How much is a chrome one. The wife would love that...

 

This is a known defect. Especially with the 04 - 06 years. I had the stupid clips replaced 4 different times, then I completely lost the battery cover. And yes, there have been PLENTY of discussions here about this problem.

The best way to deal with this isthe method that either Old Fender Guy, or raylow, hold the patten to. Drill a hole through the clip, and then stick a small zip tie through the hole. That will hold the cover in place when the clips fail, and if you need to remove the cover you just have to pull the zip tie out. So, there is no need to carry extra zip ties, knives etc on the bike, just to deal with this problem.

Next time something like that happens, check on e-bay. When mine wasfinallycompletely lost, I found one on ebay, from a guy that had bought either chrome or painted covers. I think it cost me about $30. Of course that was for a set...so if anybody happens to need a stock oil tank cover, just let me know. You can have it for the cost of shipping.

 

This is what was suggested to me on my '06. Took off my seat, at the top of the battery cover there are little holes right where the cover inserts into the plastic clips. I drilled a hole down that hole and through the plastic clip with the battery cover in its proper seated position. Then you just drop a zip tie down through the hole.....no more cover popping open. Just drop the zip tie down, don't zip it, that way you can just pull it out if you need to get to the battery without taking the seat off. The left side hole is really all you need, the right side doesnt have alot of clearance so I had to shorten it quite a bit to get it to drop....just an extra precaution.


Edit: And as usual......as soon as I post somebody beat me to it.

 

The chrome battery cover costs around $120, you need a chrome one for the oil tank side too, so $240 right there. If you don't fix the original one, you will lose the chrome instead of the factory one lol, even worse.

 

Thanks much for all the great advice! I will definitely do this mod when I get the new cover. Seems like a pretty simple fix but extremely effective. You guys are great. It's things like this that make this board so awesome. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long for the new cover. I shoulda looked here first for a replacement but, like I said, wasn't in the best frame of mind right after the "accident" . I contacted the construction company and they're pretty agreeable to covering my loss. They thought $107 was pretty reasonable and just seemed glad there were no injuries. I'm really glad my 17 y.o. son wasn't on the bike...he's doing good but the experience isn't quite there yet. It is pretty awesome to have a riding buddy around all the time.

You guys ride safe...

RR

 

Well, HD is 'proud' of their parts, but the chrome covers aren't quite that expensive (PN 66261-04 and 66262-04).

They have a 'suggested retail price' of $99 each, but there are a number of discount dealers where you can get 20% off, bringing the price to around $160 for the set.

(I forgot you were in Canada, but the $99 price is USD).

 

Well guys...got the new sidecover and performed the mod outlined on this site. Works like a charm! Anyone with a late model Sporty should take care of this before they start losing body parts. Thanks again!

RR

 

take the clips off the frame and use black zip ties... it looks cleaner than the grey clips. its what i did.

 

.

 

Ditto on either wire tie fix