I've had the Wards fans on my bike for 2 years now, and came across LJ's Frame Mount Kit. It removes the fans & horn from the engine mount location and attaches them to the backbone of the bike frame. This eliminates the direct engine vibration from the fans. Anyway, I thought the FMK was a well engineered design that worked perfectly with Jason's fans. I did have a concern with permanently removing the beefy horn bracket that attaches to each side of the cylinder heads. The install instructions for the FMK say to discard the horn bracket, as it will not fit once the FMK is in place. So I throw the horn bracket on the bench and take the bike for a spin to check out the new mod. The frame mount kit works as advertised and the fans are no longer shaking from the engine vibration. But I did notice a bit more than normal vibration being transferred to the frame, handlebars and mirrors. I do a search on the horn bracket removal and find that some folks say it's OK to remove it, while some believe it's part of the engine mount package. I believe that Harley used to attach a stabilizer bar to the horn bracket, but moved that bar to the front of the frame a few years ago. Did Harley make the bracket that beefy on newer bikes for a reason, or is it just leftover part that they saw no need in changing? Now my OCD kicks in and I have to somehow modify the horn bracket so I can reinstall the damn thing. I cutoff the part of the bracket that the horn attaches to and then slide it under the bar of FMK and torque it to spec. I put the bike back together and fire it up, and find that the slight bit of extra vibration that I experienced without the horn bracket attached is now gone. Noticeably gone.

These are just my observations after having completed the FMK install, so take it for what it's worth. But I'm now convinced that the horn bracket does provide a stabilizing effect. Below are pics of the mod.

DJK

 

Great feedback. I'm in the middle of bolting up the frame mounted Love Jugs Mighty-Mite and stopped to do some research once I saw that the original horn brace doesn't work with this kit. I called the Love Jugs folk to ask about the factory horn bracket that runs between the cylinders. I was told that it does not have structural significance and could safely be removed.

The Love Jug guys were extremely helpful and courteous, but I don't agree with them. That bracket is way too thick and beefy not to provide some measure of structural rigidity, and your experience seems to validate the concept. I'm going to cut the tab off the factory horn mount the same as you so I can both retain the cross-cylinder support and utilize the frame mount Love Jugs fan kit.

 

What happened to all the posts from yesterday?

NEVER MIND. Tapatalk confusion on my part.

 

I think I have a thread on this from 3 or 4 years ago inquiring about this. I rode the bike maybe 6 months or so without the horn brake and decided to reinstall it after modification. At the time I was not sure if there was a difference in vibration but felt better it is there.

 

How much clearance was there to the modified stock Horn Bracket and the Love Jugs Frame Mount Bracket? By the pictures it looks like you have the vertical slot adjustment up as far as it will go. I plan on purchasing the same setup and want to know of issues I might run across.

 

nearly fell out of chair trying to see these pics. hehe
kroozeabout

 

I don't remember the specifics of how much space there was, but other than five minutes with a grinding wheel to modify the Horn Bracket (and then a quick blast of spray paint to cover the exposed metal) everything was a bolt up proposition.