I was out for a short ride today and started hearing a loud tapping noise coming from the rear of the bike. I stopped a couple times to check things out and did see anything wrong. After the final stop, I went to take off and couldn't go anywhere. I finally found a sheared off bolt on the drive sprocket, and it was out far enough to wedge against the belt guard mount. There were three others loose as well. It took most of the afternoon, but I got everything fixed.

 

The drive sprocket bolts are torque to yield fasteners and cannot be reused once loosened, as the mechanical properties of the bolt changed at the time of factory installation.



The reliable fix is to replace all the factory hardware with ARP bolts which are reusable, the stock hardware is is not what I call good quality, I would also replace the disc rotor hardware if it has been removed.



: Mike

 

source sir

 

Factory service manual.

 

Hi Cvaria,
Excellent question,The dont reuse fastener warning is the factory service manual, and the ARP recommendation is more or less the word on the street from weekend drag racers, Mudd also made this point in a thread a few years ago when he blew up his rear wheel.

: Mike

 

no no. i trust you. where to get them?

 

Factory Harley-Davidson sprocket yield bolt, bolt head markings indicate this is a grade 8 fastener, removed from my rear wheel showing signs of failure at first formed thread.



Commercial grade 8 bolt for comparison, note the first formed thread.



: Mike

 

Arp fasteners can be bought at Jegs: http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...rsistYmm=false
or Summit Racing: https://www.summitracing.com/search/...20and%20Screws

Don't forget to order the chamfered washers...

: Mike

 

SSPirate on here recently had his fail at high speed, took whole sprocket/hub and wheel along with it on his FXDLS!

The dealership denied warranty because the wheel was powdercoated!

 

Wow, that could have been.... bad

turboc, listen to Mike. Mike is good, Mike is wise. And a +1 on the ARP bolts...