Help! I am reverting back to stock exhaust and for the life of me, cant get the damn exhaust retaining clips on over the end of the pipes.

What is the trick to this?

 

Agreed, with the exhaust retaining rings being so thick, they are a b*tch to work with. I use large snap ring pliers to spread the ring apart a little and then slip over the exhaust tip flange. Easier said then done I realize. Usually take me multiple tries to get this technique to work.

 

Same here took me probably 10 minutes to install each ring.
Just have patience.

 

A set of piston ring pliers makes it a two minute job!

http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/lis33500.html

 

Man I feel super human as I have always just used my fingers to get them on and off.

 

Well super human, I am not. As soon as I posted this I realized what I needed. Since I don't own a pair of snap ring pliers, I called the local Harley dealer and talked with one of the service guys.

He told me to bring it by and with the proper tool, it took him 30 seconds to do what I had been fighting with for 30 minutes (or more).

Felt like such an idiot. He wouldn't charge me so I slipped him $10 and told him to buy himself lunch on me.

Thanks for all the responses!

OH, and the funny thing is, once I got the stock exhaust back on the bike has never run better. Much cooler, no popping on deceleration and now no chance of a ticket in Myrtle Hell ( I mean Beach).