Sissy bar screws

[BWG56]

Don´t tighten too hard .... the Instructions that come with the Sissy Bar says: "Use the 5/16 Allen wrench and torque to 38-40 ft*lbs"

Thats what I torqued mine to according to the instructions and it cracked the strut. Use plenty of loctite and go on the light side of torque, but check them periodically is case they come loose, some have lost them.

 

[Slick-Dog]

You need the tappered collets, the collets take up tolerance differences between struts and sissy bar diameters. I had the slit in the collet to the thin wall of the strut and it cracked the strut. I cut the tappered end off (.750 or 3/4") my sissy bar and mounted it that way, the tapped hole was plenty deep enough in the sissy bar. Just make sure the diameter of the sissy bar is smaller than the hole in the strut. Mine's been like this for about 2 yrs trouble free.

Cool! Thanks for posting that PDF.

 

[Th3InfamousI]

Thats what I torqued mine to according to the instructions and it cracked the strut. Use plenty of loctite and go on the light side of torque, but check them periodically is case they come loose, some have lost them.

BWG, which struts did you have that busted? I know for the k9 they had two different designs. One was a thicker strut with the hole and the other was more of a loop welded on the outside.

I saw some pics floating around on the site when doing some searching, I believe KaptainAmerica has the older style struts. I'm just curious as to which style split on you. These were made with Aircraft Aluminum should be able to withstand 40 lbs of pressure, you would think.

Found the pics:

Old Style K9 Strut: (Figured I would use WSW pics for my example- Free Publicity)

Newer Style

 

[BWG56]

BWG, which struts did you have that busted? I know for the k9 they had two different designs. One was a thicker strut with the hole and the other was more of a loop welded on the outside.

I saw some pics floating around on the site when doing some searching, I believe KaptainAmerica has the older style struts. I'm just curious as to which style split on you. These were made with Aircraft Aluminum should be able to withstand 40 lbs of pressure, you would think.

Found the pics:

Old Style K9 Strut: (Figured I would use WSW pics for my example- Free Publicity)

Newer Style

Mine are like the lower pic and if you look at the wall on the left strut to the left of the hole its thin. 40 ft/lbs is not much on the bolt but the force thru that tapper is huge.

 

[Th3InfamousI]

Mine are like the lower pic and if you look at the wall on the left strut to the left of the hole its thin. 40 ft/lbs is not much on the bolt but the force thru that tapper is huge.

You da man! Thanks for the info. Glad we could resurrect this thread and finish it

I think I'm going to chop the tapper off I don't see how it's any safer with it. I don't want to hassle with the fuckin collets either for $30 p/set. I imagine in a few years I won't be able to find em anyways so I'll be stuck cutting it off.

I have to get the sissy bar chromed anyways it came raw so rather do it now than later. :up:

 

[BWG56]

Eric, something else to consider is, are you going to use a luggage rack? If you are, the factory one will be fine but the one shown in the first pic made by Kaptin looks close to the fender. make sure what you cut off isn't going to lower the rack on your fender. I only cut mine off right where the tapper starts which happened to be 3/4" and break the edge with a little chamfer because of the radius at the bottom of the hole. I have the factory luggage rack and at its closest point to the fender is still 1/2" or more.

Just FYI