quote Garry in Tampa:
The biggest engineering blunder (In my opinion) was the idea to make the Fleetwin idle smoother, they adding counterweights to the crank shaft. To make room for them, they cut down the connecting rods. The counterweights tended to shield the rod bearing and cutting the top rod down eliminated trapped oil which may have help lubricate the bearing. The replaced powerheads told them there was a problem. They thought in 1954 they would improve lubrication with the 4 gallon tanks (1/2 of a pint to the gallon) but they still had problems. They finally capitulated and removed the counterweights in 1957. Then (True to form) they discontinued that model. . . 🙄
Yep. So Garry here solidifies my point. Don’t hold factory recemendations to gospel. Their humans like the rest of us. The number one directive of engineers, is "trial and error" Sometimes it takes 10 tries to get something right. Sometimes when they DO finally get it right, years have passed and LOTS of damage has been done. In all honesty, the leaner oil charts that came out in the ’60’s was politically driven, so the tree hugging environmentalists can feel good about their agendas. Stands the reason why there are more Lightwins and JW’s left from the ’50’s, than there are from thelater ’60’s
DESTROY THOSE 2 CYCLE MOTORS AND SAVE OUR WATERWAYS!! LOL