Is there any benefit to buying the complete HD kit vs just piecing it out from these exchange vendors on eBay? The kit comes with the axle covers, cowbells, and sliders. 464 bucks from boardtracker. On eBay the sliders are a couple hundred give or take a few dollars depending on seller and cowbell between 40-60 bucks. Then I also have to ship my stuff back to them.

What has everyone else done?

 

Chrome exchange through ***** Shiny or Impress Plating. Not sure who the eBay vendors are but the exchange method is much cheaper than buying the parts outright and it's easy to just put the stock parts back into the box for return shipping.

Plus, you won't have stock parts just sitting on a shelf or in a random box. I don't see a benefit to buying the expensive kit. Stick with one of the reputable chrome exchanges and you get top quality parts.

 

Last 2 bikes I just ordered the kit. Comes with the seals and chrome spacers too. Other stuff your going to have to order on top of the sliders and cow bells. The chrome on my 08 SG front end which was put on in 08. Was just starting to pit a little when I traded it in in 15. And the last 2 years it sat outside where I moved I had no shed. So my thought it if it was still garage kept it would have been perfect. I just ordered it from Harley on my 16 but not the kit because I color matched my cow bells. They gave me a take off set for free to get painted so I had all my parts ready at once. Ordering it pieced out was 50 bucks cheaper without the cow bells for me.

​​​​​​​On my buddy's bike we sent his lowers out and the chrome was great. But we had to use a hone to get the axle in. Too much come is not a good thing sometimes.

 

I've done the exchange price, it was pretty simple. I think I did Rick's Plating out of California, going to do it soon again for this bike.

 

There's a lot of benefit to HD, none to you that I can see. One of the guys we ride with has the full HD setup, I went exchange with WS. I paid a lot less and in my opinion the chrome from WS looks better. The little touches he does to the hardware makes a difference and IMO his spacers etc. look way better than the HD ones. Of course there are other vendors than WS, I've seen the stuff form Sport Chrome and thought it looked better than HD as well, I have no experience with impress plating. I try to use as much HD stuff as I can for bolt on accessories, but just couldn't justify the extra cost for the chrome front end when there are better options available. I'll be doing by brake/clutch reservoirs shortly and will use sport chrome for them, way cheaper than HD.

 

I did the ***** Shiny exchange thing.
Joe Cutshall the owner is a stand up guy.. and his quality control is bar none.

 

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will be looking into the WS vendor. I was also wanting to do the brake and clutch reservoirs as well.

 

+1 for Impress Plating. I did their chrome exchange for my Deuce rear wheel. They polished the window on the wheel smooth before chrome plating. Ran the wheel for 8 years and it looked as good the day I traded the bike as it did the day I got wheel. Never polished it, just washed and wiped. Going to use them again soon to do the legs on my Street Glide.

 

On my old Road King I chromed out the front using an Ebay chrome shop out of Cali somewhere. Cheaper, yes, than MoCo and their chrome was very nice (not any better than MoCo though...)

The problem was, they were FILTHY. The inside or the sliders were so crudded up they needed a solvent bath and then copious amounts of hot soapy water. Not a BIG deal but really look at the innards before you install.

I also had to chase all the threaded holes because they were filled with chrome and buffing junk.

You also don't know how much wear is on the inner slider, and they DO wear. I didn't like the thought of putting old worn out sliders on my brand new bike...even though they are shiney. If they trash new seals, you'll have great chrome with an oil leak...no matter what the warranty, you still have to deal with it all over again

This time, on the Limited, I just bit it and bought the MoCo full kit...Brand new, clean, all the parts I needed...done deal.

It's worth the cost to me...for you though...your call. Cheap is not always better on wear parts.

 

You bring up a good point about the wear and tear aspect. For some one that is very **** about the condition of my stuff I may sleep better at night spending the extra money.