I have an 08 street glide which developed a stumble to it and after having it tuned twice it still had the stumble to it. I got to thinking it had to be a vacuum leak. sure enough I went and bought a can of CRC throttle body cleaner and sprayed the manifold where it bolts to the head on both front and back ports. when spraying the front port the bike would shut off. spraying the back made no difference. question is how hard or how much of a PITA is it to change these gaskets? any input would be helpful in making my decision on me doing it or taking it somewhere else.

 

1 more question. could I have done damage to the motor with it running so lean on the front cylinder?

 

It's not easy to get at the 1/4 allen bolts but with a HD 1/4 ball allen ratchet it's doable if you take off the a/c and backing plate and horn. Easier with tank and one rocker box off.
As far as engine damage, depends on mileage running lean but more than likely it's fine.

 

I put about 3K on it after it started doing this

 

Damage is unlikely IMO, but fix the issue and then run a compression test.

 

10-4 will do and post back after its fixed

 

You don't need to take any rocker boxes off if you have the proper tools. Also, a 4" ball allen 3/8" drive would be good to have on hand

 

I just did my '02 FXD a couple of months ago - since I bought it last fall, I had to run with the choke on. The dealer offered to do the work but I wanted to do it myself (<-- FUSSY!) so they have me the parts and a carb overhaul kit.

Taking the tank off, though a PITA, made the job a LOT easier, particularly for a first-timer.

I picked up a long Allen wrench of the appropriate size (available and only cost pennies) and put about a 15 degree bend in the long arm - worked great for the 2 hard to get at screws. While I was in there, I replaced the Allen screws with new ones (again only pennies).

Having the tank off made it much easier to get the manifold centred between the cylinders as well - it WASN'T centred when I took it apart, which may have been why it started leaking.

It wasn't a difficult job - just take your time and don't get in a hurry. There are some great videos on YouTube with lots of helpful hints.

BTW it totally fixed my lean-running problem!