I was installing the HD passenger footpeg kit yesterday on the Bob and after removing the belt guard, the instructions say to loosen the rear axle nut and turn those belt tensioning screws at the back of the swing arm to move the wheel ahead and provide slack in the belt.

It's not obvious why you need to do this, and the instructions don't tell you. My guess is to make it easier to get at the screws holding the front mounting bracket for the belt guard. If that's the case, you don't have to do any of that, as the screws are accesible with a little effort. I didn't move the wheel at all, and the install went fine.

Did anyone actually loosen the rear axle nut and move the wheel forward? Did it help?

My beef is that if they're going to have this in the instruction, they should at least explain why it's there, so you can determine if you really have to perform all the steps.

I guess the point of this post is to read through all the steps of the instructions before you start, to give yourself an idea of what's involved. There are often extra steps you can avoid, which will makedoing the workeasier and quicker.

R.

 

So far, it is my opinion to take the Harley instructions and throw them out before starting the job.
They have been more confusing than helpful for everything I have installed so far.
In reality, if you have common sense, the picture is the best thing to follow, don't read.
To answer your question, no, Ionly removed the belt guard,no tensioner.

 

Run away. I didn't loosen anything. I just bolted mine on. You might need to kinda pull the belt out of the way a little but not enough to have to undo the adjustment. It can be done without all that but the belt guard does need to come off.

 

yeah, had to take off the belt guard, but the belt was pretty much in the way the whole time. frustrating as hell.

 

I can't remember my exact reaction when I read the instructions that came with my HD passenger footpegs but I'm sure it involved "like he!! I will" and "bu!!****". I agree with travelinman - don't read, just look at the pretty pictures. Get your son, wife, etc to hold the belt out of the way while you go after the bolts.

 

I had a little more trouble mounting the pegs than you folks did but I still did not loosen the belt. My torx sockets on the socket wrench would not fit below the belt. It was just not going to happen. I talked to one of the mechanics at the dealer and they suggested I buya special offset torx wrench from Snap-on, but that thing cost like 250$. Now I love snap on tools but no way in hell I was going to pay that much for a tool I would use once. Turns out the Torx bit was 5/16 standard where it entered the sockethead so i just slipped a little wrench on it and after rigging up a little pipe to allow enough leverage on the wrench the torx came right out. Probably not the easiest way but it got the job done.

But I did learn to very important lessons, like you folks mentioned the Harley instructions leave a lot to be desired and do not listen or let the mechanics at the dealership every touch my bike.

 

Mine went on with out a problem.

 

thanks for the info, guess I'll do mine after all. had decided to forget it when I read loosen the rear axle nut.

 

This is exactly why I made this post.

This is not the first set of instructions I've seen with "questionable" procedures.

Like others have said, there is no need to do anything with the belt tension or the rear wheel.

I used a socket extension and an angle socket (or whatever they're called) and the bolts came out and went back in pretty easy.

It's tight around the belt, but for me, the frame was more of a problem to work around than the belt.

Have fun doing it yourself

 

I took the torx socket and clamped onto the outside ofit with a pair of vise grips and loosened the bolts enough to get them out the rest of the way by hand. The install of the new mount was the reverse started by hand then clamped onto socket with vise grips and tighten. The belt on my bike was to tight to really move much to help. I figured that even if I ruined the socket it was easyer to replace it, than to deal messing with the rear tire of paying someone to do it.