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Gramp’s 1941 New World - Trying to get it running as a rat rod bike

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You pegged that strut problem. My teens Pierce has the same break in the back fender strut. I trapped the two piece with a wide washer layered with a leather one and it works ok but not as elegant as your solution. Hats off to you!

Thanks gkeep! PM me if you want more info on making some. Still holding together well after daily rides!!
 
The steer tube can be straighten, I've done so. A shop press and wood blocks would work best. But I've also used a vies and sleg hammer. Also a 1 inch I.D. brass nipple split with a hack saw also makes a good block for the vice

Thanks Sam. The split brass nipple idea would be nice for pressing on the non treaded parts of the tube. I used wooden vice jaws and long hollow bar lever arms to get it straight. You can see the pics a few pages back.
 
Forgot to say. 41s new worlds were not fillet brazed as other schwinns, they were steel welded and body lead was used to give them the Schwinn look. If you turn the frame over you will see the weld as they didn't bother to body lead the welds at the bottom of the BB.

Hi Sam, thanks for sending more pieces of the puzzle on the frame construction. It does look fillet brazed to me. I can imagine "body lead" could quickly give it a similar look, but wouldn't it be soft like lead? Here's a pic of the BB. I'm no welding expert but it looks like fillet welding to me...

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Here's some bare patches on the weld on the head tube for reference. It looks fillet welded to me too.
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How could you tell if it was body lead?

Miq
 
Schwinn bicycles use brass to fillit weld the joints---except the war ear bikes (your new world) which were steel welded---See the welds are not of a yellow brass and the top finished welds are covered in that soft body led to "give" the Schwinn look. And when you used the wire wheel on those joints you really scratched them up. They can be redressed with sand paper if you want to. You can see that some brass was used on the bridge(it's yellow) but the main tubes are steel welded(silver colored)
 
Thank you for explaining it further Sam. I see what you mean now. So interesting all the different fabrication trade offs they made and how it evolved over time. Thanks!
 
Got a prewar dog leg crank for the 41 from eBay today. The auction said it was from a ladies prewar Schwinn autocycle. The 1940 Schwinn parts catalog I’ve been referencing mentioned that the New World bikes used the same crank as the ladies balloon bikes. Check out the line for "photo" 215 in the One Piece Crank Sets section.
1940 Catalog Page 24 Cranks Hanger Parts.jpg

1940 Catalog Page 23 Cranks Hanger Parts.jpg


It looks very similar to the original and is the same 6.5 inches from the center of the pedal to the center of the crank. Cleaned it up and installed it today. Went for a late evening ride and it worked perfectly.

Here’s the new dog leg next to the “non” dog leg replacement I had been using (also 6.5”) since I got the bike running again.
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Looks right again :)
 
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The 1960’s Monogram S saddle that Gramps put on this bike was starting to get a little too squeaky. I haven’t really done anything to the saddle but clean it since I got the bike. I dug around on the Cabe and got some good ideas about improving the seat and killing the noise. I removed the vinyl outer covering and the inner foam from the seat pan. I cleaned all the parts except the foam and dried them.
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I sprayed all the places where metal touching metal could move, like where the springs hit the pan, with WD-40 Dry PTFE.
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And also sprayed the places metal tabs went through slots and all the pins connecting stuff.
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I found an old closed cell foam pad in my rags bin and traced the carpet foam pad that was inside the seat.
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Using our Thanksgiving turkey carving knife I shaped the foam until I got a shape close to the foam I removed from the seat.
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I kept carving until it was about the same size as the old one and fit well inside the cover.
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After some vinyl spray on the Monogram S, I reassembled it and took it for a late night test ride.
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There were no more sqeaky sounds and the ride was significantly improved with the new foam. :D :D Glad I finally got this done since I have been riding so much. A better seat will be nice.
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