Shovelhead front end problems

I changed the front tire on my shovelhead. I never have quite figure out this mess of a front end that came with my basketcase way back when. It's a 77-83 FX 35mm dual disk front with the pinch caps on both legs and has an aftermarket conversion kit to wideglide, too. What a mess. If the motor work on this bike hadn't drained me, then I would have gotten something different for it a while back.

So anywho, I was riding around and the front end feels squirrelly in a turn and my speedo quits. I come home and find this. UGH.


It should be something like this.


So, as near as I can tell, you get both pinch clamps kind of close to tight and torque the front axle to 50ft*lbs, then torque the pinch clamps to spec. I kept getting a nasty gap between the speedo drive and right leg. I'm sure it was riding on a high spot like this and spun loose causing my problem.


Finally, I got the speedo drive and right leg into their (hopefully) happy place.