The dealers never fail to suprise me! From what I've heard, since it's a TSB and not a recall, it's a "customer complaint" item only. If you never complain about a clunk, they never tell you about the new part, and even if you do complain, sometimes THEY don't even know about the new part. One reason these forums are so damn valuable!

 

Here is a search on M1215. Appears to be nut with lock washer milled on it, not just lockwasher

http://www.1130cc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87001

 

My "09 Heritage clunks kinda that way. Put a tube of grease there, I hope, but no help. Axed an Indy for advise and without looking, he figgured it to be a cable slapping the fender. Told him good by and removed him from future advise list. Checked my cables and all were very secure. I have the shop manual but too insecure of my mechanical skills. Will eventually get dealer involved.

 

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Totally agree,, I did the fall away last yr and unless u remove all the cables from the bars, that test IMO is USELESS. I just don't see how U can get anywhere close to an actual setting with the cables still on.

Wondering where does the new hardened washer go, thinking it must be just under the nut,
Is there not a washer there now, or is this just something added.?

 

Might be a little different for those VRods. I know for the softails, it's just a $6 washer (or $15 for the "kit" - washer and instruction sheet).

 

+1 on the pinch bolts. Too many people try to take a shortcut and not loosen the pinch bolts. That defeats the whole process by not allowing the lower tree to float on the tubes and thus compress the bearings. These are the guys that end up re-torquing the head bearings over and over again and the adjustment never seems to "stick".

 

The new washer goes under the steering head nut. The OE washer is just thin sheetmetal and actually gets locked into place by just bending the edge back up into the nut! With the lower OE torque specs, your fall away might be just fine on the lift, but in real life that thin washer would flex and bend under stress, creating the "clunk". The new washer does not flex and has no locking tab, so the torque values were significantly increased to keep everything tight over time.

 

+1 It's pointless if you don't loosen the pinch bolts!

 

Found this in the bulletin

This service bulletin is to inform dealers of updated parts and
service procedures to eliminate loss of clamp load on upper
steering stem nut. Normal warranty applies for service performed.
Motorcycles Affected
• 2006-2007 Dyna models
• 2008 and earlier FXDWG
• 2008 and earlier FX Softail models
• 2008 and earlier VRSC models

What I am seeing then is it doesn't apply to the FL's... Don't know if there diff or not.?????

 

Back up in post 12 at least for my04 Duece if that is M1215 that nut will not work for my bike. Mine has a drilled hole in tree that the bent washer lock tab drops down in. Then you tighten nut and bend tab up to secure nut from turning. Bent tab washer is sitting on top of tree. Nut on top is just as wide as bearing adjuster under top tree and as big as bearing. There is noting to flex here, at least on my 04 design and of course just my opinion.