I'm embarrassed to say this...
 

Last night it took me about 5 hours to install a set of V&H slip-ons on my Fatboy.

I've owned various bikes over the years, including a Streetbob. I've done exhaust on all of them with never any problems. I do all the maintenance on them as well. The Fatboy is my second harley.

I'm sure I'm missing something here, but for the life of me I could not get to the bolts attaching the mufflers to the bracket. I didn't realize that I needed a service manual to do a set of slip-ons. (Which should be a 30 minute job). Either V&H left something out of the instructions, or I'm missing a special tool.

Please help me figure this out.

Dang....I installed set of Rush slip ons .... took 30 min to remove OEMs .. then about same to install Rush's. And .... I took a c&p break. I got nothin.

at least you did it yourself

Nothing to be embarrassed about. If you're doing the job trying to beat the flat rate to earn a living, how long a job takes you is important. If you're working for yourself for relaxation and to save a few bucks who cares? IMO, one of the best reasons for doing your own work is that you can take the time to do it right.

With that said I doubt there's any special tool you're missing. Just a matter of what works for Lean manufacturing doesn't always translate into easy to repair or replace.

I installed the entire D & D Fat cat with removing the old exhaust in under an hour!

Hey Dizzy
Don't feel like the lone ranger I done the same thing on my FBL. I think the way to go if you have a manuel to tell you, is to remove the bracket and mount the mufflers and then reinstalll the bracket and mufflers at the same time.

I finally got mine by instaling bottom muffler w/4 bolts first and them fought to get the top muffler with 2 bolts started. Used a 3/8 rachet wrench on all bolts with blue loctite.

I'm with you on this..
took me 30 mins to do the flht
took me several hours to do the crossbones..mufflers hard to get off..bolts hard to get at..muffler clamps did not want to go back over the new mufflers..lol
got er done though

Don't be embarrassed....doing your own work is pretty rewarding and a lot of guys won't even attempt it. Apart from saving a lot of $$$, I wouldn't know much about my bike if I didn't do all the mods myself.

I tried to take the bracket off. Could not figure out how to undo the part where the passenger foot peg and bracket mount to the frame. I just don't unerdtand why HD would design a muffler bracket that mounts so close to the swing arm where you can't access the bolts. I had to make 1/4 inch turns on 6 bolts to take them off and put them on. There's just no room.

I cheated the bottom bolts I put on the slip-ons and put the nut on the outside. You can't see it and was a lot easier than trying to put the bolts inside the little brackets on the slip-ons. Main thing is they sound and look good.