I bought a 99 1200C Sportster and there is 4 T-27 screws holding it on and 2 of the screw heads are rounded out. Does anyone have any suggestions on getting the screws out without drilling off the screw heads and removing the primary cover?

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There are different ideas for this. There are reverse drill bits and EZ Outs. You can try grinding a slot in and use a regular driver. Last time I had that problem, I drilled the head out. My bits all sucked and took me two nights. Every once in awhile I run into some bs like that and makes me think I should have taken it to the shop. Stripping a head off is my worst nightmare. I use good bits and a hammer type impact wrench but you can still get a tough one.
Take your time as to not scratch things up, you'll get it.

 

Another suggestion is taking a larger torx bit like a T30 and gently tapping it into the hole with a hammer until it grabs where you couldn't pull it back out with your hand, then unscrew it.

 

Without looking at the condition of the head on the screw and the clearance around the screw, the best chance attempt is hard to guess at.

You can drive a T-30 like Dawg says, or you can find a square bit that is closer, or you can cut the slot.

Push comes to shove, drill the head off. Use really sharp bits. If you ruin the primary cover, you can get a used one that is a stock take off for a reasonable price so the risk isn't horrendous. If you have patience, it isn't that big a deal but the primary concern is if there is enough length of screw remaining to grab with vice grips and twist out. If you snap off a screw, well, then, that's a whole nother issue that ain't cheap.

The thing about using a T-30 is that you can buy hardened hex bits that will fit into an impact driver so that you can loosen the screw while impacting the bit into the head, probably your best choice next to drilling off the head.

Someone probably used a T-25 that was slightly boogered up thinking it was the right size and rounded out the head. If they didn't, and the head rounded out anyway, then the screw is really set in the inner primary case and you're in trouble anyway. Impact driver is the best choice for this scenario, too. Less likely to snap off the screw.

The key to using the impact driver is to set the bit first, very carefully as dawg said, and then put the impact driver on the bit without knocking it loose out of the screw head. Also make sure your impact driver is extracting instead of tightening before you hook it up.

GOOD LUCK!

C#

 

Once you get them out don't forget to put some anti-seize on the new ones.......then this will never happen again

 

This thread should help you out.

https://www.hdforums.com/m_318184/tm.htm