2014 XL 1200T quad ring gasket WTF!

[Highroller54]

Hello,              

   Girl friend recently picked up a new left over 2014 1200T.  Dumped oil at 100 miles and this week end we are headed out for a couple hundred mile overnighter.  She just turned 500 miles so I figured before we leave I'll service her bike and go over it to make sure everything is hunky dory.  oil change and checks AOK. being a new bike and new rider the clutch adjustment was way out of whack so I decided to drop the inspection cover and adjust the clutch. adjustment os a no brainer been doing this kind of stuff for years.  BUT, WTF Harley,  when I removed the inspection cover the quad ring gaskets fell out.  I have a new one but for the life of me, I can't get the little SOB to stay in the groove long enough to install the cover.  I'm about to the point of spraying the gasket with super 77. OK guys what's the trick to this master engineering idea?

Thanks guys

[Highroller54]

    Well after  much debate of what to use to hold the gasket in place, I used very small dabs of multipurpose grease, held my breath and held the cover hard against the gasket while I hand tightened the screws.  Took it for a ride and does seem to be leaking, so maybe I got it sealed up correctly.  Gee Whizz Harley what an Asinine design!

    They could have made the seat much deeper to allow the gasket to stay in place.  Wait a minute just thought of what they where thinking, when they where designing this, its simple, lay the bike down on its right side and then just lay the gasket in place and whoopee it stays in place!

[Panzer]

Yup, I can tell you been working on bikes a long time. 

[aswracing]

Every 90 degrees (12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock) you'll find a pair of little retainer nubs in that groove. The trick is to push the quad rings onto those nubs and slide it back and forth. By sliding it like this, it'll fall down between those nubs and be captured. Do that at each position, then adjust each so that an equal amount of the quad ring is present over each quadrant. It's not that hard.

[FSG]

[aswracing]

Thanks FSG. A picture is worth a thousand words.