I have an 04 Road King, FLHRI. While replacing the clutch cable I took advantage of the exhaust being off to drill out one of the 3/8 cap screws holding the right side passenger footboard bracket to the frame -- the head of the lower bolt had snapped off at some point, don't know when/why.

When I pulled the right rear fork bracket off (the one with the shiny chrome plug in the middle), I noticed that the nut for the pivot shaft was substantially off-center -- it's pushing up towards the two o'clock position, and the boss on the bracket doesn't want to line up with the corresponding hole in the swingarm. It doesn't matter if the bike is on the ground or being lifted by the frame with the rear wheel down -- the position of the nut on the pivot shaft stays the same.

I could force the bracket into place and install the two cap screws, but I'm concerned that something else might be going on with the pivot shaft or component parts. On the other hand, I don't want to tear it apart just b/c I'm curious -- I have other things I need to do. I have considered loosening the nut on the right side, and then re-torquing it, but no other [quick and easy] solutions come to mind.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

They are made offset. The block that screws to the frame has a index point on it to coincide with a place on the rubber. Being they are offset you have to make sure they are lined up properly.

 

I know that there is a tang on the bracket that goes into a notch on the swingarm, but the problem is that the nut is so off-center that the bracket doesn't want to go into the hole in the swingarm where the pivot shaft is -- it will start, but then I would have to pull it up just to align the bolt holes with the holes in the frame, and then I would have to gradually snug it down b/c otherwise it would be all ****-eyed.

That just doesn't seem right.

Do you think I should loosen it all up and inspect? or just screw it down and let it go?

Thanks.

 

Do you have the transmission supported with a jack or something? What holds the trans is the pivot bolt and if you take the block off it could drop. I just did a 04 RK checking every thing for a customer.

 

No -- the trans is mounted in the frame, haven't touched anything in that regard. (Also have not looked for a bad trans mount, although maybe I should -- but there weren't any indications that there might be something wrong w/ the mounts.)

When I first noticed that the pivot bolt was off-center, the bike was on a jack (under the frame) and the weight of the rear wheel was pulling the swingarm down. I reasoned that that would cause the rubber bushings inside the swingarm to compress and force the pivot shaft off-center, but when I lowered the bike and put it on the ground the alignment of the shaft didn't change and the boss of the bracket still didn't slide into swingarm counterbore.

Should I put a jack under the rear wheel while the bike is on the frame jack, and see if that changes the alignment? Like I said, I could screw the bracket down but since it doesn't want to go in squarely (without persuasion), I'm thinking something is wrong.

 

The trans is bolted to the motor with 4 bolts on the front of it and the back is supported by the swing are pivot so when you take one of the brackets off good chance the trans is going to drop or shift. I never take one of those brackets off with out supporting the trans.

 

ahhh! I now see the light!!!

The manual does make a reference to supporting the trans w/ a block of wood, but it says that i n relation to pulling the pivot shaft out -- it doesn't say anything about when you are removing the bracket (which I only had to do b/c of the broken bolt . . . ).

Thanks again, tonight I should be able to take care of this and finish hanging the pipes.

 

The part you took off is the only thing holding the back of the trans up...you need to support it.

 

If you have something held at two places and you take on of the supports away what do you think is going to happen with out support.

There is a LOT of things that are not in the manual and hope if you have one it is a HD manual as all the others are just enough to get you in trouble. When I had my shop I had many come right out of school and in 6 months I taught them a lot that the school did not.

I am just telling you my experience from working and riding on Harley s none stop for 42 years. Have 4 Harley s in the garage right now I am working on for customers and 3 of them are motor jobs which all so I do all my own machine work here at the house other then pressed cranks and will not be long before I do them. I wold have more but do not have any more room right now.

Hope all works out and let us know how it goes.

 

Thanks, guys, I get it now. Tom, the trans isn't actually hanging down b/c the pivot shaft is still installed, but the weight is what is causing the bushing to distort.

46u, yes, it is a factory manual that I have but the truth is that although have done a lot of wrenching in my years (62 on Saturday!) it has been a long time since I was pulling engines or trannys out of the frame -- and as my last ride was a shovel, well, I just didn't think about it.

I will jack that sucker up tonight, and that will take all the sag out of the bushings so I can put the brackets back in without any problem. Again, my thanks to both of you.