HarleyTechTalk

I headed out yesterday for a 3 day cruise up through Page AZ, Monument Valley, Cedar City UT and back to Las Vegas...solo. No one wanted to go , so I went alone.

Well...as I was pulling into Kanab UT this afternoon, the fu*king front cylinder exhaust stud decided to snap off. Not good...long story short, I tightened up the flange nut on the existing stud and was able to call it quits and just run on home. 635 miles today, 1000 since yesterday morning. I'm hoping I can get the damn broken stud out without pulling the head off. It will be a miracle though...

While the pipes are off, I want to put in a new clutch cable. With the SE spring and EZ pull ramps, it's still a bitch to pull. Who makes the best low effort cable?? I heard Barnett but their site is pretty lame. Any suggestions???

Bad luck with the stud breaking but 1000 mile in two days would clear the head. I found a bit of info on barnett cables on eBay from sellers details. I fitted a SE spring with a VPC82 and my clutch is very light at low revs but gets heavy around 4000 rpm. pull the heads to add groves, decarbon and lap them valves while replacing those studs.
Goodluck

Jim's sells a tool to help guide while drilling out the broken stud

Thanks for the tip on Jim's guide. I'm gonna check it out. I must'a thought about it in my sleep, so this morning I have a plan.

As far as grooves in the heads, I already have them. Dewey did my heads and I have 10k or 12k miles on the build. It runs so good I don't want to breathe on it LOL...( He's the maestro by the way, as far as I'm concerned!)

Like a bonehead, I've got so use to NEVER having a problem, I left my little tool bag home. I thought "WTF I never use this stuff and it just takes up space". DUH...What a dumb ass. Never again!

I'm just REAL lucky it snapped in Kanab nearly in front of ACE Hardware where I bought a couple of tools. MAN, If I had been out on the reservation (Navajo), or on the open road, I'da been a f*cked monkey.

I have a Barnett HE cable on my bike and it works great.  They make great cables.

QuoteWith the SE spring and EZ pull ramps,

If you still have the stock ramps (IIRC the 06s got the EZ ones),, I'd pull them, put the sock early ones back in  and use the easy arm instead.. That will cut the pull down to a little less then a stock 05..

For stud removal use this.. This one is snap-on blue point but someone said the OEM is Rigid.. 



Max

buy the new stud and determine how deep it is in the head, drill completely through the broken stud, not sure if Don uses any loctite on those studs.
The previous mentioned extractor should make the job easier, stay away from CHEAP E/Z outs....They are not cheap in the long run.......

Quotedrill completely through the broken stud,

Very good point, Also drill slowly.. The head can pull heat away from the stud fast enough to case harden it.. Then all you do is burn up high speed drills and need to find something tougher to poke through the stud.

Max

I will second the recommendation for the VPC82. Not only will it reduce your lever pressure by about half around town but will also increase the pressure on the plates as the rpm increases. A remarkable difference. And as horizonmech ponted out, stay away fromm ez outs. They will just break off leaving a small nub sticking out. They are too hard to drill and just screw up your whole life. They do work fairly well for brass pipe fittings though.

I'm sold on the VPC, I run a VPC83(i think) with an 06 spring, right at 100/100 and have never had any slippage, at idle it feels like there's no connection at the other end of the cable......highly recommended......

A set of left handed drills usually work way better than a easy out......Bob

Oh my hell...can you say woody! I got that bugger out. The lower stud is nearly inline with the darn frame, making it almost impossible to get a straight shot. I have some LONG twist drills that got the drill motor and chuck  out of the way, but check this out...

I found if I raise the motor, it would just give me enough for an (almost) straight shot. So I remove the front mount, and what do I see?? The frigg'n rubber mount is busted. Hell, the pipes probably were carrying the whole front of the motor. It might have had something to do with it. That might also explain the sudden "Wallow like a drunk camel in the desert" (is this copyrighted??).

Now I need a recommend on a good front mount...

Oh ya...what do you think about a good grade 8 flange style bolt instead of a stud and nut?? This stud looks like a gr5 cad plated softy. Sure drilled easy.

<img src="http://members.cox.net/plongson/stuff/screw.jpg">

<img src="http://members.cox.net/plongson/stuff/port.jpg">

I would stay with a stud. Taking a bolt in and out may sound great but once the threads are gone in the head it back to work again. Being an exhaust stud the constant heating and cooling that the stud is going to see I would just stick with a stock HD stud. Putting a grade 8 in there and if it breaks again how you going to get it out?

No bolts! Imagine how they always take a few re-tightenings and having a bolt shaking up and down. 

yeah, bolts really sucked on our shovels. I always replace mine with studs.

Don't forget the anti-seize on the threads inside the head.

The new HD cables are supposed to be teflon lined to reduce effort with the spring and ramp kit. I would use a new oe cable with the arm extension kit like Max suggested. Mike

Yes the new HD Cables are low friction which result in reduced clutch lever effort, see the 2006 Model Year Technical Forum, BUT and there's always a BUT, the trannie end of the cable that screws into the cover is slightly longer and the overall cable length shorter, so depending on what year your wanting to put a later cable on you may find it's better to go Barnett.

I have all sorts of clutch cables on the shelf, most of them off 07 or later and I had to go Barnett to get one to fit my '03 Fatty.

Hey Mr. Russell,

Glad things worked out well for ya. Tuck this away in the corner of your bag of tricks for
next time. (I've had the very thing happen on the road before)

Any good welder worth his salt can remove a broken stud in two shakes of a cat's tail, in
fact do it myself at home. All ya have to do is hold a nut over the broken stud, then fill
in the middle with a MIG welder. Even in limited access, MIG makes it pretty easy by
using a little lead in wire until it touches the stud, then zap away. The heat from the
weld will loosen the stud even if Loctited.

The broken stud will spin right out, and in goes the replacement. On the road, you
certainly get away with using a bolt until you could get your hands the correct stud
though. IIRC, HD exhaust studs are 5/16-18 x 5/16-24 x 1-1/2. Just about any auto
parts store, some gas stations, or especially NAPA will have 'em.

FWIW, some of my most memorable road trips were the ones that involved "field repairs".
Kind of funny that the trips where everything when right sort of blend together in the
background, but the ones where things went wrong and you had to figure out a way to
get home stick with ya. I call it "the adventure of overcoming adversity".  ;-)

-JW

JW, This was a great trip and memorable. My friends think I'm nuts to go alone on these rides that include parts of the Utah and Nevada outback, but it's hard to get anyone to go on a 1000 mile overnighter!

You sure meet some nice people on the side of the road!! I was in front of the ACE hardware not ten minutes working on the bike when an old fellow on an ATV stopped and offered anything I needed to get going, then he ran back to his house and brought back a swivel socket and ratchet to make it easier to tighten one of the flange nuts.

Adversity?...as long as a I get home, it's just an inconvenience.  LOL

Try these links, pictures and map.

http://picasaweb.google.com/109617383933867762473/102010HarleyRoadtrip#

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=103459456407142309209.000492ecd529826fca055&z=8

Got it all back together, used all HD OEM parts. I didn't feel like chasing this stuff down all over town and the internet then have to wait, so OEM it was.

Went with HD studs like Steve suggested and replaced both. The new motor mount is WAY different in design from the 05' factory mount. I hope it's an improvement and lasts. Found a very small crack starting to form in the Y-pipe, Just haf'ta keep an eye on it. If it sh*ts the bed, I'll be looking for a D&D FatCat.

Replaced the clutch cable and it had the super wazoo coating like Barnett. Parts guy said all new HD cables come that way. Let me tell you, the clutch pull is like night and day. It's really acceptable now (SE spring, EZ pull ramps and new cable).

Took a test drive, washed her up, and I'm ready for another over-nighter.

Total cost was $116...not too shabby.

Just out of curiosity, what part numbers did you use for the cable and ramps? And did it all fit in as well as the
stuff you replaced it with?

If your crossover pipe is starting to go, ya might check out these guys:

http://www.fullsac.com/true-dual-kits.html

For the money, a pretty slick way to get a bolt on true dual exhaust set up.

-John

I already had the EZ pull ramps installed and just replaced the cable with 38667-00. And yes, it was all just a plug and play OEM replacement. I see no reason to go after-market, and the prices were comparable too.

I already had most of the exhaust on when I saw the crack in the "Y" otherwise I'da welded it up. I said fu*k it, I'll just watch it for now...

Holy crap, one motor mount sh*ts the bed and what a can-o-worms. Handles like sh*t, breaks a stud, cracks the "Y", broke the rear pipe support for the rear cylinder. Damn, all I can say is "check those mounts"!!

jrussell, not to change the subject but what is that braided line coming down from behind the air cleaner, going to the case by the brake pedal.

Hose for the oil pressure gauge.