How difficult is it to change hand grips on my '03 883. Also, what is the procedure..??

 

Not a bad job. I think there are instructions in the package. Just watch for the metal ferrels on the throttle cables. They are wild. They like to fall out, run and hide.

 

I just put Kuryakins in mine. It's easy enough to do. Took about 45 minutes.

Just follow the instructions and you'll be fine. The left grip is glued on so you need to cut the old one off and sand to clean and rough up the metal. Mine came with glue that was all dried up. It's just CA glue (super glue) I had some medium viscosity and it worked fine. Just work quickly when doing this. The other side is simple, just follow instructions but as said above, keep an eye on the little ferrules.

 

Just installed heated HD handgrips on mine this weekend and it took about 2.5 hours with all the wiring,a non-heated handgrip change is probably a 1hour job. You'll obviously need the T25 and T27 torx keys.
Cheers,

 

I had a buddy do mine. 10 bucks was worth it.lol!!

 

I got the Harley dealership to install my Kuryakyn grips and V&H straightshots - cost me about $30 in total, which I thought was pretty reasonable.

 

Easy job. Like other suggestions... A little heavy grit sandpaper on the left side of the bars will take down any residual glue on the bars and skuff the metal up enough for the new glue to stick. Put a thick rug, blanket, or towel under the right side when removing throttle cables. If you drop one of the ends, they will fall in the rug or blanket and not roll or bounce.

 

not a bad job...but worth it! If I had only known the difference that it would make, it would have been the first thing that I would have done.

 

I've changed about 15 different handgrips in my days from dirtbikes to harleys, and it doesn't take that long at all. Just make sure you pay attention when you take your throttle side apart. Follow the instructions, and make sure you also clean up the left grip area well. And trust me give your left hand gip the reccommended amount of time to dry.

 

I find it slightly frustrating that when you spend a lot of $$$ buying a set of Genuine Harley Davidson Grips complete with 'fitting instructions' the 'fitting instructions' refer you to the expensive maintenance manual for fitting of the right grip. Why they can't just 'cut and paste' that part of the maual I will never know. By the way you can download the fitting instruction for a set of Kuryakin Grips from their website. That with the following advice from another forum member should see you through the fitting of a set of HD grips.


Stick some cardboard as a shim in between your brake lever and the mount (this prevents you from breaking the tiny signal switch by keeping the lever engaged a little) then loosen your switch housing which will give you access to remove the grip but you will first have to loosen up your throttle and idle cables all the way so that you can rotate the grip enough to remove them from their slots (be careful not to lose the brass ferrules that the cable ends fit in). After all this just slide the gripoff and put newone on and replace your cables(put a little graphite lube in the end of the grip before sliding the grip tube on), tighten down your switch housings then re-adjust your throttle/idel cables for appropriate play (turn bars side to side with motor running to make sure the cables don't bind or rev. the motor by being too tight).