On my ride to work this morning I started to hear an exhaust leak and then a few miles down the road it sounded as if the top end of the motor was coming apart. I stopped and found that both front nuts and one rear nut had not only backed off but were totally gone. I was able to find some nuts at work to replace them. Bike runs fine after this replacement. This is all on a 2009 CVO Fat Bob with a D&D Fat Cat exhaust which was installed by the dealer before I bought the bike.

I intend on bringing the bike into the dealer to have the "proper" hardware reinstalled. Any advice on preventing this or other missing chit in the future? Do I have to periodically re-torque bolts and nuts or could this just have been an assembly error? Does exhaust need to be "hot torqued?

Thanks for any insight!

 

Yeah, I find mine need to be checked and re tightened periodically. I have two twin cams and they both act the same way. My buds all have the same problem too. Just check them every few weeks. You shouldn't lock tight them. I use high temp anti seize on the studs to keep them from seizing. I much prefer tightening the nuts occasionally to busting a stud in the head and the problems that go with that situation. They need to be torqued to 100-120 in. lbs.

 

When I had my Sporty, I found that any time I rode more than 500 miles at highway speeds in a given day, I would have to check the bolts or otherwise they would be gone the next day.

 

Swedged SS nuts?

 

I have an 09 XL that the rear exhaust. the nuts keep coming off... I went to the dealer with it at 8600 miles this shouldn't happen.. they found the studs are bad and are going to replace them,, they are thinking since both are bad perhaps this is a bad batch,,, HD Factory warranty is covering this,,, Maybe this is a defective piece .. I don't know,,,seems that the posts here are all on 2009 models

 

Haven't dropped one yet. Don't really pay attention to them either. Could be an '09 problem.

 

this occurs on my 09 RG all the time; every couple weeks I have the exhaust leak sound - have not lost one (nut) yet -- there has to be a better way to keep them tight.

 

I got metal (not plastic insert) 5/16-24 lock nuts from the local Fastenal store. Had to buy a bag of 10 but the whole thing was less than $3.

 

The last OEM nuts I bought were swedged but not SS.