it appears that the rim is offset 1/2" from where it should be.
The 1952-1954 rear wheel has the earlier-style hub, so there are no spoking/centering/truing directions in the Service Manual. But one would think the rim should be centered on the hub's spoking flanges like every other bike.
It's hard to see exactly with the tire and brake drum on. On the non-brake side, the wheel rim seems to be aligned with the spoke flange. On the brake side, the brake drum gets in the way, but it appears that the wheel rim is aligned with the right spoke flange too. Even if it's off a little, I don't think it can be anywhere near that much.
Axle, spacer, wheel, drum, backing plate, swingarm - all seem to fit together just fine.
What am I doing wrong? Any ideas?
Befuddled in Broad Run,
Dave
P.S. Yes, those are 1956-later shock absorbers. But they're just temporary. Thanks to Stan D., I now have a set of 54-55 shocks to work on.