Swing arm bolt broke... AGAIN!

[ChopperJeff]

Out on a ride yesterday and the rear wheel decides to move to the point where the tire is rubbing against the fender. Determined that the right side swing bolt had broke!

$600 later, had the bike back home via tow truck.

So what the fuck is up with these bolts! This same one was found to be broken by my mechanic about a year ago, but was not to the point where the swing arm had moved too much. Had them both replaced by the Big Dog supplied bolts that are suppose to be tougher than the original ones.

I assume I can still purchase these bolts somewhere, but I'm going to lack any confidence in them working for very long.

Sure love the bike, but DAMN! Just turned 82,000 miles ('05 Chopper), and at this rate, it going to make it to 83,000.

 

[IRONHEAD]

82,000 miles?!? Thats amazing... I'll be lucky to get 8000 miles on my bike.

 

[Raywood]

I had mine replaced during the recall on them. Do you have an RT or DT frame. You could call the frame manufacturer and get a bolt

 

[ChopperJeff]

I have the RT frame. Just sent a message to bdmperformanceproducts.com, but they only show the bolt part numbers, with no link to order them, as they do many of the other parts. Hopefully they'll reply soon.

In the mean time, I might as well check with RT.

 

[PaulHart]

Am I missing something? You can't just take the bolt down to a industrial fastener - bolt supply place and get a grade 8 bolt?

J & E Supply

 

[ChopperJeff]

Yes, you may very well be correct in that some industrial bolt place will have it. Or, as a friend just told me, if push comes to shove, just have a machine shop make one for me.

Will see what Big Dog Performance Products says, and go from there.

 

[Moespeeds]

The big dog bolts are a lower grade so they can machine them to accept those trick little covers. Go get a grade 8 bolt at any supplier and get regular Harley style chrome bolt covers off eBay. This came directly from Daytec.

 

[TCALZ06]

damn good to hear nothing happened to you.

Did they update these on later models this seems uncommon for later models I think

 

[MARV]

yea this was a recall

broke my first before the recall. drilled out like a piece of aluminum.

broke 2 of the upgraded bolts which are much harder.

problem is that threaded adjuster on the right upright which is used to shim the swingarm. the ID of the adjuster isnt close to the OD of the bolt. giving it room to flex and break.

the last bolt i broke twisted the right frame upright and cracked the weld at the adjuster. ended up getting the correct upright from biker garage for $18 and having a piece of solid stock made with tight tolerance.

BD was absolutely zero help and RT wouldnt honor because BD made the swingarm and hardware that year.

only found the left side pivot bolt at bikergarage
RT99412 Pivot Bolt

 

[ChopperJeff]

Thank you for the info on the left side pivot bolt, but what about the right side? That's the one that broke for me... twice!

Seriously thinking of switching to a differnet bike. I love my Big Dog, and want to be able to keep it a lot longer, but I just can't see having something that I need to worry about having the damn swing bolt break on. However, if there's a real "fix" for this, then maybe I'd reconsider.

 

[MARV]

gave you that link to search. you should be able to get one from BD parts. or use Moes idea but i dont think it will make a difference because of the bad tolerance of the threaded spacer

here is a pic showing the damaged threaded spacer on my bike that BD used to ease installation. ill look for the repair pics.

 

[ChopperJeff]

Marv,

That picture you show is EXACTLY what mine looks like now!!! Thanks for the link, but a search on that site only comes up with the 2 3/4" bolt. The right side bolt is at least 4" long.

In an earlier post, you stated: "...ended up getting the correct upright from biker garage for $18 and having a piece of solid stock made with tight tolerance."

Sorry for my ignorance, but what exactly do you mean by this?

I would sure like to get this fixed, but more importantly, fix it in such a way that it doesn't happen again.

 

[MARV]

Motorcycle Recall - Big Dog for NHTSA ID 06V389000



the recall stated that the frame upright could get bent when the bolt breaks. there is a service bulletin somewhere that stated how they recommended straightening that upright.

http://nhthqnwws111.odi.nhtsa.dot.g...s/Public/Recalls/2006/V/RCRIT-06V389-7388.pdf

i just bought new and had a bud make a solid spacer and weld to the upright. then cut off the old and install the new. we left a bit of room to use a shim washer to make up the rest.

only thing is you have to strip the bike then powder the frame.

another option which i didnt use would be to go through your insurance


here's the upright

130-000093-00 Big Dog Motorcycles Frame Right Hand Side Plate

more info

http://www.bigdogbiker.com/forums/general/20562-another-pivot-bolt-failure-2005-chopper.html

 

[Moespeeds]

Hey MARV where's the issue there? Is it that the diameter of the bolt is too small, and the spacer isn't supported by the bolt? Can a brass sleeve fit in there? Could you cut the threaded spacer out and and use a regular spacer with a proper ID? I'm just curious, been awhile since I've had the swingarm off a RSD.

 

[MARV]

ok found some old parts.

there are 2 parts to the spacer. the female is used to thread out to the swingarm instead of using shims for ease of install IMO







the male part was through BD which i didnt use. you can see the tappered end which gets recessed into the right frame upright, making that upright weak IMO.

the ID of the male part of the spacer is close but still some play to the OD of the bolt.

here you can see some slop in the tolerance of the male part and the bolt.


the female part of the spacer's ID is the OD of the male part which is zero support to the bolt. when female part is threaded out to meet the swingarm there is probably 1"+ of zero support to the bolt inside the female part.


IMAG0572 by sulconst2, on Flickr

here's the fix

solid stock recessed and welded to new upright. tight tolerance to the bolt. shimmed the swingarm when installed.


IMAG0574 by sulconst2, on Flickr


IMAG0575 by sulconst2, on Flickr

also put a support angle to the back of the spacer


IMAG0576 by sulconst2, on Flickr

 

[lee]

seems a lot more straight forward set up once everything's in place. I guess with the stock welded in place with the tight tolerance to the bolt, there's nowhere for the bolt to go

 

[Relic]

Great pictures & explanation Marv. I was somewhat worried until I saw that the recall only pertained to RT frames (I have a DT).

Looks like your bullet proof with your fix & chain drive.

 

[lee]

Looks like your bullet proof

someone go and touch some wood - quick

 

[Jokerhd13]

Good Luck with BDM .