To get advice for something like this, you want to talk to someone has repaired countless high mileage FXR's that were beaten on daily. That person is Tim Wallingford, who works for the City of Garden Grove. Tim repaired FXRP's for a living and is also factory trained, so he's a grip of information.
"Yeah, we had some bikes that broke coils regularly. Just 80" FXR's that had a tendency to break coils just like how you're describing."
Okay, I was onto something. At least I knew I wasn't alone. I wanted to ride to work the next day, so I put something together that I thought would hold up for sure and it did, for at least 5000 miles or so.
This morning, on my commute to work, one of the grade 5 bolts broke. The coil itself was already broken, so I just sandwiched it back together with the bracket.
I'll put another coil on tonight (a new one) and use grade 8 this time to see how it goes. I used grade 5 bolts at the time because that's what I happen to have. So far, one year and 9600 miles on my new S&S engine and 2 broken coils... one semi-broken home made coil bracket. Not complaining, just saying!Oh, I always wondered why I seen a lot of bikes in Japan with coils hose-clamped to the frame. They must've been breaking coils too. I can't imagine what else I would possibly break if I actually would sometimes GET ON IT!
I'll be doing a short 10,000 mile write up on this engine here soon too.
i wraped one of those little bungee cords around mine and its been holding up for a couple thousand miles now
ReplyDeletei remember reading about tim wallingfords 'bolt grinder' in the horse a few years back, really dug it, would be cool to see more of his projects.
ReplyDeleteThe coil: I had mine zip tied together for a while too!
ReplyDeleteTim Wallingford: yes, he's always got some neat stuff up his sleeve! I gotta catch up with him soon, since he lives in LB now.
Nelson,
ReplyDeleteI havent had mine on the road long enough to feel your pain, but what about if you where to fab up a new bracket with the coil mounting like a
1/4 wider then run small 1/8 rubber
washers on each side, in theory would the washers eat up the vibration?
Yeah, rubber mounting might be the ticket huh? I'm guessing either rubber mounting it or completely frame mounting the coil, isolating it from the engine vibes.
ReplyDeleteOr either I start cruising slower or a lot faster to possibly change the harmonics!
Geez, I've got 160,000 miles on without breaking the coil or bracket. I did lose one of the bolts once.
ReplyDeleteI've got over 100,000 miles on the same Accel coil with a 80" evo. This engine with these other coils is completely different.
ReplyDelete