Was wondering if the swing arm bolt on 84 to 88 softails is needed to be one piece across the swing arm if you are using different shocks that don't use the canisters that mount on the bolt or could you use a single bolt for each side eliminating the long bolt? Would there be alignment problems or any other problems?

 

That piece is a tube with a bolt on each side...it stiffens the frame in that area, and I believe handling would suffer from flex if it was removed.

 

Changed in 89 but mostly just all the oil being in the shock rather then the remote reservoir. Still has the spreader bar.

 

Thanks Tom84FXST, I was wondering cause I went to a 200 tire on my 84 three years ago and did the conversion the same way you did. I used a pivot bolt kit which is similar to what is used on a 2006 softail, which is a bolt that goes across the entire length and eliminates the threaded tube. The handling has been excellent. The reason I was wondering about replacing it was because I was thinking about moving my oil filter in that area and the bolt was in the way but I'm gonna keep it up front so it gets a little cooling when riding. Thanks for your reply.