Been wading down thru the various model sections and reading some of the problems guys run into/cause. Of course, since this is the internet (thank you Algore!) there seems to be plenty of advice from the peanut gallery. Thankfully, there are a few guys who willingly ask the right questions to get to the bottom of the tenderfoot's question/dilemma, and offer good advice.

That said, for those who've been wrenching, repairing, chopping, and often just downright butchering these muttersickles we love, what have been some of your "Damn, I wish I hadn't done that!" screw-ups over the decades?

To start:
1 - Forgot the ground wire on the Bosch regulator on my '72 XLCH and couldn't figure out why the generator wouldn't charge. Two generators later, which were big bucks for an enlisted swabbie, I found my screw-up.

2 - Was adding a couple pieces of flatbar to the fender struts on a later version of the XLCH - rigid frame - so I could add a pack to the sissy bar for a long road trip. I didn't put anything behind the strut/in front of the tire while I drilled the mounting holes. Yep, drill bit broke through the fender strut and sunk into the sidewall. Hissssssss! New tube fixed that one!

3 - Rewired the XLCH and needed a toggle switch for the ignition. Found one in a kitchen drawer in the rent trailer. I checked it with the multimeter and it was "good". 'Bout a week later I'm coming home from the shipyard I worked at and the bike quits. Ease out of traffic and onto what passed for the side of the road - guardrail with just enough room for the bike, but no room for me - and found a blown fuse. I did the ol' chewing gum foil wrapper around the fuse, reach for the toggle switch, and find it is mostly a disassembled pile of parts. Oh well, cut the wires, strip them back, twist them together, and off we go. 'Course, the wires seem to occasionally hit the frame and the bike quits, but starts right back up when the short-to-ground goes away as they vibrate away from the frame. Hmm, need some insulation! Find a Marlboro box, cut a hole in the bottom, pull the wires apart, slip them into the cig pack, twist them together, and cover the splice with the pack. We're good to go. Rode it that way for almost a month ... good conversation piece, y'know?

4 - Didn't like the headlight on the '87 Sloptail as it was the typical "can't see nothin'" HD light. Found a 90/100 watt replacement lamp, slapped it in, and melted the lamp holder after a couple days. Makes a little more heat!

5 - Had a too-tight primary belt and ordered a slightly longer version from Primo. It went on easily, but this ol' boy put the inside guide on backwards. Kept finding fuzz in my primary after each ride (semi-open primary). Finally noticed the belt was considerably narrower, then noticed why. Stupid ...

6 - Had a 77 inch stroker motor in the XLCH and wanted to get take advantage of the extra power by increasing the tranny sprocket and reducing the rear sprocket. Got the change made and wanted to see how it ran. Too much of a hurry. Forgot to do the chain adjuster on one side. Got down the road a couple miles, dropped the hammer, and the rear wheel moved/cocked to one side. Oops.

7 - Last one here, but not the only other screw-up over the last 39 years: Needed front wheel bearings on the XLCH. Found a cross reference for some sealed bearings and decided they'd be a great thing - no more pulling the wheel off every 10k for a regrease job. Got everything together and was riding into work on a cool winter morning. Crossing what was the "new" Cooper River Bridge in Charleston, SC back in the late 1970s when the front started shuddering, and it felt like the brake locked up. It let loose, then did it again, this time shoving me to the side of the bridge where I rubbed the side close enough to look about 100 feet down into the mud flats. I got stopped and found the wheel cocked to the side, causing the rotor to jam in the caliper. My cross referencing didn't include finding a bearing that could take the side thrust. After tearing into it there was an outer race, an inner race, and nothing left of the rest of the pieces.

Anybody else less than perfect on the learning-to-wrench journey?

 

Snapped off a spark plug un the head of my old VW. Landed up pulling the motor to get the stupid thing removed.

 

Got married to my ex wife.

 

Mounted my gremlin bell between the front forks above the fender, never thinking my fender would go up so far as to hit the bell. Well damn, now I have a sizable dimple in the front fender.

 

Back when I was a kid the ignition switch went out on my SX175. Got the new switch and proceeded to swap them out.

Wouldn't have taken nearly as long, or cost nearly as much, if I would have pulled one wire off at a time and immediately put it on the new switch in the same spot. I couldn't believe how many stinkin' wires that little bike had going to just the ignition switch.


Not mechanical screw up, but I did a wheelie across a mud hole once that turned out to be a sink hole. Bike sunk to the seat with the front wheel straight up in the air. I liked to never got it out.

 

Yep Skip, I too have been a idiot holding a wrench a bunch of times, but the only one that caused a crash was putting on too short of a throttle cable on an old Honda I had. Went around a slow, tight corner, and the cable shortness problem kicked in. Bike reved up unexpectantly, launched me into a pole...... It was a crappy bike anyways.... That's what I was telling myself when I scrapped her...

 

Most times when you screw up, you are the only one that knows about it. But I did one my kids have never forgotten. I was mowing the lawn when the motor quit, and I saw that the carburater was loose, and the gasket was toast. So I pulled the carb, made a new gasket, reinstalled the carb, and proceded to start the mower. I pulled the rope about 20 times before I realized in my haste I had forgotten to cut the hole in the middle of the gasket. My boys were there through the whole thing and really yucked it up when they saw what I did.

 

I replaced all of the top end o-rings on the sporty with some "never leak" wiz-bang telfon ones. You can imagine how that worked out. Took 5 men to lift it in the back of my pickup. Since went back to OEM.

 

Ditto, on the guardian bell, bike was brand new, cost me $300.

 

Here's why you never hire a friend to work on your vehicles. Had him replace a timing chain on a truck of mine. He made the gasket himself out of gasket material since he couldn't find one anywhere. Well, he forgot to put the oil flow hole in it. Truck ran for a few minutes before seizing up. Tough lesson learned.