Before I get flamed. I have used the search function, and read all of the other posts, they give me hope, little else.

I have been trying to install Samson S-3-469's (2012 28.5" longtails) on my deluxe. I am not too impressed with the instructions. there are only 2 pics and they are 1" square grainy B&W. When I mounted the stock flange and snap ring on the rear U pipe, the flange would not square up with the face of the pipe ( the outside of the flange, on the bottom, binds on the U-pipe, not allowing it to rotate far enough to be square) So I took the flange off and used a dremel to place a bevel on the flange. one problem fixed. I tried everything I have to try to get a socket on the rear lower exhaust nut and no dice!! Gonna buy a crows foot or take the U pipe back off ( for the 100th time!) and beat a dent with a hammer. I have had serious trouble with the U-pipe. Following the instructions and leaving all joints loose until the end WILL guarantee an exhaust leak at the exhaust gasket. The U pipe need to be in place and tight before trying to fit the cross over, or it will either be hitting on the fins of the rear jug or on the bracket for the coil mount as the face of the U-pipe/ gasket seat interface has very little room for miss alignment. I am beginning to think my U-pipe is bent and welded wrong, when the face of the u-pipe is seated against the exhaust gasket, the u-pipe hits the fins...once I get this figured out the rest should be a piece of cake. the high side is done already, except the heat shields. been working on it about 10 hours now. I have invented cuss words..

 

I had similar problems when installing my set of 39s. The rear head pipe had to short a radius so I could not get a socket on the lower flange bolt. I had to heat and bend the open end a wrench so that I could get to the nut. There was not even enough clearance between the nut and the bend in the pipe to get the box end of the wrench on the nut. I looked at a couple of other Samson dual systems and noticed that the rear head pipe on those guys bikes had a larger radius, which means it curved farther out to the right side of the bike before curving in and over the trans. Both of those guys said they were able to easily tighten the lower flange bolt with a socket. They looked at mine and agreed that mine was definitely not the same head pipe as theirs as far as have the same radius to it. When I got ready to install the heat shield on the rear header pipe it didn't have the same radius as the pipe. It actually had a larger radius than the pipe. If the pipe would have had the same radius as the heat shield then I know I would not have had a problem getting to the lower flange nut. I had to bend the heat shield to a smaller radius to get it to fit the pipe. I called Samson about it and they proceeded to question my mechanical abilities. Never mind the fact that I have been wrenching on bikes for over 20 years so I knew what I was talking about. I got tired of listening to the guys **** and hung the phone up on him.

 

I always use a wobbly extension before I put the heat shields on. Never had an issue with that. On the front lower flange nut I use an open end wrench.

 

A wobble extension would have been nice but like I said there was no way to get a socket on the rear lower flange nut. There was not even enough clearance between the nut and pipe to get a box end wrench on it. This was all attempted before the heat shield was installed.

 

agreed. I had the bare socket in hand, and got it on, but there is no way in the world that the universal or extension will go...

Also, my heat shield fitment looks like an after though as well.

 

I got a socket on the lower flange nut of mine.

 

Mine was a little tight so I tried my 1/4" drive socket set and was able to get on the flange nuts to tighten them up.

 

If you have an old socket set and you don't mind making modifications to the proper fitting socket, try grinding the top of the socket down to a cone shape so that it clears the pipe and fits squarely on the flange nut.

You might even have to use a large flat bladed screwdriver to fit into the head of the socket to tighten the flange bolt. It is tight back there, but things will work out for you.

 

Please read my original post again, but this time carefully. I looked at two other bikes that had Samson duals. Both of them had different shaped rear head pipes than mine. Even the owners of the other two bikes looked at mine and said that it was not normal looking. I understand that you are supposed to be able to get to the nut with a socket. You could not get to the nut with a socket on the pipe I had, I tried 3/8" drive and 1/4" drive. The sockets would not even start to go onto the nut. Grinding them down to a cone shape would not have helped because if I could have then gotten the socket onto the nut then I would have been able to get a swivel or extension in the end of the socket because of the radius of the pipe being so small and curving down right in front of the socket. As a matter of fact the radius was so small that I could not even get a box end wrench over the nut because there was not enough clearance between the nut and the pipe. I am sure lots of people had no problems getting their system bolted up. But, at least two of us are not in that group and I can promise you it is not because of my mechanical ability.

 

sounds to me like Samsons headers are not bent consistently the same every time...do they have a guy in the basement bending them over his knee like they used to do when making roof tiles in mexico? You get a fat guy and a skinny guy making two different shaped roof tiles...I installed a shitload of mexican roof tiles and its funny as hell, you can tell by looking at them that they are made by different sized guys.