Anyone ever heard of this happening? The five bolts that hold the sprocket (?) to my hub keep coming lose, even though I'm torquing them to spec and using red LocTite.

 

Try running a bottom tap into the holes, cleaning them out with electrical contact cleaner or a degreaser and then using new bolts. Good luck.

 

Basically the threads are worn out. Once you have a fastener work loose and retightened a couple times, the threads are pretty much shot, and will probably never hold again. dgator66 has given excellent advice, and if that doesn't work, the only real option left is to replace the hub.

 

Have you changed the sprocket or added anything that would have required you to remove the bolts like a chrome pulley cover? Harley specifically recommends against reusing any bolts that have been removed, for just this reason, figuring that if they worked loose while riding, that would be pretty serious.

When I changed rear wheels on my Dyna this Spring, I bought new chromed bolts from HD, they are pretty cheap, and yes, remember the locktite.

 

Damn, I was afraid the answer would be something like that. The bike came with a chrome cover on the sprocket (i'm the second owner) and I had to remove it for some reason. I didn't replace the chrome bolts, and they've vibrated loose three times on me. It's looking like I'll be getting that new rear wheel sooner than I had planned! (damn )

 

Is there a reason you couldn't put new threaded holes between the existing ones? I would give that a try, yake your time and align them perfectly because if you're a little off the rear wheel will wobble. If you want to try that shoot me a PM and I could do it for you cheap.

 

Replace all the threads in the hub with steel Helicoils. They will be stronger than new. There's also another type of thread repair that's even better for blind holes, but I can't remember the name right now. Use new bolts.

If you do the work yourself, it should cost you less than $30.

 

keensert....dont know if I spelled it right

 

Good point guys, Save the shipping costs and replace with Keenserts. Here's why:
Keensert, hands down for me. No wire coil to spring free and back out with the bolt, solid insert full depth and staked in place.

They may be harder to replace, but they are far less likely to need replacement in the first place than the wire coil style.

Oh, one other consideration in aluminum applications: I've seen the wire coils "roll" and strip both the bolt and the inserted hole when over torqued. Can't recall ever seeing a torque failure with the keensert solids or any of the clones unless they had been seated way too deep.