while loading my streetglide on trailer, my kickstand spring got caught and came off. wondering is it hard to put back on. thanks

 

Yup! The way I fitted a new one was to remove the stand at the pivot, connect the spring at both ends, then fight the darned pivot back in place! At least I had the leverage of the stand to use. I've tried other ways, but that worked for me - eventually! Be interesting to hear what others have done.

 

Put the bike on a jack making sure kickstand is in deployed position, using an 11/16 box end wrench, remove the kickstand nut and position lock plate/stop, rotate the kickstand forward, install a new spring (chances are that you have streched the old one), move the kickstand back to center position and install nut and position lock plate/stop, and remove bike from jack. Verify that the kickstand in fact moves back to the up position and kickstand remains there from spring tension.
This has worked for me many times. Interested in others experence.

 

I've hqd this happen many times on my '08 FLHTP (not to mention all the RK's that preceded it!) out on the road. We're always hopping curbs, etc. during the normal course of our duties. All motor officers carry (or should carry) a spare kick stand spring and a pair of pliers. A set of vice grips works best. I just lean the bike over on the right side engine guard, put the kick stand in the closed position against the frame, and fit the new spring. It takes a bit of muscle, but after you've done it a time or two it comes pretty easy. No need to unbolt anything. Then just pick the bike up, making sure the stand is extended, and you're back in business.

 

I read about this but have never had to try it.

Here's how to replace a motorcycle kickstand spring using a handful of pennies. Wedge the pennies in between the coils by bending the spring back and forth. If the motorcycle kickstand spring is tightly coiled , dimes may work better. This is much easier and neater than pulling on it with pliers, and there's no chance of the spring slipping out of the pliers and doing damage.

 

I do it this way, takes just a couple of minutes.

 

That is exactly the method I use.

 

This is really the easiest. Just have some one sit on the bike to hold it up. 3 min your done...I did mine

 

I agree that this is the quickest, painless way to do it. When I was alone on the road without a jack, I leaned the bike against a smooth wall. Engine off, first gear, forks locked full left, I carefully leaned the bike right just past its balance point and supported it by the right grip end. With the forks locked and the transmission in gear, the bike is stable enough for an emergency repair.

Before I started carrying a spare spring, I used this method one time to tie the jiffy stand to the frame so it wasn't dangling. It worked fine until I wanted to park it - not handy trying to balance it while cutting a cable tie.

 

I have mental images of awkward frustration.