46 U Bullneck Frame Question

[richbob]

Got a pic like mine of your frame
Be interesting to see if factory produced boogers on there brazing

[johnjzjz]

i have seen a fair amount of early brazed frames and some are not as nice as others

[rhysmort]

Originally Posted by richbob

Got a pic like mine of your frame
Be interesting to see if factory produced boogers on there brazing

There will be plenty in my knuck build thread. It's not 'rough' it's just less neat than yours. I've also seen a few oem frames which were real roughly brazed.

[Zeeman]

Here's a pic of a typical Knuck neck, with about an average amount of braze visible.. you can see the neater line around where the tubes enter the forging. Neck pictured is a 1943.



I still think the OP's frame looks welded, although it's hard to tell with the thick paint. On a 46-47 frame. the neck and axle plates will be brazed, everything else welded (sidecar loops are usually welded from about 46 onwards).

The neck should have 'XE-35' marked on the upper left. The die number will either be the Interstate foundry mark (DIF in a box) and number 9, or some have no mark or die number. Rear axle plates should be XE-7 and the number 6 on the left, XE-6 / 5 on the right.

The early frames sometimes have a lot of braze on the frame, especially the 36-39 frames which were mostly brazed. Looking at the above factory picture showing how the braze was applied, it's not surprising.

[Speeding Big Twin]

bigfoot, on the frame is that upper mudguard support welded or brazed?

If the engine is 46 (?), I’m curious if it’s early, mid or late? (Some late-46s had 47 BNs.)

What happened to the back leg of the springer?
Eric

[Neo Dutch]

Typically factory brazed frames have brass all over them. Shit gets everywhere.

[Scott McKelvey]

My $.02, that's a v-twin Hallmark frame. Those are definitely welds (not brazed) on the neck. But if your neck forging has or is missing Die markings, that will pretty much tell the tale. If they are there, then I'm wrong. If they aren't you have either a repaired frame, or the v-twin.

[govmule84]

It's repop.

Look at the seat cross tube, where they socket into the upper seat stays (the top run of the hardtail.)

Those are brazed on every Knuckle frame, even the non-bullneck late 47s. The saddles on the fittings are so large there is about zero chance of there being any braze slopping out of the fittings. In your third photo, those are clearly welded in.

[VonWegener]

The fender crossover tube on all V-Twin knuckle frames not just the new HM frames are brass brazed and fit a lot better than those saddles in the pic.
But the tube can have been replaced as it was common to remove the curved fender crossover and replace it with a straight tube closer to a tire hugging fender.

[bigfoot]

To Answer your questions Speeding Big Twin, and Zeeman, I scraped some paint off and found brass at the joints where the top rear mudguard brace is attached to the frame, so that is brazed. I also found the XE-35 on the top left side of the neck in the web that angles up to the top front tank mount, and the XE-7 on the left rear axel tab and on the right tab, XE-6 then a square box and then the number 5.
The belly numbers are matching, and begin with 46-XXXX. so I guess it is an early 46
As far as the fork, it appears it had some kind of jungle patch job done on the rear legs, that looks like they bent a piece of steal around it and welded it on. And then at some point it was chrome plated over the patch. It's not the correct fork, it is an inline fork, and from my research it should be an offset to go with the 30 degree bull neck frame.
The problem is, when I got it, it was already painted, I don't want to start stripping the paint off to see where it's brazed or welded.
I found a rough spot on the frame tube just behind the right sidecar mount underneath that looks like it may have been welded-repaired at some time.
So I guess I'm leaning towards an original.
I want to thank every one's input and help