Triple tree

All things K & Sportster

Re: Triple tree

Postby sportsterpaul » Wed Dec 21, 2016 5:05 am

Awesome, you anticipated my question about the aluminum top clamp. I have a steel one that I will be selling tomorrow on eBay. So far I have listed a chrome 52 bottom, a repaired 52 bottom, a 52 clamp, and a set of 52 tree and clamp together that was on one frontend I got at the swap meet. The auctions should launch Wednesday night and run 10 days. I am linking this thread in the auction listings.

Now to figure out the nut that screws into the threaded bearing sleeve that goes on the stem. I am sure things change with the damper, and I have a later setup with no hole in it, maybe that came with aluminum sliders. Time to cozy up with the parts books on a warm Christmas night.

Dave, I will shoot pictures of the 52 and 52A setup together, for comparison, as well as the 52A steel vs aluminum top clamps. Let me know if you want the pictures.
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Re: Triple tree

Postby hennesse » Thu Dec 22, 2016 12:30 pm

Boy, am I sorry I ever started looking at triple trees.

I went through all the parts books, and came up with a table listing what the parts books say. There are a whole bunch of them! Before trying to map these to "what came originally on what", we need to agree that all these things did actually exist.

OK, here's the legend that really should have been on that web page.
White Background = reported by parts book and appears correct
Red background = reported by parts book and appears IN-correct (and I may be wrong about these !!!)
Green background = my proposed corrections (and I may be wrong about these !!!)
Gray background = not reported. P/N is what one would have assumed from previous year's book. i.e. If a supplement didn't report a change, then one would assume the part listed in the previous year's book would be used.

There are two distinct groups. The raked trees have a -52x part number, the parallel trees have a -54x or later part number. The raked trees and parallel trees cannot be mixed. I believe Harley made some errors regarding the upper tree for the 1954 split, and kept repeating the error year after year.

Going through the table, it looks like we have all these different versions! What could the differences be?

"RAKED TREES" - 1952 & 1953 & 1954 up to s/n#2250
Upper
45738-52 (first mention in 1952)
Lower
47501-52 (first mention in 1952)
47501-52A (first mention in 1954)
47501-52B (first mention in 1956)


"PARALLEL TREES" - 1954 s/n#2250-up through 1969
Upper
45738-54 (first mention in 1954) ("natural" version, and re-worked early version)
45738-54A (first mention in 1955)
45738-59 (first mention in 1959)
45738-62 (first mention in 1963) (used on late 1962)
Lower
45701-54 (first mention in 1954 2250-up) ("natural" version, and re-worked early version)
45702-57 (first mention in 1965)
45702-67 (first mention in 1967) (used on 1967 XLH only)
45702-57A (first mention in 1968)

HELP!
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Re: Triple tree

Postby sportsterpaul » Thu Dec 22, 2016 4:52 pm

Yippee, I passed the close the choke test!

I have been going through a bunch of them I am selling. For the tops I can see:

45738-54 Steel, tabs (first mention in 1954) ("natural" version, and re-worked early version)
45738-54A Steel, tabs (first mention in 1955)
45738-59 Steel, eyebrow (first mention in 1959)
45738-62 Aluminum, eyebrow (first mention in 1963) (used on late 1962)

So the mystery there is what happened between 54 and 54A. The letters used to mean that you could substitute the A part with the non-letter part. Hard to say, it might be a simple as adding a threaded hole for a ground wire from the frame, you should not let current pass through a ball bearing.

OK, I am off to list a bunch of trees and clamps, and a -66 eyebrow and the XLH headlamp housing nacelle. I will put up a link tonight when they go live.
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Re: Triple tree

Postby sportsterpaul » Fri Dec 30, 2016 5:18 pm

Here is my eBay auction of triple trees and clamps, and a sweet 1959-66 XLH headlight shroud, as well as an eyebrow bracket for XLCH.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sportsterpaul/m.html

Auctions end Sunday.
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Re: Triple tree

Postby wz507 » Thu Jan 05, 2017 10:52 pm

Triple trees are a very timely subject as I am sorting a basket of parts for my ‘56 KHK. Previously on a different subject (seats and seat brackets), I made the novice mistake of confusing casting numbers and part numbers. To circumvent that event occurring again I am providing pictures of my triple tree parts, observations about the fit of the various components with one another, with the ultimate goal of having some kind person from the forum inform as to whether I own the correct parts for a ’56 KHK. So here goes.

Triple tree potpourri.jpg
Triple tree potpourri.jpg (96.9 KiB) Viewed 11459 times


The left column of the picture, consists of a stem assembly, casting # 45707-52, and a top tree. The right column of the picture consists of a stem assembly, casting # 45707-52A and 2 top trees. The aluminum top tree is casting #45738-62, which as taught above is a Sportster part, so I know this is not correct for my bike. The other top tree has no casting number I can see.

The left column of parts when assembled aligns perfectly when a stanchion is pushed through the assembly. Likewise the right column of parts, in all combinations allows a perfect fit of a stanchion through the assemblies. However, neither of the right column top triple trees fit to the 45707-52 stem casting allow insertion of the stanchion. Likewise, the left column top triple tree, when fitted to the 45707-52A casting does not allow insertion of a stanchion. The picture below illustrates the resulting misalignment.

low res stanchion misalignment.jpg
low res stanchion misalignment.jpg (114.06 KiB) Viewed 11459 times


In light of the foregoing, do I possess the correct triple tree parts for my ’56 KHK? Thank you.

PS - Is the hole in the front center of the 45707-52 casting a factory hole or customization by some artist after the fact?
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Re: Triple tree

Postby gabbyjon » Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:18 am

Your left trees I believe are for 52-53 K models only,the right side group are correct for 54-56 K model eliminate the aluminum tree its for the later XL models.The artist hole I believe should be filled in with weld.I need to purchase a top tree for the 54-56 models if you have one to sell or know of someone.
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