i just got done replacing all 5 in a spocket on a chopper, pulled all 5 in half! was a mess... check em and check em often!

 

I was riding about a month ago, when I noticed a pinging sound coming from the rear wheel. Pulled over and found one of my sprocket bolts loose(it was hitting the swingarm, don't know why it didn't snap or lock the wheel up). Anyway, it wasn't just loose, it was broken. I'd had an indy powder coat the wheels about a week earlier. Took it back and he drilled/tapped it and replaced the bolt. I know for a fact that he re-used the old bolts. I did not know they were supposed to be replaced.

 

went to the local HD dealer to buy new bolts and sure enough they couldnt help because they were out of stock as well as two other socal dealers the clerk called up. they also had no idea how to get the broken bolts out. so their product breaks and they cant replace it or fix it. very nice. found an automotive machinist that didnt even blink when asked if he could extract them. went up to the hardware store and found the exact same bolts in grade 8 heat treated steel. yeah theyre ugly but i dont give a **** as long as they hold up better.

my only concern now is one of the holes on the drive sprocket got slightly ovaled out at the top.

 

to get the ones out of the wheel i had ($2100 wheel at that) i drilled into the center of the bolt... use a high dollar bit so it will actually eat though and some cutting oil... after it goes though... go up in size, then HIT it with a punch to stretch the threads, use the easy out... if you snap an easy out, use a punch to get all the parts out... then try again... i was able to do this on 4 of the 5 on the 5th one i had to just drill it out till i was able to re thread it... but bottom line... it is fixed... on this bike i welded the spacer to the sprocket so the torque would not slice on the bolts any longer... did take me 3 days to get it all dont... but it looks great! let me know if i can help or if you have ?s i just got done doing this

 

Three of mine snapped a week ago today (Superglide). I rolled up into the driveway and found one hanging out of the pulley, the other two were gone. I tried drilling and using an ez-out but was only able to get one out. One of the suggested causes has to do with an aluminum hub and pulley flexing too much, so I ordered a new wheel even though my wheel only has about 4K miles on it. All that being said, the prior owner of my bike put a chrome pulley on it. Maybe he re-used the old bolts. I will use grade 8 non-chrome bolts from the hardware store when I bolt it all together next week. Thinking about using lock washers too; in addition to the loctite of course.

 

no the pulley has never been off, its got about 11,000 miles it seems crazy to me if harley wouldnt cover that

 

nope, pulley has never been off. its got about 11,000 miles with all scheduled maintinance

 

definately pursue getting this fixed under warranty then

 

Unbelievable...more horror stories

 

It happened to me. The dealer replaced the wheel and the belt,swingarm and tire. They said the problem was that the selling dealer used chrome bolts for a dyna but if you look up the part # it was for Dynas but not the 2006 FXDBI. I now have stock non-chrome bolts. MOCO is aware of the "problem" but dont consider them "critical fasteners". EVERONE should check because the dealers dont.............