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Riser Bolt Broke

brownfoxx1 said:
normally vibration will work bolts etc. loose or break them off, as i had on a 09 trike, the steering dampener bolts (1 broke off in the head) and the other fell on the hwy. i used a lower grade replacement bolt (so if it happens again i can drill the bolt for a e-z out. also used anti-seize and safety-wired the bolt heads.
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I would NOT RECOMMEND that for 2 reasons...the lower grade bolt would break easier, and if it happened on the road, you really would not care if a drill could cut through it easier...bouncing down the road along side your bike. :hii

I would go with higher grade bolt, anti-seize and properly torqued. H-D does it's research, and 01dynaglide's failure I believe is an isolated case, but one worth noting in your maintenance notes :newsmile091:
 
NEWHD74FAN said:
I would NOT RECOMMEND that for 2 reasons...the lower grade bolt would break easier, and if it happened on the road, you really would not care if a drill could cut through it easier...bouncing down the road along side your bike. :hii:hii

I would go with higher grade bolt, anti-seize and properly torqued. H-D does it's research, and 01dynaglide's failure I believe is an isolated case, but one worth noting in your maintenance notes :newsmile091:
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I agree with you except "use a higher Grade bolt", I would use the recommended bolt. Higher Grade could mean more brittle in some cases and could fracture quicker.
 
Just for the sake of oh-dark-30 coffe time, wake up chat... It seems that the TRUE fix would be larger diameter bolt. BUT, not very practical since you'd have to find or fabricate new bushings and tap out the risers...
 
Thanks for posting. I'm going to T-Bars (hopefully) in the near future and I'm just gonna put new riser bolts in when I do it. I've already bought the neophrene damper washer kit. I would say they are equal importance to rear pulley bolts which are recommended replaced upon removal.

Some time back putting my OEM bars back on, one of my OEM riser top clamp threads stripped. I was tightening it up and felt it give just a little so I stopped immediately and removed it. I don't think I had it over torqued because I was still tightening it up before even putting the torque wrench on it. Upon inspection it appeared to only be the top 3 threads, and they almost looked normal, just a little flattened. The clamp bolt looked in good shape with no signs of any trama. I threw the riser in the trash and went to the local and bought a new one.

I would imagine that apes (even OEM mini apes) and hi rise T-bars like we all love put much more torque on these riser bolts.
 
Charlies Harley said:
It would be interesting to know what grade the oem bolts are, both grade 8 and grade 5 have their application.
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Mine had grade 5 designation. Prolly be a good thing to use grade 8 but for normal use I think grade 5 specs would be sufficient. (definitely wouldn't use less than grade 5)

Sometimes there is an overtorque in the bikes history that can weaken the bolt causing it to fail at a later time, or when excess handlebar pressure is applied say like the bike drops or crashes. Course obviously you know all this, but just saying.
 
it could have been worse


Went for a morning ride, checked her over before I left everything was fine, sat on about 70mph, beautiful day about 26c, I was loving it the bike was loving it, at about the 25 mile marker I felt the steering go a bit loose, so I started to stop and check it out, then I heard a ting as the bolt dropped, meanwhile was going down gears and going for the brakes, kept her upright till I was at about 10mph then everything turned to (EDIT) , sent me straight across the opposite lane, lucky no traffic was coming ,and into an embankment where I fell (EDIT) over head with the bike on top of me, this guy comes along and checks to see if I was Ok then drives off, at least he checked. Looked over the bike very little damage, so I rang the missus to bring the ute and trailer but she was crook in bed, rang the mate, his missus had taken off to do shopping and he could'nt leave the pub till she got back (he's the Publican) so I'm sitting there trying to figure out what to do when my next door nieghbour pulls up with an empty trailer and gives me a lift, not quite sure what happened for the bolt to fall out, but there you go (EDIT) happens even on a nice day. Thought to myself I'm glad no one was videoing this, as it would have looked funny as .
Dave

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I would almost be tempted to use studs instead of bolts. Course thread with anti-sieze into risers and fine thread sticking out of bottom. Studs are always better at torqueing. You wouldn't be putting twisting stress on the risers, just a straight pull.
It's not riding time yet, I think I'll look into changing mine, as I just put different risers on and reused the stock HD bolts.
wilks3
:USA
 
fisherman124 said:
it could have been worse
Went for a morning ride, checked her over before I left everything was fine, ..... ... ... my next door nieghbour pulls up with an empty trailer and gives me a lift, not quite sure what happened for the bolt to fall out, but there you go ..... Dave
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Wow what a day that had to have been. Sounds like you handled it about as well as possible. It certainly could have been worse. Actually if by chance someone had been videoing the whole thing you probably would have gotten 1st place on some of the TV video shows.

I'm wondering what kind of handlebars you were running. I've already decided on putting new bolts in next time I change my bars.
 
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