In 2002 Harley-Davidson made many improvements towards the handling of the Dresser models. The most notable design change was the beefing up of the swing arm and adding spherical bearings to the swing arm pivot. With these changes in mind there has been a calling to adapt the new style FLH swing arm to early model FLH’s with the old box type swing arm.
The problem with adapting the Later model swing arm to the Early FLH models is that the pivot shaft or axle is a ¾” diameter. This is larger than the bore in the early model transmission housing and would require boring out the 5/8” transmission housing to accommodate the newer ¾” shaft. This is not an ideal solution to retrofit the new swing arm. With our new retrofit kit there is no need to bore out the old transmission housing. You will press out the stock spherical bearings in the Later swing arm and refit them with new bearing spacers that have a 5/8” internal bore. Then reassemble the new swing arm either using the stock pivot shaft or a new one supplied.
The refitting of the new swing arm will require the purchase of a later model rear caliper, a new 1” rear axle and swapping out the rear wheel bearing to 1”.
