V&H Power Duals and Manual Reverse

[Ride4Him]

V&H Power Duals and Mechanical Reverse

I'm coming to the well of knowledge to see if anyone has encountered this issue and found a solution.
I installed a V&H Power Duals head pipe on my 12 Ultra Glide so I could get rid of the cat. It is now at the builders having a Motor Trike kit installed. I opted for the mechanical reverse which has been installed - now comes the rub.
After installing the mechanical reverse from Motor Trike (which adds about 1/2 inch to the transmission housing) the trike shop tells me the Power Duals hit the chrome cover of the transmission, leaving a 1/4 inch gap between the head pipe and the mount plate (supplied by V&H) which is attached to the bike frame.
V&H technical support advises that if we shim out the pipe from the mount point more than 1/8 inch, torque stresses on the pipe may be so great that the pipe may crack over time due to heat and vibration.
After going and looking at the situation the only solution I see (in order to keep the Power Duals) is to shim 1/8 and also heat the head pipe enough at the contact points so it could be flattened (or egg shaped) and of course trim the chrome heat shield (the x cross over portion).

 

[Gorilla]

unless you run your motor alot above 3500 rpms the change in the exhaust by indenting will only have a minor affect. i would shim it as you intend just beware of the cracking issue later. check after running it awhile to make sure all is tight.

 

[Ride4Him]

Thanks Gorilla
working on a couple of steps.
I found a shop that specializes in Harleys and does some fabrication work so they are taking on compressing the Power Duals over the next week or so. They have installed both mechanical reverse add-ons and the V&H Power Duals (but never on the same bike) so It looked like a good challenge to them. In the mean time they had a '09 head pipe that I can use so that the trike builder can finish with an essentially stock exhaust system minus the cat (I just have to adapt the O2 sensors w/ a simple kit). So, once the trike is done and he gets the V&H modified I'll get to install it again
I just hope that after spending some time on the phone with the V&H guys they make a note in their system about not buying a Power Dual if you are putting in a mechanical reverse.