Rear Safety/Crash Guards

All things K & Sportster

Rear Safety/Crash Guards

Postby chuckthebeatertruck » Tue Sep 11, 2018 11:24 am

At Davenport, I was lucky enough to acquire a set of really nice rear safety (or "crash" if you prefer) guards from another forum member. I've only seen a few photos of these guards on a couple of K's and one '60 XLH. So, I"m curious if anyone had more information on them.

My very limited understanding is that they were a dealer accessory -- but I can't find literature to substantiate.

In this case, they'll be going on my 59 XLH, which has bubble bags on it --- but is actually a sleeper. The frame is a 54-ish and the guards fit oh so right around the bags. I really wasn't sure how they'd look because they are honking HUGE off the bike; but once on they tuck in nicely.

I'll be sending them out for plating in December and hope to mount them up when I get to spring maintenance. I'll try to post photos when I do.

And, yes, they are just as heavy as the front safety guards. Between the two sets of guards and the bags -- I basically have a passenger all the time. But I know I can carry groceries and a 12 pack . . . and still hustle down the road as fast as I like.
chuckthebeatertruck
 
Posts: 86
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Rear Safety/Crash Guards

Postby Model H » Tue Sep 11, 2018 11:39 am

Hey Chuck,

They are listed in my 1967 Harley Davidson Accessory Catalog as

Rear Chrome Safety Guards

49150-63
Model H
 
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 10:06 am

Re: Rear Safety/Crash Guards

Postby chuckthebeatertruck » Tue Sep 11, 2018 12:21 pm

Sweet!

That's exactly what I needed to track them down.

http://www.sunnymeadcycles.com/files/1970_Accs_Cats.pdf

The left and right side part numbers are:
49151-60
49152-60

thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Model H!
chuckthebeatertruck
 
Posts: 86
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Rear Safety/Crash Guards

Postby Lisa » Tue Sep 11, 2018 1:45 pm

Very rare item Bills in Penn has one side only left NOS good luck finding a set.
Lisa
 
Posts: 129
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 3:57 pm

Re: Rear Safety/Crash Guards

Postby chuckthebeatertruck » Tue Sep 11, 2018 2:08 pm

No need for luck -- I have a set
chuckthebeatertruck
 
Posts: 86
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2017 1:11 pm

Re: Rear Safety/Crash Guards

Postby Magneto Sportster » Tue Sep 11, 2018 5:10 pm

I have a few sets, but I noticed in the parts book a different upper shock stud is shown (54515-57) vs. 54515-56A without the rear crash guards. I have discussed with with a few friends, and we are pretty sure that the hex area of the stud is probably thinner to accommodate the width of the upper guard mount, but have never been able to find a real pair of -57s to compare to the -56A. Does anyone have a known original pair of -57s they could share a photo of? Even better if compared to the standard upper shock stud.

Thanks!
Magneto Sportster
 
Posts: 107
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2014 8:41 pm

Re: Rear Safety/Crash Guards

Postby strong56KH » Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:56 pm

Here's a NOS set of 54515-57 studs, one with a spacer. The third stud (uppermost) is a 54515-56. They are all exactly the same except for the width of the hex. The narrower hex is 5/16" vs. 1/2". The spacer is a 5960W that was used with the Panhead rear crash bars but works fine when not using the bars. The more easily found 54515-56B stud is about 1/8" longer on the frame side but the hex could be machined down to 5/16" and used.
RearCrashBarStud.jpg
RearCrashBarStud.jpg (80.82 KiB) Viewed 12743 times
strong56KH
 
Posts: 164
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 6:00 pm
Location: Virginia

Re: Rear Safety/Crash Guards

Postby strong56KH » Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:35 pm

On the Sportstser, the rear crash bars were first used on the XLA but painted olive drab. See photo in literature section.
strong56KH
 
Posts: 164
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 6:00 pm
Location: Virginia

Re: Rear Safety/Crash Guards

Postby curiousgeorge » Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:57 pm

I looked these up in the parts books and they are only listed to 64. This is in the 55-65 book and the 57-67 book. I could understand these not fitting 67 and later H due to the frame change but why only to 64. Someone please enlighten me please.
curiousgeorge
 
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 9:51 pm

Re: Rear Safety/Crash Guards

Postby strong56KH » Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:44 pm

In "The Legend Begins" they are not offered until 1965. They seem to first appear in the 1964 parts supplement.
strong56KH
 
Posts: 164
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 6:00 pm
Location: Virginia

Next

Return to General K / Sportster Discussions

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests

cron