harley cross reference for front axle

Energy One

jarnett

Active Member
Wondering if anyone could help here. I need to replace the frontaxle on my 2003 chopper, having a hard time finding one that specifically states it fits 2003 big dog chopper. Anyone know what the hHarley cross reference would be? Axles are fairly standard I don't want to have to pay twice as much buying from BDM performance.
 

liferider

Looking forward to retirement
DO NOT DO IT!!!!!!!! The only axle the length you need is the front axle of a HD wide glide. Here lies the problem. The HD axle is .010 larger. I had a horrible experiance at a HD shop about 5 yrs ago. The shop had a special buy a tire from them and they would mount it for free. The stupid mech streight out of school did not loosen my pinch bolts enough and destroyed my axle hammering the axle out.The hd shop owner shit himself when he was told what happened. I went after the kids throat! Anyway the shop owner went through his stock to match a hd axle to mine. He came back with a wide glide axle. For the next 200 miles back home I felt a horrible vibration on the front end. So Monday morning I brought the bike to R&D Cycles (Ricky Farmer) he found the problem. My bearings were blue they had gotten so hot from the oversize axle being forced into the bike. Ricky said I was very lucky the front tire had not seized and flipped on the way back. He ordered me a new Big dog axle new bearings and dynobeaded the tires. True story.
 

jarnett

Active Member
Jason did you get a part number from BD?
Nah I will check into the be part # and post it. Background is, the thread on my front axle has been damaged since I bought the bike from the original owner. I recently put a new front tire and brake pads on. The axle was a bitch to get out and a bigger bitch to get back in. I cleaned it up, cleaned the fork holes up and greased it well but I still had to use a wood block and a hammer to get it back in. Then, trying to get the nut back on I screwed up the threads even worse. So that's why I'm swapping it out.

On a side note, ive had a vibration in the front end for awhile when taking a long sweeping turn. Mostly turn right i think. I was hopimg the new front tire would help but its still there. I might as well change the front bearings when i swap the axle but they appear to be in ok condition. The front tire was mounted and balanced at a local shop. Not sure where else to look for the cause of the vibration. Its not violent shaking its like a smooth slow bounce although the front tire doesn't leave the ground at all.
 

jarnett

Active Member
DO NOT DO IT!!!!!!!! The only axle the length you need is the front axle of a HD wide glide. Here lies the problem. The HD axle is .010 larger. I had a horrible experiance at a HD shop about 5 yrs ago. The shop had a special buy a tire from them and they would mount it for free. The stupid mech streight out of school did not loosen my pinch bolts enough and destroyed my axle hammering the axle out.The hd shop owner shit himself when he was told what happened. I went after the kids throat! Anyway the shop owner went through his stock to match a hd axle to mine. He came back with a wide glide axle. For the next 200 miles back home I felt a horrible vibration on the front end. So Monday morning I brought the bike to R&D Cycles (Ricky Farmer) he found the problem. My bearings were blue they had gotten so hot from the oversize axle being forced into the bike. Ricky said I was very lucky the front tire had not seized and flipped on the way back. He ordered me a new Big dog axle new bearings and dynobeaded the tires. True story.
Glad you said that. The only one I found so far that looked the same was a wideglide lol.

So the big dog part is 3/4" looks like the wideglide must be larger, maybe Curtis can work his magic for me, ill call BDM and see if I can get a parft # or info. Will need a set of bearings as well Curtis. :hi:
 

liferider

Looking forward to retirement
Bearings are cheap, why take the chance. Also why you have everything down invest in Dyno Beads. Even though you had the wheel ballanced toss in the beads they will stablize the wheel that much more! I run them in my bikes, trucks jeep, wife's H3 Hummer. Last week I had my daughters jeep worked on. They did a break job. While the mech had the tires off (33'' Wranglers) I tossed in a 8ounce bag. The mech saw me and was curious. We put one of the tires on a auto wheel ballancer. The machine said 5 ounces off on one place. We tossed in the beads and respun the tire on the machine. The machine said it was perfect. The mechanic who runs a off rd shop said he had never heard of Dyno beads but was sold on them now!
 

jarnett

Active Member
Bearings are cheap, why take the chance. Also why you have everything down invest in Dyno Beads. Even though you had the wheel ballanced toss in the beads they will stablize the wheel that much more! I run them in my bikes, trucks jeep, wife's H3 Hummer. Last week I had my daughters jeep worked on. They did a break job. While the mech had the tires off (33'' Wranglers) I tossed in a 8ounce bag. The mech saw me and was curious. We put one of the tires on a auto wheel ballancer. The machine said 5 ounces off on one place. We tossed in the beads and respun the tire on the machine. The machine said it was perfect. The mechanic who runs a off rd shop said he had never heard of Dyno beads but was sold on them now!
yeah i will do that. work got busy so i havent ahd a chance to mess with it, ill go ahead and swap the bearings and throw in some dyna beads. Still havent called BDMP but when i do ill post the part #. Someone will be searching for it in the future im sure.
 

jarnett

Active Member
I have also noticed the bouncing smooths out if I throttle it through the turn, that's the correct way to take a turn anyway. But it still shouldn't be bouncing in turns. Maybe the beads and bearing will help.
 

Cutter

Well-Known Member
Bouncing in turns? How are your front forks? Does it seem similar when turning right and left?
Just wondering out loud...
 
Top