Arlen Ness has made good on mine and a few others here on the site. They shipped a new one with no questions asked. Didn't even have to ship the old one back. As long as it was with in the 1 year warranty.

 

Well, they won't cover mine I will make a last attempt to call again tomorrow. Since I last posted, I did figure out that it was my mistake. This video helped.THe instructions were a bit hard to follow. Just wish I would've found the video before I installed it. Anyone know where I can order the plate other than from arlen ness? Jp cycles has one but it isn't for the kit that I have. I've got the stage 1 big sucker natural kit for xl models. I have been looking everywhere online with no luck. Thanks!

Here's a link to the video:

http://blog.arlenness.com/AN_videos/..._video_s1.html

 

Anyone else have a problem installing the breather bolts? It says to use the hex shaped bolts with the small holes for 08 models, but they barely fit. There isn't enough room to tighten them down. Youre supposed to torque them but its impossible to get a socket around them. I was barely able to tighten them with the tip of the wrench. Wtf?

 

Anyone else have a problem installing the breather bolts? It says to use the hex shaped bolts with the small holes for 08 models, but they barely fit. There isn't enough room to tighten them down. Youre supposed to torque them but its impossible to get a socket around them. I was barely able to tighten them with the tip of the wrench. Wtf?

 

I cracked 2 of them ness backing plates. Got tired of em breaking went and bought me a heavy breather. Those backing plates are cheap pieces of ****. The second one I actually broke hand tightening. After that I decided I won't buy nothing else from ness.

 

I broke mine during the initial install as well. I tried to fix it, thinking that it was probably my fault for over tightening... Took it off yesterday to do some carb work and found the fix didn't hold.

After reading this thread I decided to call Dennis Kirk and they had no warranty info so wanted me to send it back so the could investigate, yada yada yada... So I called Ness directly and they are sending a new backing plate today without question. To me that indicates that they know there's a problem, but they're probably so cheap to make that they just replace the broken ones and life goes on. I have yet to see how it works, but I doubt I would buy another one or recommend it to anyone. Very disappointed!

 

I bought some extra gaskets for the throttle body and measured with a feeler gauge to see how much gap there was between the backing plate and throttle body mounting surface with the head bolts bolted up. Then I added enough gaskets to take up the slack. Too many variables between the heads/intake/throttle body for a cast piece to fit exact.

 

Reviving an old thread. I was doing an advanced MSF class this morning and the bike kept stalling at idle. Pulled the air cleaner to check and clean the idle air controller and found my backing plate was cracked in the exact place. The plate seperated in two pieces the chunk being about 1" square around the bottom bolt.

 

Mine cracked also but I realized that it was probably my own fault. I was getting oil seepage from one of the breather bolts and thought that if I tightened them down good and tight it would solve the problem.

Next thing I knew, POP, plate cracked from too much torque on the breather bolts.

I chucked the Ness plate and went with the Fuel Moto Plate which will never crack but to solve the oil drip issue, I went to Home Dept and bought the white sealer in a tube that plumbers use that is heat resistant up to 400+ degrees and stays flexible for easy removal. Now the breather bolts don't have to be too tight and there's no oil seepage.

 

Add me to the list. I pulled my filter to wash it a couple weeks ago and found the same cracks. Unfortunately mine was on the bike for about a year and a half so I couldn't get a warranty replacement. I ordered a replacement back plate from Ness directly and the new one is marked "Rev A" and is much thicker than the first one. I installed it and torqued to spec - I'll keep an eye on it for the first year and ask for a replacment if necessary.