Road Glide banner

I drilled thru plastic to avoid removing ignition switch

5K views 21 replies 19 participants last post by  RhinoHD 
#1 ·
When I installed new heritage bars on my 2012 RGU the manual said to remove ignition switch to gain access to handle bar clamp Allen bolts. I drilled thru plastic top plate just enough to get to Allen bolts. It worked very well and drill holes cant be seen when speedo cluster is reinstalled. A real time saver
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#4 ·
It all goes well, if you have the tool. Without the tool, all usually goes well, unless something moves. Then you have to figure out where things are, and realign them. Not that easy without the tool. Been there, ripped the T-Shirt trying to fix it.

It is more than just taking out the key to do the handlebars, you have to remove the TripleTree covers as well. Much easier to just drill, or cut the corners off, which is what I did. The covers only hide less than half the bolt head. Just enough to make it a pain in the a$$.
 
#8 ·
I had mine off and it was really no big deal, didnt have to realign anything. But be careful when tightening that nut on switch stem, HD says snug and that's not very tight, I found out the hard way. Over tightened that nut and broke the plastic stem resulting in a new $150 switch install.
 
#10 ·
Drill it, it's covered by the upper bezel anyway. Should come from the factory drilled, turns four bolts and an easily botched ignition removal into 2 torx screws and a clip


Sent from Motorcycle.com Free App
 
#16 ·
Took a Dremel tool, and 5 minutes of time. Did it on my 05 and now on my 11. Eliminates taking off switch and speedo side housing. Two screws and your access to handle clamp is done.

I do not doubt that the modification is covered, but just wondering by how much.

I have not had this apart yet and am just curious.
 
#21 ·
It takes a simple screw driver to align the ignition and removing the ignition is a 15 second job. Why would you want to adjust the handlebars on the road? Once you have the handlebars set there is no further need for adjustment and if the install is done right the handlebars will not loosen up.
 
#22 ·
Not necessarily on the road. I have apes and they are pushed forward normally. When I leave on a road trip I plan on pulling them back a bit so I can lean back against what I have strapped to the sissy bar.

You're right its no big deal to remove the ignition but I choose to do it this way. I have done it many many times.

A few years back I had an ignition switch snap in half (the shaft) leaving me to deal with locked forks on the road. Peace of mind tells me to not mess with it more then I need to.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top