Magneto Sportster's new 1953 K project (input appreciated!)

Production K Models

Re: Magneto Sportster's new 1953 K project (input appreciate

Postby Magneto Sportster » Sat Aug 27, 2022 8:47 am

starcain wrote:Jerry, Wow, you hit the jackpot again. Those are some fantastic parts you came up with and all are correct for your '53. All these parts are hard to find items but I'm especially happy to see the correct horn nut and breather tube. Looking forward to seeing your project progress.

Stan


Thank you Stan, I gave my friend a list of parts I was looking for a few days ahead of time so he had time to think about it, so when I got there he told me which piles to look in for all of it and we got pretty lucky.

Do you know why the shocks are different lengths? He had 3 of them, so I just grabbed 2. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed they were different lengths.

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Re: Magneto Sportster's new 1953 K project (input appreciate

Postby starcain » Sat Aug 27, 2022 10:30 am

Not sure what to think on the different lengths. When I measure the shocks I have, all of them are 52/53, they all measure 15-3/4" from one end of the eyelet to the other end of the eyelet. It gets a little confusing for me to identify 52/53 shocks from 54/55 shocks by looking at the rotating cams. Early ones are a two position and the later ones three position. A sure way of knowing what you have is by looking at the top eyelets. The 52/53 eyelets have a straight shank where the 54/55 eyelets have a tapered shank.
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Re: Magneto Sportster's new 1953 K project (input appreciate

Postby roadbum » Sun Aug 28, 2022 10:09 am

As an outsider enjoying your find, could it be that the shocks are just adjusted differently? Good luck and thank you for the posting. Tom.
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Re: Magneto Sportster's new 1953 K project (input appreciate

Postby panic » Sun Aug 28, 2022 2:42 pm

The cam adjusts the spring preload.
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Re: Magneto Sportster's new 1953 K project (input appreciate

Postby Simon » Mon Aug 29, 2022 11:24 am

Cams are set diffirenty set maybe? Shocks didn't vary
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Re: Magneto Sportster's new 1953 K project (input appreciate

Postby starcain » Mon Aug 29, 2022 2:22 pm

I don't have any 54/55 shocks on hand to compare with my 52/53 shocks. I don't think there was any difference in overall length between the two but since they did use a different shock absorber (54501-52 early and 54501-52A late) I can't say for certain without having one to compare with. After looking at the rotating cams on these shocks I believe they both are 54/55 shocks. Jerry, if you get a chance can you confirm one way or the other by looking at the top eyelets. Spring pre-load shouldn't make any difference in overall length. Also, in the picture the top eyelets don't match up horizontally. if you raised the right one up to match the left one, they may be closer in length than what they appear. An accurate overall length measurement of both shocks would give a better idea of how far off they are from each other. If they measure different and it's determined that they are the same years shock, then possibly something came loose or is hanging up in the shock absorber itself. If one happens to be a 52/53 and the other a 54/55, more investigation would be required, as in, were the 54/55 shocks longer or shorter than the 52/53s. I've taken a number of these shocks apart and what I found was that most of them have little to no resistance left to them. You're pretty much riding on the springs.

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Re: Magneto Sportster's new 1953 K project (input appreciate

Postby Magneto Sportster » Mon Aug 29, 2022 10:45 pm

Stan,

I didn't get a chance to measure, but I took a few quick photos tonight. I will measure tomorrow when I have some time to spend in the shop. Based on your illustration above, I would say that these do look like the later style shock. I remember my buddy had a pair of freshly painted shock bodies on the shelf, maybe they are the original '53 shocks? I will post photos once I can grab them.

Other than the shock bodies, is there any other difference between the early and late shocks? If the other pair of bare shock bodies are correct, could I just switch the springs, cams, ect. from this pair over to them?

Thanks again!
-Jerry

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Re: Magneto Sportster's new 1953 K project (input appreciate

Postby starcain » Tue Aug 30, 2022 8:47 am

Great pictures Jerry. You can clearly see the tapered shank so indeed the shocks are 54/55. The springs are the same, early to late, but the rotating cups are different so you would still end up with incorrect cams. There is something different on the actual shock itself, between the early and late. I'm not sure what it is but they have different Part #s 52 vs 52-A. I'm thinking that since we know for sure that the rotating cups are different from early and late, the later cups may not work on an early shock. It's a guess, I don't know that for sure. I have an early set of shocks that are apart from when I was looking for a usable set to use on the KK. I have both shocks marked as BAD. I however have the early cups and straight shank eyelets that went with them. If you can come up with a usable set of early bare shocks, I have the cups and early top eyelets to go with them, if you want.

I don't know how much of a purist you are but using the later shocks wouldn't be the end of the world. It would take a pretty knowledgeable person with a verry good eye to spot the difference. You could also compromise and just replace the top eyelets with the ones I have and use the later cups on the shocks you have. And again, I don't know for sure if the early cups would work on the later shocks or not but if they did all you would need to do then is install the early cams and early eyelets on the shocks you have. Either way, you have several options to work with.

Stan
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Re: Magneto Sportster's new 1953 K project (input appreciate

Postby murph » Tue Aug 30, 2022 8:53 am

I'm curious as well on shocks as my 53 has the same style as Jerry's. Is it not plausable, if they are 54/55 shocks that 53 was the transition year and it's what was in the box at the time theory. Here's the shocks on my 53 when it came to me with the later shock. Although not all correct, it was pretty complete. Again i'm just asking for the class in session.



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Re: Magneto Sportster's new 1953 K project (input appreciate

Postby starcain » Tue Aug 30, 2022 10:45 am

Murph, Verry interesting about your shocks. Any chance you would share your serial # ? Curious if it's late or early. The question I'd have then is, do your shocks have the two or three position rotating cams? I'm assuming you've identified your shocks as being the same as Jerry's by the upper eyelets? I'm wondering if some shocks came with the later eyelet but early two position rotating cams. The 1953 parts manual shows only the early parts. The 1954 parts manual shows the later ones. It's probable the shocks transitioned from early to late sometime in 1953 but I would guess it was later in the production run? If your motor has a later serial number, it seems plausible that it came with the later shocks. Jerry's '53 serial number is 1490, so pretty early. I think it would have come with the early shocks. If in fact your motor is a later number, it brings up another curious point. Sometime in 1953 they moved the GEN & OIL indicator lights in the headlight shell from the front of the shell to the rear. I see your shell has them to the front. I have picture confirmation that by motor number 2360 the indicators were already to the rear. (See Bill Coleman's 19553 KK in the gallery)

This stuff can drive you crazy,

Stan
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