Installing a cycle visions Baggertail kit on my 2012 FLSTN. Instructions say the following:

"Note: On 2008 and UP Softails, remove the rear axle and install from the opposite side of the bike. Add the 1 1/4" spacer between the inside of the frame and the lower bag rail on the left side."

Has anyone done this install and did you really have to pull the axle??

Thanks

 

A lot of people that run right side exhaust do that anyway during a tire change just because it makes removing the axle later down the road easier because you will not have to mess with the exhaust. I think Cycle Vision is saying to do this because when it comes time to remove the rear wheel it will be easier to remove just the left bag and pull the axle than to remove the exhaust or upper muffler. That's if the bag hangs down below the axle.

 

Thanks Ghostrider.

Your buttocks are scintillating by the way

 

When I installed mine, I thought to myself..wtf should I reverse the axle? So I didnt. After I installed my hardbags and rode it a few times, I noticed why they say that. The axle is closer to the left bag than it is to the right bag which still doesnt make any sense to me but it is. The tip of the axle was rubbing on the inside of my left bag. I dont have a jack and I didnt want to remove everything that I had already installed so I just took an angle grinder to the edge of the axle where it was rubbing the bag. I didnt have to take off more than an 1/8th of an inch just on the front edge. As soon as I need new rubber on the rear, I'll just reverse the axle.

 

My indy was putting new whitewall tires on my heritage and I got a phone call from him to ask if it was OK to flip the axle around so its on the other side. I would been pissed on the side of the road with a rear flat and having to loosen the exhaust to get the axle out to remove the tire. I'm not really sure but I think its something about it prevents the axle from loosening and comming off the bike by having it run into the exhaust pipe