Went to install my black 2 into 1 thunderheader today and I cant believe what a pain it is, I thought it would be a cake walk.
I removed the original exhaust and got the new bracket put in place with no problem. Then came the hard part, you get a clamp that is supposed to slide over the rear exhaust tube that bolt to the bracket. Well this clamp is made out of very thick steel and its closed. You need to open it to fit over the end of the exhaust then open it even further to fit past the O2 sensor bung. All this without scratching the system. I have been trying to open this clamp wide enough to fit past the bung and it wont go wide enough. now it looks like the ceramic coating on the clamp is cracking from trying to open the clamp.
All I can say is I will never buy another thunderheader, if I even use this one I cant see how its not going to scratch the crap out of the tube trying to fit it on.

 

Try a woden wedge on the clamp to hold it open while you work with it. A door frame wedge works well

 

I havnt installed a thunder header but sounds like you may be doing something wrong, I would read the instructions again. Could the bracket you are speeking of go on before you try to put the pipe on the bike.

 

The instructions are all of 6 lines, the clamp goes on before installing the system (its the only way it can go on). The problem is that the clamp is made out of really thick steel so trying to open it wide enough to fit past the O2 bung in the header is really tough. I dont want the exhaust all scratched up.
I just cant believe thunderheader doesnt ship it with the clamp installed. They could address it somehow, I feel the reason they dont is because they know it will scratch the tube, so they let us scratch them and were just stuck with it.

 

Hmm i know the clamp you are talking about and i dont think it is meant to be bent as you are descriding. i would wait at hopefully somebody that has installed a thunderheaderwill have some helpfull insite. Sorry i cant be of morehelp.

 

Wedge something in between and bang it into place, if you can. There are tools made for spreading brackets. Check with the HD dealer service department and ask how they would do it. Let us know how it goes.

 

I got ahold of my neighbor who works for the local dealer here and talked to him. He came and took a look at it and we used 2 large snap ring pliers, the type that Harley uses to remove the snap ring on the exhaust flange. It was still a very tight fit but it went on. Thanks for the help.

 

Yeah,,,,,,them thunderheaders can be a pain in the A$$,,,,,,,but I love the rumble they have