Trying to remove my forwards on my 08 and having trouble getting the rear linkage bolt to come loose on the exhaust side. i'm almost positive it's a t30 torx head, at least the front linkage bolt is but the primary side has what looks to be ASE bolts (1/4" maybe).

what gives? i snapped the heads off two t30 craftsman torx wrenches trying to get that ***** loose. guess i'm going to have to remove the exhaust afterall and try to get closer to that bolt rather than going through the exhaust mount plate for my sideshots. thanks everyone.

 

I've had the rear brake linkage apart recently and I can confirm that the back linkage bolt is a T30 torx.

The first time getting that bolt loose, it took a 12" piece of pipe over the ratchet handle to get it apart and there was a lot of thread locker residue in the threads of both parts. The exhaust was taken off ahead of time.

I've used blue loctite each time it's been put back together and it's never been as hard to get the linkage apart as it was the first time. HD must use a stronger thread locker there.

 

I gotta broken T30 from that, too. They put the extra double-secret strength loctite on that booger. Ditto on the blue for re-assembly. Two years on one bike and 7 years on the other bike with no issues.

 

thanks guys. now i removed the front with a t27 and seemed to fit snug, came right off no problem. then i'm using the 27 on the rear and snap! then i grabbed the 30, i'm like **** man no way it was a 30 the whole time, just seemed to fit a bit more snug. snap! broke that one too. good thing they're craftsman, gimmie new tools sears!

 

if it's red locktite, you could try heating it up. I see on the net there are T30 impact sockets out there.

 

^^^t30 impact socket might be the best bet and i have one just can't get to the bolt with the pipes on but looks like they need to come off afterall. thanks.

 

I broke one on that same bolt trying to jimmy through the hole in the Short Shot mounting brkt.

 

^^^didn't have the hole, had to drill it myself, broke a couple bits too, that plate is like 1/4" thick! jackal told me that theres a pin that will come out where the linkage connects to and it might swivel 45degrees to allow just enough room to get a socket in there. gonna try that first before removing the damn pipes.

 

Yea, I have Short Shots and just removed my mids for a swap with bmxatv. I did NOT want to fool with taking the front cyl. pipe off, so I removed the split ring and pulled the pin from the master cylinder fork which freed up the arm to pivot to the rear about 40 deg. This gave me just enough room to get a 1/4" drive T30 in there.

I popped the front one out first with a 3/8" drive and it was a bitch...luckily the rear came very easily with the 1/4". Both threads were coated in blue loc-tite from the factory.

You put those forwards on there yourself didn't you? Maybe you were pissed at the time or grabbed the wrong bottle of loc-tite. Those T-30 heads aren't boogered up are they?

Oh yea, when I removed the shift lever, I found that the pinch bolt was metric and the peg bolt was standard. Nutty.

 

Guys - Invest in one of these cheap hand impact drivers... http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...1&blockType=G1 ...does not matter where you get it, but it will save you considerable grief. One solid whack and you can continue with normal hand tools. Torx head fasteners are unforgiving...take your best shot the first time.