Cracked left side motor case!

[Deye76]

Yup, gonna go a long time  . Perry's welds are a work of art.

[CraigArizona85248]

Perry owns the shop and does all the machine work and grinding.  He's the one who will do the cosmetic surgery to make it look good again.  He's got a guy named Kirby who does his welding.  All my contact is with Perry so that's why his name comes up.  What I like about doing business with him is that he's a one stop shop.  I can send him this repair and he knows where to draw the line on his skills and bring in some outside expertise.

-Craig

[CraigArizona85248]

A bit more progress...

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[Ajayrk]

Cool! Pneumatic peening to relieve stress.

[CraigArizona85248]

Exactly!  I don't know exactly how that relieves stress.  But when I asked Perry about it, that was the short answer.

[War Horse]

I've heard of peening , but never really got the whole drift, so I looked it up on various sites, great idea but scary in a way also;

Peening the weld bead stretches it and relieves the residual stresses. However, peening must be used with care. For example, a root bead should never be peened, because of the increased risk of concealing or causing crack. Also, peening is not permitted on the final pass, because it can cover a crack and interfere with visual inspection. Before peening is used on a job, engineering approval should be obtained.

I think this is above my pay grade. 

[easyricer]

It's beyond me, that's for sure. I have often heard of sand blasting a weld to relieve stress. I can see where this is some scary stuff though. I got my motor sent off yesterday to Truett & Osborn. Don't know how backed up they are so when I'll get it back, I dunno. I do have to get off my butt and get the rest of the bike ready for it though.
EASY

[Deye76]

Exactly!  I don't know exactly how that relieves stress.  But when I asked Perry about it, that was the short answer.

Same principle as shot peening, I think.

[Jb49pan]

Just joined the site and having a look through. I have a 49pan than has a crack in the same place, so attending needed. Whilst i am ok to do servicing and maintenance, this is outside my ability to strip down and repair. I live in Sydney Australia and need to find someone to do the work. Can anyone recommend someone down here?

[CraigArizona85248]

Welcome aboard!  You might send a PM to our member Speeding Big Twin (Eric). He's a wealth of old Harley knowledge. He's on the other side of Australia from you. But he might know someone to send you too in your area.

-Craig

[Speeding Big Twin]

Jb49pan, welcome to the forum. There's a shop called Redgrave Motorcycles in NSW and you can find their website via Google. The place has a good reputation for engine work from what I have heard over the years. One service they offer is aluminium welding but I don't know how extensive a repair they can do. 

Also Google the Vintage Motorcycle Club of Australia (NSW) and ask if they can recommend someone. You may even be able to attend a club meeting, show the members your case and ask if anyone there had a similar problem and who they went to for repairs.

Another place you could contact is Redfern Motorcycle Spares. No website but phone number is apparently 9698 1678 and you could ask if they can recommend someone.

With each shop you find, show them your case and ask exactly what procedure they would follow. You could also ask if they can show you before-and-after photos regarding jobs they have done and if they guarantee their work.

If your serial number is going to be affected then check with NSW licensing authorities before you start and see what they have to say.
Eric

[Speeding Big Twin]

Craig, I've been following this thread and you're lucky to have a shop like Perry's to go to.

Did you find any original H-D stamps via the Harley shop you mentioned? If you did, I'm wondering if it's possible to liaise with that shop, and Arizona licensing authorities, and H-D, in an effort to get Harley to stamp the case. You could call Pete Simet at H-D Customer Service and ask his opinion. As you may know, Pete is an ex-motor officer so he may have an answer for you.

There are at least three different sellers of AM stamps on eBay but I have bad news for all of them regarding some of the pieces they supply. One of the main stumbling blocks is the open-top 4 offered by some vendors and it really sticks out when compared to an authentic 4 such as yours. I've even seen the AM open-top 4 used in some belly numbers and it's always easy to spot.
Eric

[CraigArizona85248]

Eric,

I contacted Buddy Stubs Harley-Davidson in Phoenix.  They couldn't help me.  In the mean time I got a line on a guy who says he can restore my numbers as long as I can satisfy him that there is no funny business going on.

The upside of the numbers debacle... the state of AZ doesn't care about my motor numbers at this point.  When I brought the bike into Arizona and applied for a new title, they insisted on giving me an "assigned vehicle number" since the frame was modified.  This means I have a blue tag on the frame with a new serial number and that is the number that appears on my title.  There is not mention of the motor number anywhere in my documents from the state.  I'd like to have the number restored simply because I think a motor with no numbers is more suspicious and could be more troublesome.  Of course I'm not interested in using just any set of stamps.  I want stamps to be used that are correct for the year of the motor.

-Craig

[rbabos]

Welding causes shrinking stresses. When the weld is peened it expands the weld to minimize the effects of shrinkage and breaking the weld free from the parent metal. 
Ron

[CraigArizona85248]

Ah!  Thanks Ron!  When you talk about the shrinkage and how peening relieves that by expanding the weld a bit it all makes sense.  Great explaination.

-Craig

[War Horse]

I've heard of peening , but never really got the whole drift, so I looked it up on various sites, great idea but scary in a way also;

Peening the weld bead stretches it and relieves the residual stresses. However, peening must be used with care. For example, a root bead should never be peened, because of the increased risk of concealing or causing crack. Also, peening is not permitted on the final pass, because it can cover a crack and interfere with visual inspection. Before peening is used on a job, engineering approval should be obtained.

I think this is above my pay grade. 

Yeah , thanks Ron 

[CraigArizona85248]

I think it was the word "shrink" that turned on the lightbulb for me.  I was    trying to figure out where the stress was coming from and how expanding the weld would help.  When he said "shrikage" it all became clear.

Not that kind of "shrinkage" War Horse!  Next thing you know Preacher Son will be over hear chimming in and posting photos! 

[War Horse]

Well we wouldnt want Preach showing any shrinkage 

I know youve probably seen it in here before, but when you run a bead of weld inside a neck race (or any internal race) the  cooling shrinkage of the weld is what causes the race to literaly fall out, same thing is happening on a standard weld, which in turn deforms the metal around it. I've never done this type of peening and is probably better left to the experienced tradesman.

[CraigArizona85248]

I've actually used the trick of running a bead around a race to make it fall out.  You'd think I would have understood it already.  But sometimes I'm a bit thick and I have to be hit over the head.

-Craig

[CraigArizona85248]

It's really hard to believe this is the same case shown in the previous photos.

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[76shuvlinoff]

Wow, that is well done.

[easyricer]

FANTASTIC work there!
EASY

[twincamzz]

Absolutely amazing what can be done with these old cases in the right hands. You'll have that ol' pan back in the breeze in short order now Craig ! Have you decided what you are going to do about the blank number boss ? ( I realize with the state assigned number that the original numbers don't really matter to you anymore...just curious is all.)

[Ajayrk]

Impressive work, congratulation to the artisan doing the repair.

[CraigArizona85248]

I'm pleased with the way this is going.  It was hard to imagine how this case was going to look two weeks ago.  As Ajayrk said, it's the work of an artist (Perry Kime at Flo Headworks) at this point.

twincamzz, I'm going to have the numbers restamped.  I found a shop that will do that using the correct stamps for 1949.  I've got tons of documentation to establish a paper trail if it ever comes to that.  I think I'd be more likely to attract attention with an unstamped number boss.

-Craig