1931 Harley-Davidson stationary
- Product Code: 356511685338
- Availability: In Stock
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$5,995.00
This is a very rare opportunity to own a Harley-Davidson stationary engine or power plant. This is a model F518, Serial number 713. It is believed Harley built these power plants from 1929 to 1932 then handed over tooling and engineering to another Milwaukee company: Briggs & Stratton. I would assume this was due to the depression that HD got out of the power plant business.
I do not know for certain what year this is, 1931 is just a guess.
Very little is known of these engines and little to no print advertising has survived to see how HD marketed these. These power plants were segregated away from the motorcycles, so order blanks, catalogs, and parts books show no existence of these, but they definitely did build them.
There is no title and no need to title it, I will provide a bill of sale though.
There is a very good video on Youtube by Matt Walksler at the Wheels Through Time Museum on the Harley Stationary engines. Use the term "Harley Stationary Engine, Wheels Through Time" and you will get to the video. There are also a few good threads on the Smokstak forum, and Jerry Hatfield's "Inside Harley-Davidson" has some photos and information on these.
The last verifiable sale of a Harley Stationary Engine sold from the John Parham Estate at Mecum in 1923 for about $9400.
To the best of my knowledge from doing some Google research, the Model F was 21 cubic inches, put out 3 or 3.5 HP, had a compression ratio of 3.25 or 3.5:1.
There was a model G that I believe was 23 cubic inches and might have had a 1/2 HP advantage over this one.
The engine is in overall good condition, it has good compression when it is kicked over. Kicker mechanism works perfect, has original Schebler updraft carburetor, American Bosch Magneto, roughly 4" output shaft with good keyway. Magneto and wiring is super clean. This is a cast iron crankcase model. They did make both cast iron and cast aluminum cases. Head and piston crown have been de-carbonized, bore looks great, no streaks or vertical scratches, valves and seats look good with no pitting, head is in excellent condition with original air cooled Champion spark plug and cylinder primer, no broken fins observed anywhere. The hand-adjusted governor is intact and moves as it should.
Can be used to power a small machine shop, well water pump, washing machine, generator, powered garden plow, a rotary saw, or any number of uses around the farm.
The upper sheetmetal cover over the cylinder head is missing. This is not uncommon as operators worried about over-heating the air-cooled engine in hot weather. The exhaust is not original, this would have had a pancake muffler which could be fabbed up fairly easily, we do not believe the fuel tank is original, it is clean inside. We have not attempted to start this.
This will ship anywhere in the U.S. via Fastenal on a 48" x 44" (shipping weight is 244 pounds) pallet completely enclosed in plywood for $450 or less. That's enough information for you to get a Fastenal Blue Lane Freight quote. I will drop this at the Pueblo, Colorado Fastenal at my expense.
Or, you can pick this up in Raton, New Mexico or arrange other freight. This is located at the Raton Airport, you could even fly in to pick it up. Payment is expected within 3 days.