For me the HDForums has become a wealth of knowledge. I can find almost anything, but I was unable to find a solution to my problem. So I decided to start a thread to help others who may encounter problems when installing an Arlen Ness Real Steel Rapper Front Fender. I paid $300 for a 21” fender on 5/24. I was told the part was in stock, but after a week I was told that it was actually on back order. I am fine with waiting, so wait I did. The fender finally arrived on 7/16. It was unpainted, but I have a paint shop, so no problem. The fender was soon freshly painted Vivid Black and I went home to install it on my 2016 Electra Glide.





First, there were no instructions. Installation should be dummy proof if instructions were not needed (or so I thought). After matching up the bolts, “U” brackets, fender and the front forks I hand tightened all 4 bolts/nuts. (No brainer to this point) Once that was completed, I started to tighten the first bolt. I quickly realized that I had a problem. The nyloc nuts were not threading onto the bolts! They were difficult to screw on, but I thought this was how they were supposed to go on. After checking and double checking and re-checking, I had gotten one bolt so tight that the nut and hex head were stripped. As I backed the other bolts out, I could see that the nyloc nut was cutting the bolt threads with each turn. I was able to get the other 3 bolts off, but I had to CUT the stripped bolt in half in order to get the fender off the front forks. As you can see in the pictures, I damaged my front fork, the “U” bracket and the bolt in the process! After 4 hours, a cut bolt, damaged parts, and no fender I was not happy!




The next day I called Arlen Ness. They could not help me with any install tips or instructions. I told them my problem, and they pushed it off on a bad bolt and sent me a new hardware pack. After a few days the hardware came in. I went to check the fitting of the bolt to the nyloc nut, and AGAIN they did not fit! I immediately called Arlen Ness, and they transferred me to an Engineer. After convincing him to go and try to tighten the nut on the bolt, he finally realized the problem. The bolt was a metric bolt and all the other hardware was standard. He looked and found a standard-threaded chrome bolt. After waiting…again… for more hardware to arrive, the bolts came in. Guess what? Three of the bolts still did not work with the nyloc nuts. It was obvious that I had to take care of this on my own, so I went off to CarQuest. After 1.5 hours and hand selecting new nyloc nuts, I was FINALLY ready to install my new fender.

Finally, after a simple 5 minutes, I was able to install the shinny new Arlen Ness Real Steel Rapper Front Fender. As of 8/21 the Arlen Ness Fender is finally installed, and I really like the way it looks!





I have to say that I love everything Arlen Ness, and I will be ordering more parts from them in the future. Take it from me, if you order this fender, visit your local auto parts tore to get the proper bolts and nyloc nuts. It will save you about 2.5 months, damaged forks, and TONS of frustration!

Has anyone else had these problems with this fender?

 

No, the only Fender I've ever had a problem with was a Japanese Stratocaster that I bought to install a MIDI pickup on & ....ooops! wrong forum!