Liquifire mid idler bearing problem

[harleysportster]

I ride my '80 Liquifire with the rear springs set on the lower setting. I removed the rear suspension recently to relube the pivot shafts and found the inside seal of both mid idler bearings damaged from the floating spacer that the spring rides on. Has anyone else experienced this. The spacer is not as long as the collar is slides over which allows the spring arm to drop down in the gap. This puts side pressure on the spacer which rubs up against the bearing seals. I was thinking of leaving the spacer off so this does not happen again.

[JDGuy]

Pat: Yes, this was a problem on some of the '80 models unless they had a Part NO. 24H1441 washer behind the wheel to protect the seal from the spacer. I believe (?) this washer is still available from JD. If not, most any substitute should work as long as it is about 1.016 ID, 1.50 OD, and .048 thick which are the dimensions of the JD part I recorded in my parts book.

Another issue at this location is that it is difficult to move the spring from the lower position to the upper position because the spring binds on the idler wheel as you try to adjust its position. The fix is to move the upper small spacer the spring rides on to the inside of the rail. Rich Acre told me that change was made on 81 and later models. It worked for me.

Hope this helps,
Guy

[harleysportster]

Guy, thanks for the info. The update of moving the upper spring mount explains why I have seen 81 and up Liquifires and Sportfires with the mount on the inside.

[nick80lf]

Great post Pat and Guy. Looks like I need to look at the sled that I have on the lower setting.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[harleysportster]

Pat: Yes, this was a problem on some of the '80 models unless they had a Part NO. 24H1441 washer behind the wheel to protect the seal from the spacer. I believe (?) this washer is still available from JD. If not, most any substitute should work as long as it is about 1.016 ID, 1.50 OD, and .048 thick which are the dimensions of the JD part I recorded in my parts book.

Another issue at this location is that it is difficult to move the spring from the lower position to the upper position because the spring binds on the idler wheel as you try to adjust its position. The fix is to move the upper small spacer the spring rides on to the inside of the rail. Rich Acre told me that change was made on 81 and later models. It worked for me.

Hope this helps,
Guy

Guy,
I checked the jdparts online and 24H1441 washer is still available. I am going to call them tomorrow and order 4 of them.
Pat

[sledhead16]

Yes great post! Thanks Pat for bringing this to our attention!

[harleysportster]

Here is a picture of the 24H1441 washer in place.

[sledhead16]

Here is a picture of the 24H1441 washer in place.