I recently received a 92 sportster 1200 for my birthday and have been riding as much as possible. I noticed one day that one of the bolts holding the rear pulley to the rear wheel were coming loose. I applied loctite and went about my business. After a few more rides, the remaining bolts were MISSING!! I bought replacement bolts and lock washers, applied loctite, let it sit a few days to cure and then went for a ride. When I checked the bolts, they would spin slightly in the holes, but I couldn't tighten the nuts any more. I went to Harley and they sold me a new set of bolts that are slightly bigger than the ones which were in the bike when i got it. When i got home to replace the bolts, i could get them through the pulley, but when i tried to get them through the hub, it seemed as though the were slightly too big. my thought is that the rear hub was threaded but when the bolts were coming loose, it mangled those threads, creating a size issue when i try to put the right ones in. Any ideas?

 

My thought is that you now may need to replace the hub due to the bolts wrecking the threads as they backed out because of the toque the pulley was placing on the bolts......basically, bending the bolt while still slightly threaded.

 

Welcome to HDF from the UK! This is the sort of problem that is best looked at closely by someone with some suitable experience. It is not easy to diagnose over the internet.

I suggest you either visit your dealer again, with the wheel (if you are happy taking it out of the bike), or to a local independent Harley shop. Take all your pulley bolts with you.

Those bolts have a service life of three applications. In other words once fitted they can only be removed and refitted a further two times. I have no idea why, but they are a replaceable item. So one possibility is simply that the original ones that gave you problems have been refitted several times, for some reason. Why the new ones don't work is not easy to say.

Best of luck and please keep us posted.

 

I know when I removed the pully on my 02, the bolts were pretty snug in the threads and very little clearance in the holes in the pulley. Sounds like a new hub is in order or have it drilled out and helicoils installed.

 

If that hub has any pulled or mangled threads, do NOT put bolts back in hoping they'll hold. If that pulley comes off at speed you, not to mention your friends, family, etc, will likely regret that decision in a big way. From now on, on all of my builds, I use grade 8 bolts and red loctite on the hubs. Had rear sprocket bolts back out at about 50 mph due to some previous owner putting the wrong bolts in with no loctite. I was lucky to pull her down and stop before the back wheel locked up. Don't make that same mistake. If you aren't mechanically inclined enough to do it yourself, then I agree with the post above in that you should get someone to look at it for you...

 

Thanks everyone for your input. I was thinking of re-threading the holes in the hub in order to get the new bolts through...any thoughts on that or should i just shell out the money to have some piece of mind?

 

If some of the threads have pulled out, then your only choices are the helicoil as mentioned above or to go bigger (not really recommended, cause now you have to deal with the bolt hole size on the pulley).

There are areas where you can go the cheap route when fixing your sled. The drivetrain ISN'T one of them...

My .02

 

Makes sense, looks like i have a couple of choices...either helicoil the current holes or replace the hub...thanks for all the input everyone, ill let ya know what i do

 

I've got a 2004 Sporty 883. Somewhere along the line I lost a rear sprocket bolt and can't find a site that tells me the specs. I know it's a grade 8, hex head bolt torqued 55-65 ft lbs but that's it. Anyone know the exact specs or a site with a parts list? Thanks.

 

The Harley Parts Manual (not the Service or Owner's manual) has a listing of the hardware in the back with length and thread pitch.
In my '05 Parts Manual, part # 3899 is a 7/16-14 X 1 3/4". It's probably the same for an '04.