Riser Question
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Club Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 2,468
Likes: 1
From: San Marcos, Texas
Riser Question
Has anybody have there riser bolts shear in two? I had one do this last weekend as I pulled into a stop for gas. Put kickstand down heard a plink looked down there was half a bolt laying on the ground...... Thanked god that I was stopped before that happened.
It happened to me a few years ago on my 90 softail..(16"apes on 4" risers)was riding down the road (going slow luckily) when bard felt strange, pulled over and realized one of the bolts were broken. I had a few bungee cord with me , i wrapped them as tight as possible from the top tree to the bars...really tight, was gonna head home but they were so tight i rode like that for the day! (wasn't going far..just a little sunday bar hopping) why ruin my sunday!! Changed them the next day....a little scary!!
DEFINITELY CHANGE BOTH BOLTS!!!! Thats what i did. and make sure you use good hardware!!! cant be too safe
You are lucky , i had to buy new risers also , i couldnt get the broken bolt out. It was still better than crashing!!!!
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Road Warrior
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,382
Likes: 4
From: Kennewick, WA
Wow, that is a scary thought. I'd think that a grade 1 or 2 could handle that application, but a lot of Chinese crap has replaced our old American quality. I've heard of even grade 5 and 8 Chinese made bolts failing for their intended purposes, too.
I worked in the nuclear industry and we had many safety bulletins warning us to just buy fasteners from certain certified vendors and manufacturers after having a few 'incidences" of failure. They even posted photos of counterfeit (Chinese) VS genuine grade 5 and 8 bolts.
I'd be careful before using grade 8 as they are more prone to rusting than the plated fasteners. Just don't get them too long to let them extend too far past the internal threaded portion of the risers. If the protruding end were to rust, you'd have a very hard time removing them. Use Locktite which also serves as an antiseize, but is mostly left behind before the bolt pokes through all the threads into the hollow portion of the risers.
On the other hand, if the bolt is too short with less than 1-1/2 of it's diameter engaged, then you have another problem of stripping the riser's internal threads, leading to the same possible dangerous outcome.
That's my take.
I worked in the nuclear industry and we had many safety bulletins warning us to just buy fasteners from certain certified vendors and manufacturers after having a few 'incidences" of failure. They even posted photos of counterfeit (Chinese) VS genuine grade 5 and 8 bolts.
I'd be careful before using grade 8 as they are more prone to rusting than the plated fasteners. Just don't get them too long to let them extend too far past the internal threaded portion of the risers. If the protruding end were to rust, you'd have a very hard time removing them. Use Locktite which also serves as an antiseize, but is mostly left behind before the bolt pokes through all the threads into the hollow portion of the risers.
On the other hand, if the bolt is too short with less than 1-1/2 of it's diameter engaged, then you have another problem of stripping the riser's internal threads, leading to the same possible dangerous outcome.
That's my take.
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Club Member
Joined: May 2008
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From: San Marcos, Texas
Had to leave town for a week. Had a family emergency. Today was able to test the bolts that the HD dealer supplied the last time the risers were replaced. The spec for a Grade 5 bolt is 25Rc-34Rc for the core. The one that sheared was at a 12Rc. Which is half of what the spec is. The one that didn't shear was a 25Rc. Which is at the bottom of the spec. I guess this is a lesson on where are your fastners are manufactured. I will be calling to find out where they were obtained. I have replaced them with some USA Grade 8 bolts. I will also test the Grade 8 bolts for there Rc. Called dealer this am. He said the bolts were from HD supply. Now to call HD on there supplier... See what the MOCO has to say...
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TexasMotorcycleRider
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Jan 2, 2019 07:31 AM
