VS1400 Drive & Shaft Modification ......................How To Thread.

After watching Simbo elongate the mounting holes to mount the drive, I could easily have done it myself but the thought of knackering it put me off doing it myself.  I'd happily do it myself now though as it's not difficult.

With this mod i think i will loose the warranty on the bike....but who cares:))

Can somebody that have done this mod can share if he had any problems with the bike lets say after driving with this mod 10000 km or more?

The distance will be easier on the bike with this modification, it will travel further easier because of the better gearing and the engine will be less stressed. There is nothing to the drive, its just a gear. Mr Intruder has got one on his work bench, I will try to ask him to open it and take some pictures if he has got time, you would be surprised how little is in there. The only times that these drives have a problem is if a seal leaks

The guys in the US have been doing this mod for several years and done a lot of miles with no problems.

Hahahah all the parts are on the way to meeee!!! Then its perfectttt!!! I will let you know the progress with this mod. This summer i have a lot of places to ride:))

Good on you chuckie  

Apologies for a late thank you, sadly the page moved on and I have only just learnt to quote.

Ken1964 wrote:

I have read this many times and feel it is something that I could easily do, I wonder if I am kidding myself. I have a good machine shop near me and shown them a print of the drive shaft changes taken from here and they are happy to do it. Would you recommend this modification to someone of a low mechanical ability but with descent ability to follow instructions?

Captain Crash wrote:

I am sure Simbo and Mr Intruder will get back to you asap, they are the gurus   
Dave (Mr Intruder) has said even the village idiot couldn't mess this up but I reckon he was thinking of me at the time  

Simbo wrote:

Hi Ken, If you have the ability to use a socket set a file and a few other basic readily available tools, You'll be fine    It does appear a daunting job to do, but it's really simple to be honest.

Peardrop3 wrote:

Ken all you have to do is follow the instructions, even I can do that & not screw up & as crash says we're all here to help out ok  

I have a few things I am planning to do over the coming spring and summer, including a custom speedo and power upgrade. This modification will now be on my priority list, thank you very much. I feel confident that I will be able to tackle it without to many troubles and feel confident with your help.
Thank you for the information contained within this thread and your recent confidence boost.

Ken1964 wrote:

 This modification will now be on my priority list, thank you very much. I feel confident that I will be able to tackle it without to many troubles and feel confident with your help.

Any questions or doubts when your doing the mod Ken, Just shout  

Your far to kind, thanks.

The drive arrived today, looking good::)))) the other parts should be here next week

Nice one Chuckie. 

Never ever made a proper Harley rider .................. used too smile and wave at other bikes too much



                                                     

4.7625 millimetres.

thats more like it!!!

Here's a chart to convert inches to mm for future reference.
http://mdmetric.com/tech/cvtcht.htm

me and mathematics? not such a good relationship...:(( at least all that involves inch and feet....

Don't forget the spacer needs milling to 73.025mm as well  

Think I will add those figures into the original posts, that should help any no English or Americans. Most of us still use the same measurements, unlike our European neighbours and the kids of today that have learnt different to us oldies.  

All the parts here. The modification will begin this Saturday. I will post how its going. I got a mechanic friend that is doing it, i hope we will manage it..i still have some unclear things but i hope that my m8 knows what he is doing.. He said that he read this post and write everything needed to know..

Chuckie I am very pleased for you, your "mechanic friend" will manage it without any problems at all. If he has read the info by me and Sim in this thread he will not even have to think as it is his line of work. I know it is a modification rather than a straight swap being done but the changes being made are very minimal.
Good luck & keep us informed my friend.  

I like the fact that a mechanic is checking out this site to see how things can be done.    Mind you as already said it is a modification and not a straight swap. Let us know how he gets on, bet you can't wait now, good luck  

peardrop3 wrote:

Today I went to see my mate to pick up the remains of my diff & when home i counted the teeth on the diff to ask Mr I if he can remember the teeth number on the 1400 diff's at all?

33

I have 33t on the side nearest the wheel hub. 34t on the pinion inside where it engages with the crown wheel. Crown wheel has 11t. The lock ring has 12t on theoutside. The revolving section has 22t as has the propshaft which is 13" long by the way.
So is it a 1400 or something else? 1200 perhaps???

33 on the actual diff which would put 34 on the wheel side. Look on page one, that shows the diff.
Just count the teeth on that and add one or count the recesses for the teeth from the wheel to sit in if adding up those.

Dave mine has 33t facing the wheel hub & 34t on the opposite side of that plate(the pinion side), yours 32t! I counted them off the picture a lot of times, have a look yourself.
If i'm right then my diff is different in this area but nowhere else & the seal will not fit this diff.

26

Dave I'm on about the REVERSE of this plate which is on your 1st page in the exploded view.

Also I need to know how many teeth on the crown wheel (Bevel gear) that mates with it but you probably will not know that?

The above picture I AGREE has 33t.

There are no teeth on the reverse of the plate you have mentioned. Just looked & the only thing with 32 teeth is the final gear & that is clearly marked as the final gear.
Sorry but you need to be clear as I am getting confused, are you using the correct names for the items?


16

Yes I'm sorry I MEANT the final gear, Mine has 34t & the 1400 has 32 so I have the wrong diff.
I apologies Dave for getting you worried or upset & will send you some pix of my diff privately so you can see the different diff case etc...

Peter but I have just received the pictures you sent via email & I do not recognise it as a VS1400 diff. There are not even the correct number of fixing bolt holes, Sorry but I am lost with what you have bought. I think they have fucked up the description and in turn fucked you over.

true Dave, i've just gone through the parts lists i have from ron ayers & it appears to be a 92 vs800 one.    damn, blast etc.... 
seems as i said it is not what I thought & i've ordered a real one from USA to arrive sometime next week I hope.
Apologies for upsetting your sunday, I'll go away again now  

O no thats a shitter, what a twatt that guy was for selling the wrong one  

That's a shitter Peter! Was it advertised as a vs1400 drive? if so you might be able to make a claim?

What a twatt, he has turned your good experience sour.   

Good luck with the one you have coming now.

CC & Sim yes it's a complete f--k up but unfortunately it's too late to get back at him as i bought it last year & it's out of claim time so i'm buggered totally.
I'm sorry for upsetting Dave or anyone else who has only just seen this so I'd like the forum to take it as a warning to check, & double check anything you buy from E-bay be it private or a company & take nothing as cosher till you've checked it. 
This is my first shafting, no pun intended, & I hope it will be my last but we all live & learn the hard way!

Just to be safe rather than letting everyone see a diff that someone is thinking of buying if they want to be sure where possible just send a link to Dave (Mr Intruder) or Sim (Simbo) and if they can see anything they are not sure of they will say before bidding starts. Very unlikely to happy much tho, I think you were just very unlucky

Very good point Crash, I would have spotted something not right about that drive straight away & so would Sim. But only if a pic of the 'gear case plate' was shown. It would not of been possible for Peter to tell if just the (external gear housing' bell housing) was shown in pics.
Sadly we often rely on peoples honesty and actual knowledge of the parts they are selling when buying from an external source. Usually they are right but ignorance has probably been a greater factor here by the seller for Peter sadly.

Just realised I've been posting about this conversion in the wrong place...so far its all gone to plan and even better after raking through my box of odd oil seals I found a new 30x40.5x5.5 double lipped oil seal..fella I bought it all from has got back to me after checking the last mot as a bike and there is only about 7000 miles on the drive, not surprised it feels nice and smooth when turning by hand, its just a bugger I have to wait until tonight to get the shaft and spacer done. After my run last night of 120 miles on mostly sweeping A roads and realising again why I love riding this bike I just can't wait to experience the improvement that so many of you have related on here.
Tonight's shift will be the first nightshift I am actually looking forward to. 

Ps....has anyone heard of an m800 or a vl800 being sold with the conversion in place and I realise the shaft has to be shortened but would it leave too short an area on the splines to simply re-use the milled shaft with the 800 drive.

pffff the mechanic broke his leg so i am still waiting......no news yet...

Your not having much luck Chuckie.....hopefully your mechanic knows someone who can step in for him...
I'm now twiddling my thumbs ,counting down the hours until I can get my mitts on a lathe.

Cuppa tea and Ebay then..

Hmmm i didnt pushed it cuz was no weather for riding yet....

Chuckie I hope you get it all done for the better weather coming in..

A wee question about the overall length of the shaft quoted on page one. Should the finished length definitely be 15 and 3/4 inches (400mm) I only ask as my M800 shaft is exactly 17 inches (433mm) as it sits without the 3/16ths taken off...I was assuming the vl800 and m800 shared the same shaft dimentions.

I just want to be certain before clamping it into a lathe...measure twice, cut once and all that...

Cheers.. 

rossmofo wrote:

A wee question about the overall length of the shaft quoted on page one. Should the finished length definitely be 15 and 3/4 inches (400mm) I only ask as my M800 shaft is exactly 17 inches (433mm) as it sits without the 3/16ths taken off...I was assuming the vl800 and m800 shared the same shaft dimentions.

I just want to be certain before clamping it into a lathe...measure twice, cut once and all that...

Cheers.. 

Hi, The finished length of 15 and 3/4 is to the shoulder after it's been milled back 'NOT' the length of the shaft, You take the shoulder back 3-1/6ths and the end of the shaft back 3-1/6ths, And yes the M800 and VL800 use the same shaft  

Cheers Simbo, I thought it might be but wanted to double check in case there was a change in dimensions at a certain year or model designation.
Got bored so I sprayed the vs drive casing gloss black to match the wheel. Gonna leave the strut stub in the drive casing and mount a chrome skull or maltese cross etc..

Flippin eck the once limited membership to the VS1400 club is growing and growing  

Aye, hopefully by this time tomorrow there will be one more member  ..Funny thing is I wasn't even looking for a drive unit when I saw the other one I posted on here in the sale/ebay section..I wasn't going to bother as I hate waiting for things like that to arrive but when I saw one that was only 60miles away and going cheap with no bidders a wee plan formed in my head to get it and have my shaft altered while I'm still nightshift (the "homers" shift)...even better when I found the oil seal which I think had been sent to me in error for a vx800 I had at the time....now if it would just dry up, I might get a wee test run tomorrow evening... 

Just a little tip Ross, When milling the shoulder and end of the shaft back, Once you've done them, work the machine backwards slightly into the splines, There's a raised lip at the end of them and if it's not removed the shaft wont go in the U/V joint up to the shoulder.
Here's the lip. (bottom arrow) 27


This is how it will look