A hd maintenance bulletin eliminated the "lock type" and replaced with a heavier washer awhile back and significantly increased torque specs. My 06 is torqued to 70-80 foot pounds...an increase from 35-45 pounds. Not sure what yours is but likely to be similar. This was brought on due to steering clunk many folks were having...including me. No further issues. My 2 cents!!
This is what the lock type washer looks like vs a reg looking washer just slightly thicker than this. If HD eliminated this, Why does the lock type washer still come up on the parts finder at the dealer ?
Why...well, i assume you can still buy the washer with the lock tab if you want to continue using it. Some folks probably do. Not surprising, my dealer didn't know about m-1215b until i told him. Your picture is right. That is exactly what i took off mine to add the "thicker" washer (#45727-08)and thus torque as previously mentioned according to m-1215b. By the way, m-1215b refers to 08 and earlier fx softails...except springer, and some dyna models. I hope this helps clarify for you.
Thanks man, Do you know if the new bikes are coming off the prod. line with the new thick washers or do they still bring the lock type ? I'm guess that increasing the torque to over 100 ft lb should affect the fall away some what ?
Don't know about new production. Modified torque specs are 75-80 foot pounds...not 100 pounds. Instructions are to check/set fall-away after torquing. That frankly doesn't make sense but i did and it worked for me.