Ine have been re torqued at least 4 times and my base gaskets won't seal anymore(go figure).
The heads of the bolts are also rusty.

Are the colony studs and bolts okay?

The S&S ones are the cheapest, which makes me curious. Fueling is way overkill for me.

 

I used Colony head bolts when I did my 1250 kit, good quality and no issues after almost 4 years. I did not touch the base studs.

OC Springer probably knows more about the studs issue than anyone, he just went through it a few months ago.

John

 

I went with oem studs as I heard mixed reviews on the other studs out there. I shelled out $$$ for stainless arp head bolts though because they're purdy and I hate rusty head bolts.

I've never had any issues with colony hardware though either. It seems pretty standard that the studs go after a few times being torqued. I would replace them every few time you replace the heads. I think Dan at hammer said 4 or 5 times and they likely need replacement when I spoke to him about it. You might get more out of them but it sucks to have to tear everything back down because you have a bolt that won't torque properly.

 

None of the studs have backed out yet, but my luck they will when I try to replace the bolts this time. So I will purchase them just in case.

Thank you

 

Ive had my heads off and on countless times over the last 12 years, multiple bikes, all over 120 hp. Zero problems with studs/head bolts.

 

That’s reusing cometic base/head/rocker gaskets multiple times too

 

Great. I'm not sure what your point is. I'm not sure what hp has to do with it either. It's really easy to know when they need to be replaced because the head bolt will back out a bit on the final torque. You can feel it in the wrench also.

It stands to reason that putting a lot of torque on a long thin stud will weaken the stud every time you do it.

 

I think the point was that it takes higher cylinder pressure to make higher HP.

 

The comment adds nothing to the conversation other than to imply that people experiencing peoblems with the cylinder studs are doing something wrong. Frankly since it's a reply to my comment I take it as I am doing something wrong to cause the problem. It's actually not uncommon when replacing the top end. And I really doubt too much hp is a factor in cylinder stud failure on a Sportster.

 

The Evo Sportster cylinder studs are NOT torque to yield one time use studs! Torquing them to spec several times isn't going to hurt them at all. If they are not holding torque then some "mechanic" has over torqued them to their yield (stretch) point and/or the threads in cases have been knackered, usually from over tightening!! Possibly they could have been previously removed then reinstalled or changed out by someone who didn't have a clue!!