Was out riding and a loud sqeaking noise could be heard--on and off at different speads. When I got home I put the bike up on a jack and found that all the bolts on the rear sprocket were loose and one was just about to fall out hitting the upper belt guard making the sqeaking noise. Well of course I used locktite and re-torqued to specks.

I am glad this was caught early as I think this could have been a disaster! While I don't think this situation would be a common occurance --you guys may want to check for tightness on that rear sprocket at least every oil and/or tire change.

Bike is a 07 FXD with 18000 miles---Thought I'd share this with you guys--I don't want this to happen to any other fellow riders.

 

thanks for the heads up...glad you caught it early

 

Seem that there has been a rash of these bolt coming loose occuring lately..
I just added a chrome sprocket cover and used red 262 loctite and then torqued to spec.

I will keep an eye on them just in case though.
Thanks for posting,

Del

 

there supposed to be replaced everytime there removed.. i re-used mine with loctite and have had no problems, but i keep an eye on em...

 

Just caught mine in the same condition the other week. Lucky I heard the rubbing and not the rear wheel locking up when the bolts fell out

 

More and more, the evidence mounts that these bolts shouldn't be trusted; not factory installed ones, removed and retorqued ones, not loc-tite'd ones. My next opportunity, I'm gonna drill thru the bolt corners and safety-wire them.

 

A lot of info on rear sprocket bolts coming loose and how to deal with this problem is in this thread: https://www.hdforums.com/forum/dyna-...ley-bolts.html

 

I have mine marked wih a permanent marker so I can do visual inspections.

 

Topspin, that's a great idea. I think I'm going to do the same. Permanent marker or a bit of torque stripe on each should do the trick.

 

I had this happen to me 2 times already but unfortunetly I didnt catch it either time till it was 2 late....
all 5 bolts sheared off in the hub both times and destroyed my hub and sprocket this time around. I was actualy thinking about using stainless steel bolts this time and torqing them with loctite.
the first time it happened was at 5,000 miles second time it happened at 15,500 miles....

I do like the idea of safety wiring them I think I might go ahead and do that. its a good idea proper torque and the safety wire shouldn't have any problems but I am not going to trust the bolts From Harley.