I was on the fence yesterday about fixing my HK radio or going aftermarket. Had my credit card out and the phone in my hand but took a deep breath and did some more homework.

I contacted Iron Cross about buying my defective HK radio. They are paying $195 right now for a radio that needs work. I saw in another post where they gave a guy $250 but it didn't say if his radio was perfect or defective.If they would have given me $250, I may have went aftermarket. At least it would have paid for the install kit from Hawg Wired, etc.

Iron Cross also stated that they only have a 2 ¼% return rate after 2 years on radios they repair which they say is actually lower than the aftermarket failure rate. Pretty good odds, I think.

Since I only use a satellite radio receiver or an IPod through the AUX port on my HK, I figured why shell out over $400+ for a new unit and a hand control module/install kit I would need to just to turn the volume up or down. Plus most of the aftermarket units out there are not water or dust proof.

Does anyone know about the HD S/B M1289 regarding different bolts for the handlebar clamp? If so, are they something that could be found locally at a hardware store?

It's going to cost me $278 all told for Iron Cross to fix my HK and shipping both ways but in my case, I thinks it's the right choice.

 

I took my Radio out sent it in to Iron Cross and purchased the new bolts from HD. The part # is 12600003 they are sold in pairs and cost about 2 dollars. At first I started to grind off the heads a little of the existing bolts but for 2 bucks I just bought the new ones. The dealer had them in stock so I picked them up.

 

thanks for the part number...

 

Whats the deal with the new bolts?

 

I just sent my POS stereo to iron cross on Monday, got an email from them yesterday saying it's fixed and on it's way back. Great customer svc. they did say something about the riser bolts causing damage, so now I guess I gotta get new bolts for mine too. Whoever engineered the stereo set-up for Harley outta be fired.

 

Instead of buying new bolts, there are two things you can do to cheat the hardware you have in a favorable direction. First, tighten the two riser clamp bolts that were hitting the bottom of the radio first, closing the gap between the upper and lower clamp, then tighten the other 2 bolts. Second, loosen the the 4 bolts on the outside of the trees, that hold the blinker brackets or aux light brackets if you have them, them gently snug them back up. Out of sight and under the plastic rocker switch console, these 4 bolts also hold the two main vertical fairing brackets, with the bolts snug you can push on the upper part of the inner fairing above the gauges, and slightly move the entire fairing within the limits of the 4 bolt holes, then tighten the 4 bolts, keeping a little pressure in the "up" position. Using this method will gain 1/8-1/4" clearance between the riser bolts and the bottom of the radio, 1/8" is more than enough to prevent future contact.

 

Wait....are you telling me the handlebar clamp bolts are rubbing on the stereo?

~Joe

 

First I heard of this problem.

 

Very strong possibility, it is the primary cause of OEM radio failure, contact translates vibration the unit just can't handle. It's worth looking at as a preventive measure next time you got the fairing cap off.

 

Correction, not the clamps themselves, but the clamp bolt heads.