[lugnut1009]

Some of you may have seen or read where I had an incident with a deer while traveling 70mph down the highway. Well, long story short, I bought a new to me ‘16 Springfield and then was able to buy my old one back from the insurance company after they deemed it totaled. I picked it up today, with plans of stripping it down into a bar hopper style bike. Maybe a SpringChief or Bobber style. Anyway I figured I would create a thread to document the progress here. May take a long time between updates, doing this as free time and money allows.

Here are a few pics for reference.

Before

After the wreck (sorry about the sideways pics)

 

[lugnut1009]

When I got it home today I stripped the driving lights, saddlebags, stock rear seat, saddlebag crash bars, windshield, brackets, and front fender. Tomorrow I hope to replace the bent handlebars (have a set from a Chieftain), maybe bend the driving / blinker light brackets back straight, and remove my trailer hitch to put on my new bike. Hope I can get some progress pics too.

Oh after I removed all that stuff I took it for a quick spin up the road. Everything still works fine, bike runs as good as ever, just needs some tweaking and touch ups.

 

[dieselgman]

Cool, these bikes are mostly pretty easy to rebuild and there are enough spares available now to keep the costs reasonable. I am really liking the modular frames and the excellent parts interchange across all models. Good job!

 

[Chief Signguru]

Looking forward to watching this thread, and seeing your progress.

 

[Chief Signguru]

I had actually bought a tiny 1984 or 85 trailer to travel with behind my bike. Cosmetically it was in pretty bad shape. I started a rebuild thread in the Sidecar and Trailer Conversion section. It was a lot of work. I wanted bigger tires with polished aluminum rims, and I added spacers between the axle and the springs to accommodate a little extra height. I stripped it down and repainted it in matte black. I am a graphics guy at a sign shop, so I added an Indian War Bonnet on the front of the clam lid, and an Indian script on each side of the clam lid.
People still rave about it! If you go into that section on this forum, you can see what I did. I will enjoy your buildup!

 

[lugnut1009]

I’ll have to look that up thanks.

Today I was able to get the hitch off, beat out the nacelle a little bit so the headlight aims a little more correctly, put the factory headlight in, put on the Chieftain bars and slotted the hole for the controls so I could roll them way up

 

[lugnut1009]

I’m thinking I’m going to shoot for this type of style bike on a poor mans budget without the fancy paint.

 

[smkummer]

Like others have said, it’s only a matter of time before you find the correct parts to make it look almost like new. Saddle bag lids are available from those who modified to speaker lids. If your patient, you can find your color. I have a factory Springfield low windshield for sale. The closer you get to factory, the easier to sell should you like. If you insisted on custom paint, have you considered the Indian rainbow paint scheme?

 

[lugnut1009]

No I don't want custom paint, staying black. Also I don't think I want to take it all the way back to it's former glory and I have no intentions of selling it. I think it will just be a fun bike for short trips and keep my other one for touring. Plus when the highway bars snapped off, they broke the lower bolts off in the frame. If I tried to extract those from the soft aluminum frame, I'm afraid I would do more harm than good. I always wanted a scout for short trips, now I pretty much just have a chief!

 

[lugnut1009]

Well I sold my saddle bag spools, quick release latches, electronic latches for the bags, and traded rear fender strut covers. I also found an unbelievable deal on a set of stage 1 pipes without the bag mounts. Today, my wife and inlaws gave me the shock covers, blinkers, replacement driving light housings and brackets. So when I get home I hope to make a lot of progress on this bike and at least have it road worthy again real soon.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, I also went to my local dealer and bought another set of factory Springfield bars. Not sure I’ll like these Chieftain/Roadmaster bars even turned up like this.

Glad to be updating this thread and hope to have pictures and updates real soon!! Merry Christmas everybody!

 

[lugnut1009]

Finally got a few hours to work on it today. Doesn’t look like a lot of progress but I was able to replace the crushed shock covers and put Springfield bars back on it.

Anyway, hopefully tomorrow I’ll get the new light bar bracket, housings, and blinkers put on. I have the pig tails for the driving lights on order and supposed to be here Monday.

I also was contacted this morning by a fellow forum member so I’ll have a line on a fender soon I hope!!! Fingers crossed!!

One more note, almost all the parts I’m using are not OEM parts and were found on eBay. So far the shock covers are great. The factory covers were all sheet metal spot welded and bent together. These look to be a piece of thin wall stainless steel pipe with a machined 1/4” thick piece welded in the top and the bolt holes are threaded in the metal instead of a nut spot welded onto the sheet metal. I was impressed. Here’s hoping the rest of the knock off parts impress me as much as this one did.

 

[lugnut1009]

Forum member rgarrett is getting me a fender shipped out today!! Thank you!

 

[lugnut1009]

Got my fender, have to get it painted. I did install lowering brackets on it today. Hopefully I can ride it soon and get some good pictures.

 

[lugnut1009]

Man a stripped down lowered Springfield is a blast to drive!! Can’t wait for warm weather now.

please keep in mind the majority of the parts I replaced on here were eBay knock offs but for what I got in it, I can’t complain. I’m happy to have it road worthy and I can maybe replace pieces with OEM parts as I find deals. I also still need to get the fender painted of course.

 

[lugnut1009]

I know it's nothing special, but my fender is painted!! I also ordered a replacement war bonnet / headdress to put back on the fender today.

 

[lugnut1009]

It’s been a while since I’ve shared my progress. I was given a set of apes, maybe KST’s?, and installed them on it. I’m thinking this project is nearing completion for now. I do plan on installing a diy stage 1 intake and a tune on it eventually.

 

[ThePorge]

Looking Great....I'm happy if I can install a cup holder.

 

[lugnut1009]

Thanks. I’m really enjoying riding it now that I have a Roadmaster for long trips and when I need my daughter to ride with me. If I knew at the time that I was going to be able to buy it back and the engine and frame were going to still be in such good condition, I would have just rebuilt it as it was before. But hey, now I have 2 bikes and life just wouldn’t feel right if I wasn’t paying a motorcycle note…

 

[lugnut1009]

Looking back through this thread it doesn’t look like I mentioned that the headdress I ordered and installed is the smaller version made for the 19” wheel kits. It fit well enough that I didn’t have to drill any new holes and covered up the existing ones. I used the OEM LED from my original war bonnet but had to cut all the plastic off of the LED’s and circuit board so they would fit inside. Then I just siliconed it in place. Lights up well, uses factory wiring and plug, and the new smaller war bonnet was cheaper than the original, by quite a bit.

 

[lugnut1009]

Took an all day ride on it yesterday to check out where our state rally is going to be held in about a month. About a 4 hour ride straight up the Natchez Trace each way. Bike ran flawless and tracked so true I could lean back and let the bike hold the line with the cruise set and no hands on the bars. Ha.

These were my only 2 riding companions on this trip. The white one is my wife’s.