Or at least, project horribilus. I recently had a tough time with a home project and thought others might be able to commiserate.
I wanted to put engine guards and saddlebag guards on my motorcycle. The engine guard uses three, easily accessible bolts. The saddlebag guards use two apiece. Easy peasy. Or not...
The engine guard bar were torqued a bit. In order to get it to attach, I had to loosely attach two points, then bend the bar to line up the hole for the third bolt. By this time, the amount of pressure I was putting on the first two bolts was tremendous and I was unable to turn the bolts in. I figured it was a question of manufacturing tolerances and I had bad luck, so I sent it back. I decided to buy the Harley engine guard instead and it went on lickety-split.
I turned my attention to the saddlebag guard. I had to first remove the foot peg, which mean purchasing snap ring pliers and long Torx bits. The peg uses a special detent assembly to keep the peg upright when a passenger is not aboard, so I need vise grips to keep that together while changing the peg bolt to the frame. OK, the existing peg bolt has a deeply recessed Torx 45 head bolt, so I get my long Torx bits and 3/8 socket wrench and do the deed. The second (upper) bolt by the seat is also a 45 and out it comes.
Then the problems start.
The replacement foot peg bolt to the frame that comes with the kit is longer than the one it is replacing to accommodate the thickness of the guard frame. It is also a 50 Torx, not a 45. I found this out when it was not tightening. I couldn't really tell right away because the bolt is recessed. OK, I get the right Torx bit, tighten, get out my torque wrench, set to 44 and click - all good. The second bolt, though, is the booger.
You see, the second bolt is a Torx somewhere between size 30 and size 40. I say "somewhere" because I have three different sets of Torx bits (long, regular and tamper resistant) and not one of these home sets have a bit between 30 and 40. Not a common size, apparently. A quick check on line shows most home sets do not have these sizes. Why in the hell wouldn't the kit have a bolt that is the same size as the one it is replacing or at the very least, a size common to most sets such as the 50 for the foot peg? Nope. So I try to make do, strip the head, and end up having to drill the damn thing out. By now, I am hours into a project that should have taken about 20 minutes total for the two sets of bars and I have had it. My daughter was helping for the failure on the engine guard and my wife for the saddlebag guard. I never raised my voice despite my frustration but I was plenty irked at what should have been an easy project turning into a long slog due to the vendor's bizarre choices for replacement parts.
I saved about 250 bucks from going with non-Harley parts but learned a valuable lesson about false economy. The job is done, the bars are installed, but what a trial. And on YouTube, I see videos telling me that if I can't install this easy upgrade to my Harley, I shouldn't be riding one because I'm apparently not manly enough. Which is why I don't bother with YouTube very much.
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...Ben
