1971 Penton Berkshiire Foot Peg Assembly

[Daniel P. McEntee]

Sorry if this gets a bit long but needs explanation. My late brother Jim had a '71 Penton Berkshire that he had since we were teenagers, and had kept stored and preserved pretty well all these years. After he passed away I brought that bike and several others back home from my self and brother Tom to work on and fix up. Jim had gotten the Berky out and had it running, but for some reason had pulled the engine and it was all apart in his basement shop. I gathered up what I could find, thinking I had it all, put the stuff in a plastic trunk and brought it home. What I failed to notice in that trip plus two others is that he had cut the foot peg assembly loose form the bike. he did such a neat job of it, I just never noticed, and I have no idea why.
   I'm wondering if someone has a butchered up frame that I could get to get the foot peg assembly off of it? As time goes by and more bikes get restored, I know this may be a long shot, but like the saying goes, if you don't ask, you don't get. I think I could fabricate a reasonable facsimile, but replacing it with the same as the original is more desirable. If I can get the frame fixed back up, the rest of the bike is in good enough condition that it will be left as is and just put back into running condition, just the way I remembered being the last time we rode together back in the day.
   Thanks a lot in advance for any help or suggestions.
   Dan McEntee
  Florissant, MO
   PS: The Frame Number is V-4746. Steel tank with lever style fuel cap, radial finned head. Don't know engine numbers as the engine is packed away for now.

[firstturn]

Daniel,
  I know that I had several junk frames I purchased from salvage yards back in the 1990's.  I gave them all to the Late Richard Sanders for he and Capt. Don to use in restoration projects.  I am driving to Houston tomorrow and will check and see if any of them are still available.  They we out behind one of his building and may have been picked up for scrap, but I will check.

Ron Carbaugh

[Daniel P. McEntee]

Thanks Ron. If this works out, I would want as complete assembly as possible, as I don't know if any remnants of the originals exist. he lived in Atlanta and I don't know when I will be able to get back there to look, at least not until next spring.
  Thanks again,
  Dan McEntee

[400gs6]

A buddy of mine has an old steel tanker frame hanging in the rafters of his shop.  I'm pretty sure it's in decent shape.  I'll check to see if he'll part with it.  Seems like it would go to a very good home!

Kurt

[firstturn]

Daniel,
  I went by the old warehouse (named Iron Horse Supply in the old days) today in Houston.  All of the frames are gone so that is a dead end.  I am on a trip right now to see some Pentons and will ask if they have any scrap frames.

Ron Carbaugh

[Daniel P. McEntee]

Hi Ron;
    Thanks for checking and keeping me in mind, and thanks also Kurt. So far I have a few possibilities. Just hope to find one that is junk with some other issue so that I can cut the foot peg section off of. I HATE the thought of boogering up a good frame. I want to keep the original frame as it is titled.
     Type at you later,
      Dan McEntee

[tofriedel]

Dan,

I currently have 3 Steel Tankers in my shop, in various condition, from finished to a bare frame.

As for the foot pegs, all of these frames have a horizontal frame member where the foot pegs are mounted. This frame member is welded to the top of the frame tubes in front of and below where the swing arm and the rear brake mount is located.

On each end of the horizontal frame member there is a serrated fitting welded to the frame member. The foot pegs have the same serrated fittings.

There is a foot peg bolt (threaded on each end) that slides through the frame member and the foot pegs slide onto the bolt and secured the nuts an lock washers.

I think it would be difficult to remove the serrated fittings from the frame member, but there are some ambitious mechanics out there.

You might want to get the parts manual from Al Buehner. It will really help you in your restoration.

 


Tony

[Daniel P. McEntee]

Hi Tony;
    I got the parts manual from Mr Buehner, and that and my memory is what I'm going by. There is a short section of tubing that ties the brake pedal pivot tube to the foot peg tube (I think) and it has been cut with a saw. He cut the peg mounting tube loose with a grinder and did a very neat job of it, so much so that I just didn't notice the pegs missing when I picked up the bike. My brother was a master machinist and would have had no trouble duplicating original parts. I'm capable of doing it also, I'm just a bit more lazy and hoping to find a donor frame to get the original parts from.Besides this bike, there are two other Pentons and a '73 Husky 250R/T from his estate that I need to get back together and running, and anything that I can do to save some time and make the job mechanically easier is what I'm looking for. If I have to do it from scratch, I will. But I'm hoping that some where out there is a frame that got abused in some other way that I can get the parts I need from. I got your email this morning and sent a reply already before I saw your post. Thanks again to you and everyone alse for all your help so far and in the future.
   Best Regards,
   Dan  McEntee
 [email protected]

[slvrbrdfxr]

Dan,
Just read this thread and had a similar problem several years ago on my steeltanker #V0144. When I bought that bike it had a broken off serrated footpeg mount on the left side. I was able to machine a new mount which extended several inches into the frame crosstube and then had to hand cut the serrations into the new mount. I then drilled several small holes in the frame crosstube to rosebud weld the new mount in place followed by a bead of weld where the new mount meets the crosstube. The repair took some tedious work with a hand file to get the serrations correct but in the end it turned out very nice and now its hard to tell that the mount was ever broken off. I have some pictures of the repair and would be glad to send them to you to show how it was done. I'd post the pics here but can't remember how to get them uploaded. Just shoot me an email and I'll send the pics.
Dave McCullough

[Daniel P. McEntee]

Thanks Dave, I'll drop you a line from home tonight. I know I can make what I need, but my initial problem is I don't have anything, not even the cross member tube, or pegs. Just to make it easier, I'm hoping to find a donor bike for the entire assembly. Even if I get lucky and find one, I'll bet I'll still have some work to do, and that's OK. I'll get the job done.
    Thanks a lot,
   Dan McEntee

[400gs6]

I talked with my buddy last night, he's still got that old frame. If you can shoot me your contact info, I'll pass it on.

Kurt  [email protected]