Saw one of these at the Glenn Curtiss museum a couple of days ago. I was surprised as I hadn't heard of them before.

Harley-Davidson XA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Wow a non douchy Harley and they killed off? How unfortunate.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

Kerry,
I think Harley only made 1,000 of the boxer shaft drive motorcycles. They were more expensive to manufacture and the WLAs were adequate for most motorcycle uses. I'm not sure if the Army used them in combat theaters. They also made a lighter edition in small numbers for the N African desert.

Here's some vintage clips from HD

http://www.harley-davidson.com/content/h-d/en_US/home/community/military-riders/military-history.html#usmotorcyclescorpsthroughdesert/8
There is a clip in there showing the HD shaft bike...
" A new motorcycle with a drive shaft..."

I wonder what exactly made them more reliable? Just the shaft drive in harsh conditions?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

That was probably a big part of it. Sealed lubrication and no chain to stretch or jump the sprockets & need to adjust...and keep oiled.
Better air flow head cooling compared to the in-line V-twin setup no doubt helped extend engine & oil life too.

yep.i used to have a 78 r100s bmw airhead.loved that bike,but sold it to buy a bulldozer i needed at the time.well bout 4 yrs later i come across an 82 harley flt.always wanted a harley so pulled the trigger.liked it,never had any major issues,but the one thing i did not like about it was the roasted nuts.the heat off that back cyl head was ungodly.the other was it weighed 900 and some odd lbs.sold it and went back to a bmw a 2000 r100rt-p.i can ride this thing all day and still put my hand on the valve covers. plus it weighs about 300 lbs less.

Sand just eats up chains and sprockets. If you want any life at all, you don't run any oil or lube so the sand can fall back off again. I can definitely see shaft drive being a huge bonus there.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

The world could do without the Harley's and their riders with small pee pees.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

Judgemental much?


I have a Yamaha Stratoliner and just love riding back roads. Theres douchery in any field as shown by some posts in here.

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Satan creates nothing: he only ruins everything. He does not invent: he tampers. And his followers are no different ~ Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigaṇ

Thanks for prejudging me & the size of me organ mate. We know each other so well, eh?
Three inches? That's the size of the slash cuts on my Harley. Nothing else.