Harley-Davidson VL Transmission Rebuild (1930–1936) | Three-Speed Gearbox Assembly | Riding Vintage

Harley-Davidson VL Transmission Rebuild

By Panhead Jim | Published June 16, 2026

This Harley-Davidson VL transmission rebuild picks up after the three-speed gearbox case was already cleaned and prepared. The job moves from an empty, prepped case to a complete transmission with sealed mainshaft bearings, new shaft and slider parts, cluster gear end play set, kicker parts installed, covers gasketed, and the gearbox ready to fill with fluid and install in the frame. For the earlier case-cleaning stage, see the Harley-Davidson VL transmission prep. For the rest of the project, visit the VL Tech archive.

The completed VL three-speed transmission after a full day of assembly work.

Pictured above is the result of a full day of work: a completely rebuilt three-speed transmission. The day started with a pile of parts, both old and new, as well as a thoroughly cleaned transmission case.

Installing Sealed Mainshaft Bearings

The first step was to install new sealed bearings for the main shaft. These are available from Replicant Metals and are one of the improvements that we made during the rebuild. In order to properly install the bearings, the case was carefully heated with a torch while the bearings were left outside in the snow to cool.

The sealed mainshaft bearing being installed after heating the case and chilling the bearing.

This next part took a little bit of timing to ensure that everything slid in without issue. As soon as the case was hot, it was quickly flipped over and the cold bearing was dropped in and tapped into place with a wooden dowel before it heated up and expanded. Then the case was set outside to cool, with the temperature in the teens, to make sure that the seals in the bearing were not damaged from heat. If you do not have snow on the ground, you can always use your freezer instead.

Mainshaft and Slider Gear

With the case ready, it was time to start filling it with gears. First to be installed was a new main shaft and slider gear from Eastern Motorcycle Parts. As you can see from the next picture, my original slider gear looks pretty worn when compared with the new one from Eastern Motorcycle Parts.

The new mainshaft and slider gear compared with the worn original slider gear.

Also installed on the main shaft was the main drive gear. Everything was dry fit to make sure that there were not any clearance issues. As expected, the shaft and gears slid together nicely.

The mainshaft and main drive gear dry fit to check for clearance issues.

Cluster Gear Test Fit and End Play

Next the cluster gear was test fit into the case.

The cluster gear test fit in the VL transmission case.

There were no clearance issues with the cluster gear either, so we moved on to setting the end play on the cluster gear. The end play is adjusted using special shims that fit into one end of the gear.

Special shims used to set the cluster gear end play.

Since the cluster gear rotates on a fixed shaft, it contains roller bearings on each end. These were installed with liberal amounts of red grease before dropping the cluster gear into the case and running a new counter shaft through it. My counter shaft also came from Eastern Motorcycle Parts.

The cluster gear roller bearings packed with red grease before final installation.

The cluster gear dropped into the case with the new countershaft run through it.

Completing the Transmission Internals

Now it is starting to look like a transmission. To finish off the internals, the slider gear fork and shaft were installed.

The slider gear fork and shaft installed to finish off the transmission internals.

Kickstarter Assembly

The kickstarter assembly was next to go on. The first step was to finish securing the main shaft and counter shaft with their nuts and lock washers.

The mainshaft and countershaft secured with their nuts and lock washers.

Once the shafts were secured, the clutch spring, kicker gears, washer and nut were all mounted onto the main shaft. There are two keys at the end of the main shaft which must be installed before the washer and nut. These take at least four hands to install as someone has to hold down the kicker gears to compress the clutch spring while the keys are being put in place.

The clutch spring, kicker gears, washer, nut, and shaft keys mounted on the mainshaft.

The kicker arm was installed in the kicker cover and then the kicker side of the transmission was ready to be closed up.

The kicker arm installed in the kicker cover before closing up the kicker side of the transmission.

Top Cover and Final Assembly

The transmission top cover was one of the last pieces to be assembled. It has a spring-loaded sliding gear fork plunger on one end and a gear lock plate on the other. The gear lock plate attaches to the gear shifting fork on the inside, which is what moves the slider gear on the main shaft.

The transmission top cover assembled with the sliding gear fork plunger, gear lock plate, and internal shifting fork connection.

New gaskets were placed under the kicker cover and top cover before bolting both of them down with OEM HD nuts and washers. The clutch release lever, a few grease fittings and the drive sprocket were installed to finish up the rebuild. The result is a transmission ready to fill with fluid and install in the frame.

The finished transmission with the covers, clutch release lever, grease fittings, and drive sprocket installed.

Parts Used

Replicant Metals

• Sealed bearings for mainshaft

Eastern Motorcycle Parts

• A-2272-31 Mainshaft
• A-2275-30 Nut, clutch hub to mainshaft
• A-2300-32 Countershaft
• A-7925 Nut, countershaft
• A-2298-15 Gear, slider
• A-2035-15 Sprocket, 28-T