So I picked up a set of Rocker Lockers a little while ago and finally decide to install them. They were an impulse buy near the cash register when I was ordering something else. When I started reading on how to install them I got a little nervous and that's why I put it off for a while.
I run my life on impulse and on Tuesday I was not feeling well at work so I left early and went home and slept for 3 hours. When I woke up the little voice in my head said "hey lets pull the bike apart the install those Rocker Lockers".
Like most things I just jumped in and started taking bolts off. At first I thought I may be able to do it without taking the gas tank completely off and just undo the back bolt and lift it out of the way. Yeah don't do that.

After a quick google search about how to remove a Sportster gas tank things really got moving.

I have found that when you just "jump in" things take a lot longer then planned. I fumbled around for a bit but finally got everything apart. I was a little confused about using the Teflon guide first to line things up as I couldn't see anything inside the bolt sleeve. I did it anyway because the instructions said that part was very important.

It was running late by now and I had only finished one head so I bolted everything back up and decided to finish the other head today (more later).
While I was bolting the head back on I start to thinking that I missed a very important step in this process and started to freak out a little. When I woke up in the morning I was still freaking out and ran outside and put my tank back on to see if I just destroyed my bike. Thankfully it fired up with no problem.

So now here my bike sits with one head with the Rockers installed and the other head stock. So what is a guy to do??? Well take a video of course.
I was hoping to show the difference between the two but I don't know if it comes through on the video. Warning there is some nudity in this video.

 

Can you hear a difference in person? How big of a difference? Worthwhile?

 

SO FAR I can hear a little difference in person. I will give better report when the other head is done. Hopefully tonight.

 

it´s easy to hear the difference , would have been nice with a before video, so you would have 3 video´s in total

regards
Sören

 

agreed

Did I mention I was not feeling well.
Quick tip - when your doctor tells you not to stop your meds without talking to her you should listen.

 

Well that was fun.

Put the bike up on the stand tonight to put in the remaining two Rocker Lockers.
Everything was going smooth until I got to the point of putting the shims into place. Just like the first two I put the shims in and start to tighten it into place.
I look down while tightening and see that the shim has curled and flared at the top from the pressure of the bolt.








Well the thing is most of the way down and there is no way to pull it back out. Now I am thinking I am ****ed and just destroyed my head. After a minute I head to the tool bench and grab my Dremel tool. I grab a roll of Gorilla tape and cover up the head and start grinding.








I get it down to flush and test the bolt, it goes in so I clean it up to make sure there are no shavings left in the head. I get everything all bolted up but I am pissed about that one shim. It will always bother me that it is not perfect in there.

Good news, it bolts back together really easy. I put the gas tank back on and get ready to fire it up. After doing major surgery like that I am always very nervous to fire the bike up. After several deep breaths I hit the switch and it roars to life.

I only ran it for a couple of minutes and did not ride it but it does seem quieter, I will give a better report tomorrow after I go for a run.

 

UPDATE - So I was able to ride yesterday and this is what I came up with.

The bike is A LOT quieter and without all that ticking noise feels a lot smoother. The smoother part may be just in my head but the bike does feel different.

When I got the bike up and cruising at 80 kph I actually looked down to see if the engine was still running it was that quiet. I am hoping to take a longer run today and will take a longer highway run to re confirm.

Highly recommend doing this mod, best $15 you can spend on your bike.

Now for the cons - now with the bike being so quiet I can hear myself singing while I ride and that's just no good for anybody.

 

How long do you think it took to do this? I realize you ran into some problems but it you didn't factor that time in, how long to you think it took? I want to do this but I am a bit nervous about it.

 

Probably could be done (if done right) in about 5-6 hours. Some of the bolts are a pain in the *** to get out but everything is pretty straight forward. Watch out for the rocker plate gasket, it is metal and pretty sharp. Sliced my thumb open and bled all over my rockers. There is now part of me inside my bike, like blood brothers.

 

Rocker gaskets are on my list of winter projects this year and while I have it apart I'm going to install these too, thanks for the post on this.