headlight bracket:xlch brow

[thefrenchowl]

The No Battery bit came as a kit in a Shop Dope Sheet sometimes in the 50s for KRMs and KHRMs...

The switch attached to the kit was next to the dynamo and switched not the lights but the field coils...

Early CH with lights were probably the same until someone said ""It's a bit dangerous to switch on that down while riding...""" ; O )

As for the notch in the eye brow, I must say I looked a long time on ebay to find a decent one without too many holes for my 58 and never ever saw one with the notch.

Since it was a kit to start with, one can assume there's a note in the instructions that says "" take a round file and notch the std eyebrow for cable clearance""

Patrick

[hennesse]

And then there was the XLD - with Dual indicator lights. The C in XLC/XLCH really stands for Cantankerous, as anyone who's started a magneto model can attest. But for some reason, Harley was loathe to say this in their advertising.

Murph - I added your photos to your Gallery page. I also created a Technical: Headlamp page, which only has the eyebrows for now.

Question: When exactly (more or less) did the 67809-59A appear? The first mention is in the 1963 Part Catalog. The 1962 Supplement would not have it, since it was issued in Sept 1961, and the new mag and tach were not available until around April 1962. The Dealer Accessory Bulletins announcing the Tach kit do not mention the eyebrow.

Interestingly, my 62 XLCH 2373 (~Nov 1961) has the -59A eyebrow. The bike is almost stock - this is the only major thing I've found that's incorrect. The previous owner could have replaced it, but it's an unusual thing to replace. So it makes me wonder.

Dave

[thefrenchowl]

Dave,

I think you're mixing 2 things here...:

1) the possibility that the tach drive and the magneto were available as a combined option before 62 XLCH 4044.

2) The tach kit paper does say for certain that this magneto is now fitted as standard on XLCH after 62 XLCH 4044

Hence your bike could have had the full kit, mag and tach, before the 62 XLCH 4044 change of std magneto and your eye brow would then have been filed by its 1st owner...

Patrick

[thefrenchowl]

Hi Dave,

This 8 x 10 eyebrow with switch and chrome light photo ref HD-22100 was filed June the 9th 1958 at Pohlman Studios Inc:



Patrick

[hennesse]

Dave,
I think you're mixing 2 things here...:
1) the possibility that the tach drive and the magneto were available as a combined option before 62 XLCH 4044.
2) The tach kit paper does say for certain that this magneto is now fitted as standard on XLCH after 62 XLCH 4044
Hence your bike could have had the full kit, mag and tach, before the 62 XLCH 4044 change of std magneto and your eye brow would then have been filed by its 1st owner...
Patrick

Patrick,

The Guess-O-Meter puts 62 XLCH 4044 at mid-March, and that's pretty close to the April date on the tach kit announcement. So both the new mag and tach came out at the same time.

Here's a photo of the bike from the mid-1960s - no tach, old magneto. When I got it, no tach, old magneto. It seems rather unlikely that someone put a tach and new magneto on it, filed down the eyebrow, then removed the tach and put the old mag back in. A less un-likely scenario is that he changed the eyebrow at some time. Why? I have no idea.

P.S. What a great Pohlman photo of the 1959 XLCH!

[Magneto Sportster]

My understanding has been that the difference between the -59 and -59A headlight bracket is that the diameter of the hole to mount the headlight switch is different. The -59 bracket would fit the 71502-55 three position rotary switch, and the -59A would fit the 71502-63 toggle switch.

heres what im thinking.the first -59 had no hole at all besides 2 mounting holes and headlight large hole.if you look at the factory announcements picture for 59ch there is no switch or hole present

I can't figure out how to repost the photo from your original post, but I am pretty sure I see the -55 rotary switch in the photo. Is that the photo you are referring to?

so that notch is factory for sure?

As for the notch in the eye brow, I must say I looked a long time on ebay to find a decent one without too many holes for my 58 and never ever saw one with the notch.

Since it was a kit to start with, one can assume there's a note in the instructions that says "" take a round file and notch the std eyebrow for cable clearance""

I own several with the notch, including the one pictured in the photo of my 1964 XLCH below. (This was an all-original except for paint motorcycle when I got it, and the tach and headlight bracket were on there.) They all look the same. I can't say with certainty that Patrick is wrong regarding owners being instructed to file a notch into the bracket, but if so, it would seem that they would all look slightly different. That has not been the case in the 10 or so I have seen in person. In this case, it would be fair to assume some people would have neglected to notch their bracket, but I have never seen an original paint example of a 1962-64 XLCH with the tach fitted but no notch in the bracket.

It could have been possible that someone was filing them at the factory when a bike was shipped with a tach? Maybe they just filed a supply to use in this case? That would explain no unique part number for the bracket with a tach cable notch.

https://flic.kr/p/Qj3PiS

Question: When exactly (more or less) did the 67809-59A appear? The first mention is in the 1963 Part Catalog.

This would corroborate what I have heard about the difference in the -59A bracket being the hold diameter changing to accommodate the -63 toggle switch

Interestingly, my 62 XLCH 2373 (~Nov 1961) has the -59A eyebrow. The bike is almost stock - this is the only major thing I've found that's incorrect. The previous owner could have replaced it, but it's an unusual thing to replace. So it makes me wonder.

Here's a photo of the bike from the mid-1960s - no tach, old magneto. When I got it, no tach, old magneto. It seems rather unlikely that someone put a tach and new magneto on it, filed down the eyebrow, then removed the tach and put the old mag back in. A less un-likely scenario is that he changed the eyebrow at some time. Why? I have no idea.

Replacing the headlight bracket is not all that unlikely of a part to replace. They are cast aluminum and crack fairly easily, sometimes just from not being tightened properly.

Just throwing my two cents into the discussion. Feel free to accept or dispute as you please.

-Other Jerry

[thefrenchowl]

Hi MS, Dave,

Thanks for your contributions,

It is still a bit of a mystery to me...

Can we say that a majority of eyebrows don't have the notch?

An eyebrow with the notch is certainly not included in the tach kit...

If it's not in the kit, can we safely say that all the eyebrows of all the CHs between 62 and 65 should be notched and done at the factory?

That does not tally up with my experience of looking for eyebrows... which is why I suggest most notches were done by the buyers of the kits, hence some of the eyebrows are not notched...

Patrick

[Magneto Sportster]

Can we say that a majority of eyebrows don't have the notch?

An eyebrow with the notch is certainly not included in the tach kit...

If it's not in the kit, can we safely say that all the eyebrows of all the CHs between 62 and 65 should be notched and done at the factory?

That does not tally up with my experience of looking for eyebrows... which is why I suggest most notches were done by the buyers of the kits, hence some of the eyebrows are not notched...

Patrick

Patrick,

Remember that we are only talking about 3 model years here. How many XLCH's were made in 1962, 63, and 64? Not a lot. Now how many of those came with a tach? Even less. Hence the reason that they are rare to see.

Not to mention that people who might have come across them in the time since, may have assumed like you (and many of us) that the notch was homemade, and thrown them away.

I have probably seen just as many notched headlight visor brackets for sale as I have seen 1962-64 XLCH horns. And I know people weren't given instructions on how to build their own horn

Happy new year!

[hennesse]

Magneto (and everybody else),

Clear as mud! More questions. I'm sorry to be so dense, but I need to update the technical article with the correct information. That means I have to get everything straight in my head - which is getting harder to do every day. And I thought these stupid brackets would be so simple...

Hi Dave - regarding the notch in the headlight bracket; years ago I had a complete NOS early tach kit, and am about 99% certain it had a paper template as part of the instuctions that properly positioned where to put the notch and the size of it. Remember, these are my almost 70 year old brain cells trying to function, but if you throw this out there it might jog someone else's memory also.

'

1959 to 1962 - used the -59 eyebrow. One hole for the rotary switch.
Question 1: What is the casting number?
Question 2: What size is the hole for the rotary switch?
Answered by Roger - Late-1962 - if you bought the tach kit, you would have to file your own notch


1963 to Early 1966 - used the -59A eyebrow. One hole for the toggle switch (what size is the hole?)
Question 1: What is the casting number?
Question 2: What size is the hole for the toggle switch?
Question 3: Do they all have the notch for the tach cable? Or only some of them (like factory-installed tachs)?
If only some of them, then Roger's answers holds here also for purchasers of the tach kit.


Late 1966 to 1969 - Two holes, one for toggle, one for indicator light.
Question 1: What is the casting number?
Question 2: Are the domed indicator lights and the flat lights the same size?
Question 3: Do you agree on 66-67 being domed and 68-69 being flat?

Thanks for your patience.
Dave

[sportsterpaul]

Late 1966 to 1969 - Two holes, one for toggle, one for indicator light.
Question 1: What is the casting number?

The one I have up on eBay has the casting number mostly machined off by the switch hole, but it seems to start with 67 and it ends with 9A, so most likely the 59A casting.