Well i finally after a year of riding my 2006 RKC with standard exhaust pipes changed them to Screamin eagle II. All i did was change the pipes otherwise the bike is standard. Well ran into a guy that also rides and he tells me i need the download from Harley otherwise i will burn a hole in the piston. Well i have been told by others not to worry. Well it runs great, but only rode it for about 10 miles. The same guy tells me the roadking and Heritage are in the same family, which couldn't be further from the truth as mine is a touring model with the rubber mounted engine. The same family if you are talking Harley.

Well anyway wanted to know if there was any truth to the hole in piston if i don't get the download. I really don't want to have any issues as it is only a year old.

Thanks, this same guy no matter what i get or do i should have done something else.

 

I'm sure you will get a wide range of answers but
my understanding is when you change exhaust thus reducing backflow or change air intake to allow more air, you also
cause the engine to run way LEANER. Thus the "burn hole in piston" comment. If you are not running lean, then you should
be ok. Hard to wonder which way to go!

Dennis

 

I wouldnt put too much stock in anything he says. Your bike is fine as long as you dont change the air filter you dont need to do the download. As far as belonging to the same family he does not know what hes talking about.

 

I seriously doubt you have to worry about any holes bein burnt in the pistons with just a pipe change. If you also switch to a free-flow aircleaner you then may have some concerns as it will then create a very lean-condition which means you would be burnin too much oxygen and not enough gas. Oxygen burns extremely hot and gas cools combustion down believe it or not. Think of it like this: imagine that your nostrils are the the only way you can breathe, no mouth in this example. Now imagine that one nostril is for taking in air, and one is to exhale. Now imagine that both nostrils have a wad of cotton shoved up them. What you did by changin pipes is to remove the cotton from the exhaling nostril. It may let air out a little better but you still can't take air in very well. If you pulled out both cotton wads you would then be able take in more air and get it out fast. So what you did with the pipes won't affect things dramatically, but I highly recommend you put the Hi-Flow air-cleaner and then get a Power-Commander with proper download. You'll love it and if you want to really tune up that ride, get it Dyno'd after your done....[X(]

 

How do you know if it is running lean? Anyone else running a bike without the download?

 

I have been thinking about changing to filter and then i would have to get the download. Is the power commander the same as a race tuner?

 

I"m running a set of s/e 11's , the old kind that are sorta loud and have been for 7 or 8000 miles and haven't had any probems. No breather change downloads. runs fine, and sounds a lot better than the briggs and stratton mufflers it had before

 

I am so glad i changed the pipes, it sounds so much better and the ones i got were the one piece off of ebay they were discontinued and were brand new. Great pipes i think and loud enough, thanks nice to hear someone else doing the same thing. I was told it would cost $150 for the download and not sure if there was labor on top of that! kind of a lot of money if i really don't need to do it.

 

Zadmat, couple of ways to tell if the bike is running lean. 1: Pinging sound comming from the engine especially when going up hill in 5th and you give it the gas,2; pull the spark plugs and see if they look real white, they should have a tan-medium brown look. If white your lean.
3: The bike feels like your sittin on a Blow-Torch when you ride.

 

A lot of people believe the above, however changing pipes only is fine;if and when you change your air breather, that is when you need to retune your bike so it won't run too lean and hurt your engine. The guy you spoke to sounds like he is relatively new to the HD world if he believes the Heritage and RK to be in the same family.