I've been looking at a 60 Pan with a sidecar. My question is this.
Is There any way to determine if the sidecar was installed at
the factory. The bike is a 3 speed w/reverse, which wouldn't
be out of the ordinary for a hack, but the serial # within the
hack body indicates that it is a 63. I was wondering if the mounts
on the bike frame would be different from the factory verses
being installed at the dealer. Any help from this here newbie
to pans would be greatly appreciated.
lumpy13
Post by Panhead on Nov 7, 2003, 10:49am
Models like ELS, FS and FLS had factory fitted sidecar gearing.
Original factory sidecars had L an LE designation.
Post by cotten on Nov 7, 2003, 2:37pm
Lumpy!
You confuse me with:
>>but the serial # within the hack body indicates that
it is a 63.<<
Sidecar VINs were stamped into the main frame rail, the one that
runs parallel to the bike. A '58 that just came through had it
back by the rear casting, just about where a passengers right
foot would find it convenient to wear it off. (Later ones had
it farther forward.).
And the S designation of bike models was not stamped into their
VINs on the left cases. If you have a hack frame that matches
the year of the bike, that's close enough for most of us!. Note also
that a lot of final assembly was done by dealers up through the 60's,
accounting for a lot of variation in all models. If you have the
proper adjustable rake fork, dampener, and wiring, I wouldn't sweat
the issue.
Post by lumpy13 on Nov 8, 2003, 10:00pm
Thanks all, for your replies. To Cotton: I looked all over the
hack frame to no avail, but it was rusty/dirty and I didn't know
where to look for it. A distinct serial # was on the floor of
the hack though, one that would match a harley #. But I thought
the proper place would be on the frame. The bike is 300 miles
away and it's not something I can readily check, and the seller
is out of town for several more days before I can contact him
again. The bike does have the steering dampner, but I don't recall
an adjustable rake....would it be located behind the headlight
tins?? Also, was it common for a pan NOT to have the oil filter
inline coming off of the oil tank? As far as the hack "body" being
a "63" doesn't bother me because I thought that the
body could have been changed possibly from a package body or
maybe due to damage. Thanks again for any info,
lumpy13
