The Huffy build

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DTFuqua

New Member
Jul 16, 2012
76
0
0
Florida
You can cut the shaft off with a side grinder. I cut the jackshaft on mine with one. The problem you'll wind up with doing that is the key way.
How do you hook up the LEDs? Just on and off or wired to a brake lever or maybe just a flasher?
 

dracothered

New Member
Jul 25, 2012
973
1
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Howell, MI.
You can cut the shaft off with a side grinder. I cut the jackshaft on mine with one. The problem you'll wind up with doing that is the key way.
How do you hook up the LEDs? Just on and off or wired to a brake lever or maybe just a flasher?
None of the lights are wired up yet and I haven't made up my mind how I want the skull eyes to work.

Now as far as the key way couldn't I cut a new one with my Dremel and re-enforced cutting wheel?
 

DTFuqua

New Member
Jul 16, 2012
76
0
0
Florida
Cutting a new keyway would take a lot of patience with a dremel. You might go through more than one dremel tool before making a servicable keyway. I can only assume that the crankshaft on that engine has some hardening done to it during manufacture. I know the crank in my van is hardened simply because I know the chevy 350 engine pretty well. You might could find someone with the right type millimg machine to be able to mount either the crank or the whole engine and cut the keyway dowm closer to the engine case where you could mount a clutch closer and then cut off the excess at the same time. I'm not a machinist so i'm not sure .
 

dracothered

New Member
Jul 25, 2012
973
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Howell, MI.
Did a test run of the two engines I have a choice of using in my Huffy build. Both seem to run good, but both have issues to over come in mounting them.

This is the second engine.




side by side view...
 

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Evanlec

New Member
Sep 22, 2012
4
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Massachussets USA
I'm just curious...I also have a huffy cranbrook and I really dislike the colors of the tires and rims...ugly brown rims...I could deal with the white-wall tires but I'd prefer to have black..

Anyways...your bike started with 26" tires, as mine, why use a smaller wheel on rear?

One of my main issues is drive chain tire rub, so was looking into some tires that might be slightly less fat...as well as new wheels

Alas it may be that I just need to re-do the rear sprocket mount, as I had difficulty using both of the included rubber spacing mounts on the rear while having enough room for the coaster break and the rest of the assembly..so I'm only using one...this causing the chain to be uncomfortably close to the rear tire wall.
 

dracothered

New Member
Jul 25, 2012
973
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Howell, MI.
I'm just curious...I also have a huffy cranbrook and I really dislike the colors of the tires and rims...ugly brown rims...I could deal with the white-wall tires but I'd prefer to have black..

Anyways...your bike started with 26" tires, as mine, why use a smaller wheel on rear?

One of my main issues is drive chain tire rub, so was looking into some tires that might be slightly less fat...as well as new wheels

Alas it may be that I just need to re-do the rear sprocket mount, as I had difficulty using both of the included rubber spacing mounts on the rear while having enough room for the coaster break and the rest of the assembly..so I'm only using one...this causing the chain to be uncomfortably close to the rear tire wall.
It is more for looks than anything else, there is no special reason why I did it other than that. I currently have a 24" x 2.125" on the back and a 26" x 1.95" on the front. Both rims are heavy duty with 12g spokes on it (Well the front one isn't on it yet).
 

Evanlec

New Member
Sep 22, 2012
4
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0
Massachussets USA
Is there any different particularly when it comes to tire width? my huffy cruiser (yea its bad-ass) uses 26x2.125 but shopping around, not all are that size...how much leeway do I have in regards to tire width...given the rims are stock...though I'd like to replace those too...
 

dracothered

New Member
Jul 25, 2012
973
1
0
Howell, MI.
Is there any different particularly when it comes to tire width? my huffy cruiser (yea its bad-ass) uses 26x2.125 but shopping around, not all are that size...how much leeway do I have in regards to tire width...given the rims are stock...though I'd like to replace those too...
What it really depends on from what I know is the rim width to how well the tire bead will seat. You can have narrow rims but still use fairly wide tires as long as the bead will seat. the other way around I'm not totally sure about. You should be able to go down to a 1.95 tire width with no problem.
 

Evanlec

New Member
Sep 22, 2012
4
0
0
Massachussets USA
Alright thanks for the reply.

One more annoying question...what type of rims are you using, and what would you recommend for a replacement? I really don't like the tan color of these rims...I'd prefer just straight silver/metal rims with black tires
 

dracothered

New Member
Jul 25, 2012
973
1
0
Howell, MI.
Alright thanks for the reply.

One more annoying question...what type of rims are you using, and what would you recommend for a replacement? I really don't like the tan color of these rims...I'd prefer just straight silver/metal rims with black tires
The front one that I will be using which isn't here yet is from Sportsman, but it is a Worksman wheel 26" x 2.125" with 12g spokes and a drum brake. The rear wheel is from Husky, it is a 24" x 2.125" with 12g spokes and a coaster brake.
 

Harold_B

Active Member
May 23, 2012
997
246
43
Grand Rapids, MI
Whoa! Stepped up to the Sportsman front wheel. Nice! Seriously jealous. I'm using his sprocket and mount and the workmanship is excellent. Wheels and brakes are no place to scrimp and that set-up should be really nice.
 

fatdaddy

New Member
May 4, 2011
1,516
4
0
San Jose, Ca.
Just ran across this thread. I've been riding my Huffy Cranbrook build for almost a year now and loving it. The 2011-2012 Cranbrook came with better welds than in the past, and also came with the 12 guage spokes.
As for the tire/chain spacing, I went with the Howard sprocket mount. With just 2 small washers added for spacing along with the included spacers. it brought it out perfect. I rode it for a while with the chain slapping the tire and got fed up with that quick.
I pretty much turned mine into a "dresser" with everything on it I could think of. The only thing I might do in the future is put on a set of suspension forks. Right now I'm running solid Schwinn forks for the cantilever bosses so I could set up a better brakes.
Even with all the added weight, and as big as I am, I just got clocked at 35mph. Not too bad for a bike with ammo boxes for side cases, high rise bars, a windscreen and a lot of other stuff adding weight.
The Huffy's make a great, inexpensive build. There's a lot of better bikes around, but not for the money you can get a good solid Huffy for. The best advice I can give anyone, (on any build,) is to dump the rag joint and get a sprocket adapter. Any adapter would be better than that rag joint. The Howard adapter is made specifically for the Huffy with the coaster brake hub, so it sounded like the best choice to me.
Good luck on the build bro, Sounds like you got it going in the right direction.
fatdaddy.
 

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