Hitchcocks Forum

Does anyone know if an early [93] indian 500 crank will fit 56 redditch cases?

Not early enough, I suspect. The Indians stopped fitting imperial mainshaft cranks around 1978. It might be possible to fit earlier main shafts into later Indian flywheels.

If our hosts don't have anything in their stash of used parts (they'll happily sell you one of their new crankshafts, but I'm guessing you've already seen the prices), you could try contacting Performance Classics on 01550 777608.

A.

Thanks Adrian, i guess my other option is to use a 350 crank i think the later ones are the same?

I have no experience of rebuilding the bottom end these engines (famous last words..), if it’s of any use to know, regarding what fits into where, my 2004 Bullet 350 Electra has “C & 500” stamped on the top face of both crankcase. I take it to mean that the bottom ends of later bikes might be the same, or compatible.

I find the easiest way to answer these questions is to compare bearings listed in the parts book (on this site) for the various models, but to echo the other responses, I believe Indian cranks are metric and Reditch are imperial.

I can confirm the timing side bearing ID on the Redditch models is 1" and the Indian ones are 25mm. So the Redditch drive shaft is bigger than the Indian one (by a very small but significant amount).

I know this because I was supplied a reconditioned crank with a timing shaft that had been inadvertently ground to 1" instead of 25mm (and I was therefore unable to fit it). That was the explanation. Thankfully they'd done it that way round so it could be ground down a bit more.

As above, you MAY be able to fit a reddich shaft to indian flywheels. The timing shafts are supplied oversize to be ground to fit. Not sure about drive shafts.