Won't put the spring on for you but might save you a lot of pain and suffering until you get home. Will also keep that kickstand from dropping in the event you break the spring whether moving or sitting at a light. I bought one for safety reasons and peace of mind. Check out the website below.


http://www.harleykickstands.com/

 

Thanks for the forum I just went for a 4 hour ride today with my newly purchased Road Glide and went to put the kick stand down as I pulled in to the garage and the spring popped off...........Saw this thread and pulled out a 11/16 wrench and unscrewed the top *nut* and removed the locking tab. Then rotated the kickstand forward enough to easily put the spring back through the kickstand hole them pushed the kickstand towards the back of the bike and reinstalled the locking tab and the top nut and was finished. I initially busted out the vise grips and after 15 minutes there was no way it was happening

 

That is the easiest fix. I learned that trick a very long time ago.

I just replaced my buddy's spring that way. His was stretched out and dragged the kick stand around left corners.

 

come on fellas, whats with all the bending and sticking coins/washers, etc. in....

just do it the easy way

 

C'mon Skratch, everybody knows the manual is wrong, the manfacturer wrote it. And those guys that have been riding HD forever, and have changed many of those springs in five minutes, well we all know they don't know what they're talking about, but hey, vise grip sales might go up ........

 

"The worlds an imperfect place. Screws fall out all the time."

- John Bender -

 

After fighting with my vise grips I came and did a search and did it this way. Worked perfect.

 

Why not carry this spring in the extended position?
Might sound stupid but it would be really nice to install it without tools and the bike resting on it's stand.

 

thats a good thought in theory, but in practice odds are that by the time you needed the spring, it would be too fatigued to go back to regular length....

i broke mine one day when i hit a pothole in a parking lot. took me all of 5 mins to change it with having one guy hold the bike up while i took the bolt out.

you might want to invest in some quality tools, if the tolerances are so far off that an 11/16 wrench fits where an 1/2 should

 

I like your "rolls of dimes" solution. I just spent over an hour helping a bud put on a new kickstand spring, We put his bike on a HF M/C lift, and had to remove 3 of the four bolts holding the front attachment plate for the spring, in order to have enough slack to affix the spring.

My only question is: Why didn't you provide this KISS method earlier? (: