Front fork pinch bolts loose? Harley Shocks & Harley Chassis Issues Discuss Front fork pinch bolts loose? in the Harley Tech & Harley How-to forums; I have a 2003 Deuce with chrome front forks. The problem is with the aft fork pinch bolt loosening up. I torque the bolts per the service manual front one ...

[BCJ]

I have a 2003 Deuce with chrome front forks. The problem is with the aft fork pinch bolt loosening up. I torque the bolts per the service manual front one first then the aft one at 15 to 21 foot lbs. After awhile the aft bolt will loosen up. I put the aft one in with locktite once,and that was a mistake. Because the bolts are shallow allens and very soft, I stripped it out trying to remove it. So I had to drill the head off of it to remove it. Any suggestions on what I can do to fix this condition? Thanks.

[HarleyCruiser]

Humm don’t think I ever seen a shallow Allen (button head) on a Harley except when they have been replaced by the owner.
Usually are torques, and torques strip out easily because people use the wrong bit to take them out.
This is a critical safety fastener, minimum that I would use is a standard Allen in stainless steel and use blue Locktite.
Don’t think I would use a button there, and I have buttons all over my bike.
Button heads are more of a decorative bolt.
They work fine when you have a nut on the other end to tighten it thus the Allen head is just to keep the bolt from turning.
Buttons are not designed for high torque safety situations, where you need to toque it with just the Allen head.
Even a standard Allen is iffy in this situation.
If it is a problem getting it out in the future use heat.

Originally Posted by BCJ

I have a 2003 Deuce with chrome front forks. The problem is with the aft fork pinch bolt loosening up. I torque the bolts per the service manual front one first then the aft one at 15 to 21 foot lbs. After awhile the aft bolt will loosen up. I put the aft one in with locktite once,and that was a mistake. Because the bolts are shallow allens and very soft, I stripped it out trying to remove it. So I had to drill the head off of it to remove it. Any suggestions on what I can do to fix this condition? Thanks.

[BCJ]

You would think this would be a stronger bolt, but this is the fastner that comes stock on the Deuce chrome frontend. It gives it the clean look I guess because of the round smooth forks. I guess hollow is a poor choice of words, the bolt is not hollow it is just a shallow button head bolt. I used blue locktite once before and had to drill the head off. I am thinking about putting studs in with nuts. Very poor design for such a critical area.

[BCJ]

Up date on the Deuce Pinch bolts. After talking to some Harley Mechanics they said this is a known condition. I have received a few e-mails from other Deuce owners and they have noticed this also. What I did is I replaced both pinch bolt with stainless normal allen head bolts. These bolts are stronger and have a deeper allen socket, making it easyer to torque and using locktite is not a problem. The aft bolts hole is deep enough you don't even see the bolt. The front bolt sticks down around 1/4 in. Since the forks are made in Japan and the hole is made in Japan it is Metric. These bolts are 8mm with a 1.25 thread pitch and are 30mm long. They seem to be holding with no problem, did 100 miles today and checked them.