So I'm at a stop light with a friend of mine, yesterday... Light turns green and we take off pretty hard... Next thing you know, my 10 inch apes fall about 10 inches

I slow down, pull over, and I'm like... ??? ....No doubt, I drive home safely... I didn't want to push them back up because if I damaged the knurl, moving them would have surely made it worse.

So I get home and check the 4 clamp screws.... If I had tried, I could have loosened them with my finger!

Anyway, after talking with a few veteren riders at the house all the logical questions are posed ...loctite?- no, because the screws came with the paste on them....torqued to spec?- absolutely!

then another one asks if I had poly bushing in the risers.... and when i told him i did, he claimed that was the problem combined with the stiffer progressive suspension... said that the polys are horrible for dampening vibration and would surely send things loose over time...plus, the pull on apes on acceleration is harder over any other handlebar due to leverage against the risers and clamp...he said that would also explain why Harley doesn't list using polys for the StreetBob

He was right...I remember when I bought these from Harley they didn't list them for an FXDB- although they'd fit

I trust this guy, as he's been around....and what he said clearly made sense

So I'm changing back to rubbers.

 

Loc-Tite is your friend!

 

well, thescrews had the factory loc-tite on them- which is pretty good stuff ....shouldn't be necessary to either take it off and replace it with the blue stuff ...and compounding the threads with something already on them is pointless because of how loc-tite works (anaerobic compound)

 

JSbridgew, i just swapped out my stock riser clamp bolts the other day for some black ones and also adjusted the angle of my apes on my bob.... i was surprised when i went to un-torque them that it took very little torque at all (i think the rate amount is 12-18 ft lbs) and also that my bolts had absolutely no loc-tite on them at all. No paste, no residue, nothing.. i was a little disheartened by that. i made sure to actually apply loc-tite to it when i re-installed.


Not the same problem as you but just an observation.

 

Indeed, that torque value is LOW...i don't get that... and after talking to a tech earlier today he said that significant vibration will loosen those 4 screws even though they have the 'harley paste' on them......and polys on a Bob is NOT recommended AT ALL because of pull on acceleration... he said the rubber bushings offer some give which is necessary for any ape over 8 inches

interesting to say the least...and as i stated, would explain why they exclude the FXDB for the polys in the Harley catalog

 

Better do your critical fasteners list on the rest of your bike. I do mine 2x per year. Forget the mileage recommendation.

 

Never have had that happen on my apes. bUt my torque value is two grunts...

 

Interesting. I know of serveral people with polys and apes, some on here and I have never heard of this before. Here is my thought. We have alot of parts on our bobs that could do the same and some do after time, but when I remove something off the bike, I take whatever is on the threads with a wire brush, and then always put loctite on them. I realize that they have something of the like from the factory and not sure what it is, but I know that after you remove a bolt with "Loctite" on it, you should clean up the threads and put new loctite on. This again is just a thought and what I do.
I am not sure about the poly being a big cause of this. I would think that if this was the case we would have a bunch of people on here talking about it and this is one of the first times I have ever heard of it. So good luck with what you do and glad you were not hurt.

 

It is baffling, to say the least... I would have thought there would have been something here on the forums about it considering what i've been told about them after this incident... i mean, i did some research about rubber vs. poly online, and that did highlight some points about rubber as superior for vibration absorbtion, but the polys do last longer and don't fatigue as quickly ....

as far as the rationale behind using polys on apes...well, i can't help but claim that it makes some sense ...and i'm going toassume to be the first person whose use ofthem proves harley's point of their aversion to using them on an FXDB!... i mean, they don't stand to gain anything at all by 'not' selling me anything- especially a product of their own

 

My bars aren't knurled so I'm in the habit of checking my riser bolts regularly.