AMF Shovelhead Lowrider Restoration -20 - Top End Rebuild Part 1 of 2

With this the twentieth episode the heads are revisited from the very beginning of the project where they were quickly re-assembled after inspection. They deserve the same attention as the rest of the bike and as the heads were thoroughly checked, the rocker boxes deserve a rebuild.


A quick tear-down separates the heads from the rocker boxes and though while a visual appearance shows everything ok, it will need to be completely taken apart to be sure. The cracked glass on the ends of the nuts is an indicator that I should probably go chrome this time.


As the pieces are disassembled they are put in there own areas as to not mix parts. Re-assembled outside the unit you can hear some deflection in the bushing on the first one. So onto the second one, not as bad but still mild wear. I decide to break down the other head and see if it has the same wear indication and see what needs to be purchased.


The other rocker box had mild wear on both. It was that first one tapping on the box that had the most damage. A measurement of the shafts with the micrometers showed them within tolerance. Broken shaft and bushings would have meant a whole new set. Next all of the pads will be checked, if they are damaged the rocker cant be salvaged. All of the pads are shown to be good as well.


After seeing that only the bushings were the issue , someone on the forum was kind enough to send me the special tools, so all i needed was to procure the new bushings to refresh this unit. A 9/16 tap and a drift is used to extract the old bushings from the rockers. It did look as if some of the bushings in my bike were previously replaced at some point.


With the bushings arrived, Jims kit 17428-57K, I start with the oil port side, chamfered side in first matching the oil port hole in the bushing to the inside oil port hole. The tool brings the bushing flush into position. An inspection confirms that the oil hole lines up. On one of them the oil hole was slightly off, so id chased the hole with a small drill bit to ensure adequate oil flow. At this point everything will need to be set up for reaming, that will be in the next video.




#shovelhead #amf #harleydavidson