First, you actually did not restore the OE design, the OE design had a rod between the pads to join them together, and there was no spacer like you created they bolted directly on the lifting arms.
Second there is no need to tighten the nuts on those bolts that tight but even if you did with a washer they still function. You can also use nylocks or jam nuts to achieve the same result.
While you may have made a slight improvement, it is an unnecessary step. Mine has been working without a hitch for over 2 years now.

 

Thanks for your explination. I understand that I didn't completely restore the OE designe. And that wasn't my goal. I was only trying to alleviate the friction created by thru-bolting without solid spacers. The origanil design had the torsional forces of the bolts applied to the skid frame only. The skid itself was free to rotate on the lifting arms. This was my goal.
Thank You

 

Thanks for the good close up pics of the modification even if we dont use the spacers. It shows how the whole thing goes together well.. As for your modification..., a lock nut would achieve the same results, as you would just not tighten it down all the way leaving enough play for free rotation. I have not got around to this mod....but am going to do it ASAP now that I see the "light".

 

Yes, It would be possible to use a bolt that is completely threaded. Then use locking nuts to isolate the skid. But this presents a few problems that I atempted to avoid.

1) Leaving the bolt loose enough to not restrict motion added to much play in the areas that were actually doing the lifting

2) The threaded portion of the bolt has less shear strenght than the sholder portion of the bolt.

3) The locking nut would add extra cantilever distance to the "close side" skid.

If you have acces to a welder, you could weld the bolts in place to the lifting arms. This would eliminate the need for thru-spacers.

 

You really don't need to weld anything in place. We're lifting less than half of what the jack is rated. Using quality grade hardware should handle the load without issue.

 

Guess that I may be somewhat of a perfectionist. I can't afford to drop a $16K bike either. The friction added by the bolts just didn't feel right to me when the bolts were tight. And the sloppy fealing didn't feel right when the bolts were loose enough to allow free movement. For what it's worth. This was my solution.

 

Mine was 17.5k and I have never felt like the mod I made was going to cause me to drop the bike unless by my own error.

 

Do you think we want to drop our bikes? I have a shitload more than 16k invested in mine.
Try reading these...

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/8731012-post280.html

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/9010952-post289.html

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/9011044-post291.html

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/9012233-post298.html

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/9013651-post303.html

 

[quote=8541hog;9925024]Do you think we want to drop our bikes? I have a shitload more than 16k invested in mine.
Try reading these...

Well I wouldn't have felt safe lifting your bikes with the previous arrangement either. Much less my own. I personally feel more comfortable with this new arrangement. And I feel like I could trust it if I was asked to loan it out to anyone. I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers.

 

No problem but do some research on the tensile/shear strength of a grade 8 half inch bolt. It's overkill for this application.