Hi All,
I extensively researched the forum prior to swapping my mid controls for forward controls on my 2016 Iron 883. A ton of good info out there. I thought I would share some of my thoughts based on my experience that might help others in the future. First, other posters have stated here that they were able to remove the mid controls without removing the exhaust using a shaved down Allen wrench (8mm metric). I tried this but failed. My problem was that I could not get a clean, straight cut on the Allen wrench using my angle grinder and vice (only tool I had that could cut through the Allen). I tried on two Allen wrenches and each time, there was an ever so slight angle in the cut. The heads on the bolts are not very deep, so without a clean cut on the Allen wrench, I couldn't get the Allen to seat snug and straight into the bolt head, which resulted in the Allen slipping out as I torqued hard to try to get the bolts loose. It's definitely do-able if you do it right, and in retrospect I wonder if a stubby Allen set like this would have worked - . Who knows.

I went to plan B, which was to remove the front muffler. I'm new to motorcycles, but have done DIY work on my car (e.g., change brake pads, change belt, etc.). I was a little intimidated and worried about messing something up (e.g, stripping a bolt) but man, it was very easy. I have an HD service manual that showed exactly what bolts to remove. If I recall correctly, it was 3 worm clamps on the heat shield, 2 worm clamps on the muffler heat shield, a few bolts under the muffler holding it to the frame, and the bolt that held the muffler to the header. Heat shields and muffler came right off. After I removed the muffler, I realized that the header pipe was still in the way a bit. So I loosened the 2 header bolts to give me some wiggle room. In retrospect, I wonder if I could have loosened the header bolts first without removing the muffler and whether this would have given me enough room to get a torque wrench between the muffler and the mid control bolts. That would have saved time, but again, removing the muffler so super simple. I did not get a new header gasket. I was going to order one and put the project on hold, but saw the gasket still looked good with only 2k miles on it.

As a poster had mentioned in another thread, a set of external snap ring pliers makes removing the C-clip on the brake rod super easy. Others have said to use a small screw driver, but there is a risk of deforming it or having it fly off as you pop it off and losing it. Shifter side was really easy. I had my bike in neutral when I took the mids off. I had read in another thread that you should do that, but not sure if it was necessary.

With respect to loctite, I had a set of fully assembled OEM forward controls. The service manual does not say to use loctite on the bolts to the frame. There is a youtube video out there where a guy says he put loctite on the frame bolts, but I didn't see that as necessary and the guy was just a DIY'er. The bolts holding my mids to the frame did not have loctite on them, so I didn't end up using any. I've read a lot in posts, especially with aftermarket controls off eBay, to use loctite on everything when piecing the forward controls together. But mine were already assembled so didn't want to touch em.

Cheers!

 

I was going to say, why "eff" around cutting allen wrenches, removing pipes is easy. The only time I cut an allen was to access the intake bolts on both my Sportster and Dyna. I cut it down, but it is a tool I will use again. Loctite is a must. At best things will come loose at worst things will fall off and you will never find them. sounds like ya did good and you had a service manual good job!

 

the cheapie allen set Ive had for years had problem with the same bolts, S--p on truck was pulling into the HD dealer ahead of me as I had to go get replacement bolts that I stripped, of course he had the proper sized allen sockets so I splurged for the set of those and they fit all of the fasteners on my 2011 superlow, my only issue with the forward control set was with the bolt holding the small bell crank to shifter shaft would catch on pant cuff when putting down feet when stopping, I swapped the bolt to a button style allen and solved that issue.
My only real complaint about the superlow is why on earth did they adopt the old jap bike design upper triple tree.that restrict handle bar placement , My prior 99 sporty had risers and I havent found any after market replacement upper tree to use risers on my superlow yet.
Don