Problem with Passenger footboards?

[dwiht]

Has anyone had any problems with th bolts that hold the passenger fooboard on a Ultra Classic Trike? I have had three bolts break and lost two footboards. The Harley Service people say it is caused from my 90 pound wife using it to step on the bike. The salesman asked how else is a passenger supposed to get on an Ultra Classic and the service manager had no answer. They say they have never had ths problem before. They have all fallen off on the road with no one even in the passenger seat. It seems as if a grade 8 bolt would be much stronger than that. I wonder if it is too brittle?

 

[Trikerjim]

My wife steps on the Goldwing boards also (more than 90 lbs) and I doubt they are any stronger than the HD units. I think I would go ahead and put in the Grade 8 bolts. I've used them trailer hitches, race cars ect. and have yet to break one. If you think they are too brittle, you may try looking for Titanium bolts. If they break, something is REALLY wrong. (Also is the bolt(s) bottoming out or could you get a longer to go in?) Good luck and let us know what you come up with.

 

[Hawkeye]

No problems with the rear passenger boards on my Ultra. Of course, my wife spends very little time back there since she's started riding her own.

 

[BikerBob]

I will assume you a talking about the one (1) allen head bolt that holds the floorboard bracket to the main frame bracket.
(Main frame bracket has two bolts holding it on)

If this be the case, that mounting bolt hole is taped all the way through the bracket, make sure you can thread a bolt in that hole by hand and check for a straight bore into the bracket. If the bore is not straight when you torque the bolt down it will crack the bolt and cause a failure at some point in time.

I have never heard of this problem before, but that is one thing I can think of that could cause a grade 8 bolt to break.

 

[ben721364]

Has anyone had any problems with th bolts that hold the passenger fooboard on a Ultra Classic Trike? I have had three bolts break and lost two footboards. The Harley Service people say it is caused from my 90 pound wife using it to step on the bike. The salesman asked how else is a passenger supposed to get on an Ultra Classic and the service manager had no answer. They say they have never had ths problem before. They have all fallen off on the road with no one even in the passenger seat. It seems as if a grade 8 bolt would be much stronger than that. I wonder if it is too brittle?

Did the bolts break or vibrate out?

 

[dwiht]

All three bolts have broke leaving the broken piece in the hole on the bike. No one I have talked has heard of this problem. We are wondering if Harley didn't get a bad batch of grade 8 bolts. Of course Harley is saying the footboards are footrests and not made to take the weight of someone getting on the passenger seat and the sale department is saying how else is someone to get one the bike with a tour pak on it.

 

[dwiht]

Both sides have broken off and I would not think that the bore on both sides would be off or that three different footboards would be drilled wrong but I certainly don't have an answer. I am ging to see if I can find some Titanium bolts.

 

[dwiht]

I am unable to find Titanium bolts here and have been unable to find a place to order them. I am looking for a 3/8 coarse thread X 1 inch bolt with a allen wrench head. Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks.

 

[ben721364]

I'm still puzzled by this situation. Surely the H-D passenger footpegs are intended to bear the weight of a passenger while mounting/dismounting. Surely the company's lawyers would insist on it because of liability concerns.

Has anyone else had a similar problem with H-D or other passenger footpeg mountings breaking in this manner?

 

[Dwight]

I know this happened a long time ago but have you had any luck fixing this? The Allen bolts that are used are grade 8 bolts. Who has been installing the replacement bolts? I'm wondering if they are using too much torque on the bolts. As for the boards not being made to support the weight of a passenger while mounting that is simply BS!! Something else you might check is if the mounting nub on the bracket is in the mounting hole, if it isn't aligned right and the nub is holding the bracket out then there would be a huge amount of stress on the bolt when it was tightened down. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having this kind of trouble, not that that makes you feel any better! Anyway I hope you've got this cured by now.

Dwight

 

[dwiht]

My local Harley dealer has done all of the work on the trike. They believe the bolts were overtorqued by the Lehman dealership but when the third one snapped, they shifted the blame to my wife and I using them to get on and off the trike. I quit using them for myself and the wife still is using them. So far, they have not broken. I found a thread on the HD Forum site where other people had the same thing happen to them. Most were on newer Harleys which makes me think they got a bad batch of bolts. The bolts were all HD grade 8 that were used. Hope they continue to hold up.

 

[dwiht]

Well a year after the last bolt broke, I hhappened to lean against the rear foot peg and it snapped off just like the previous issues. I went to Lowes and picked up a couple of their allen head grade 8 bolts and replaced the both of them. We will see how long they last. Just wanted to keep everyone updated.

 

[1550vt]

Finally....I find someone that has a problem more perplexing than the ones I have. That is puzzling indeed and like most everybody else on this thread, I have had mine off-n-on (as well as those of others) dozens of times for this-n-that and have never broken one, or heard of anything like this. Find a buddy that has an Ultra and just swap with him, fasteners-and-all and see if the problem follows the bike or the footrest and hardware. Maybe even go to a softer bolt. I have a 100-pound wife and she has never broken anything...except stuff over my head.

 

[1550vt]

P.S.

I see you are located in Billings. I came through Billings last year with a loose comp nut and talked that dealer into fixing it. 2-hours and $90 later they told me they had it fixed, cleaned the threads up, applied locktite, inspected the rotor and torqued it all down to spec and it would not get loose again. Well, I had another loose comp nut before I got home. Maybe the same mechanic is tightening-up the bolts on your floorboards?