Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Need help with missing bolts?

In washing my '08 America last weekend, I noticed that the bolts (if that's what they are) connecting the mid part of the left exhaust pipe to the frame of the bike were missing. That leaves the pipe free to wobble, and that doesn't seem good. The right side bolts are still in place.

The bolts connect to holes in the pipe through a light-weight, triangular piece of metal that is fastened to the frame.

I stopped by the dealer and talked to a parts guy. He looked the part in his parts catalog but could find nothing. He said he believes the pieces are rivets rather than bolts and he recommended I stop by a hardware story to pick some up.

Well, this had me scratching my head. My bike's less than a year old, still under warranty. But I dutifully checked out the hardware store, where I found nothing.

Today, I put the bike on a lift and shot some pics (see below). The bolts (again, if that's what they are) on the right side have hex heads. I tried to loosen one to remove it to get a good look at or to put on the left side temporarily, but I didn't try too hard because I just don't know what I'm working with.

Here are the bolts on the intact right side, shot from underneath the bike from the left side:

[image][/image]

Here's pic of the left side. You can't see it in this image, but there are no bolts, leaving the pipe unsecured at its mid-point.

[image][/image]

What do I need here? Why wouldn't the dealer have or be able to get these simple parts? Am I getting a load of cr*p from the dealer? Thanks for any help.

Jeff

Inside the silencer there are two "locktited" nuts that will probably just spin if you try to loosen the bolts on your "healthy" side. Your bike being a -08 should have this fixed by warranty. Go back to your dealer and tell him to look in his computer. I checked the micro fishe, but there are no ## for just the bolts. They should definitely give you a new silencer.

Sorry Jeff but I'm not sure which bolts you are referring to. In the first picture are they the two black screws with blue dots on them that secure the black muffler mount to the muffler? If so, the screws cannot be seen in the bottom picture because they are on the inside of the bracket???? Not trying to be simple here but that's why I'm confused. The bracket looks like it is secured to the muffler from the pic. The mufflers are supposed to be a bit loose where the black muffler bracket bolts to the frame on a rubber mount, under the passenger footpeg mounts. Make sure your muffler clamp is tight where the muffler is attached to the header.

I'm confused too. I thought the mufflers were only secured to the mounting bracket with two bolts. I see two (allen) bolt heads in the picture.

???

So what your saying is your missing both bolts that hold the left side pipe to the bracket.

They are not riveted, they are bolts. I dont know the size...sorry.

Your bike being an 08 this is a warranty issue and your dealer should fix it...PROPERLY! Those nuts inside the pipes like to break loose.

The top photo is the healthy right side, shot from underneath, showing the bolts in place. The bottom pic is the faulty left side, shot from the outside. It's true, the left-side holes where the bolts should be aren't visible because I shot it from the outside.

I'll press the dealer for a warranty fix. Thanks, guys.

maybe some doey headed bugger forgot to install the bolts when the bike was assembled from new?its easier enough to loosen the muffler bracket on to the header remove the muffler and check to see if the (nutserts) are still their if so grab a couple of bolts from the local hardware,if not head on down to the local dealer with the muffler
Benny
mind you if the bolts were fitted in the first place their should be a tell tale dot on the support bracket the same as in the photos above

You won't find a p/n for those allen head bolts because the hanger and the bolts are part of the silencer assembly.
I changed mine over to stainless and still have the old ones. I believe they were M8 x 1.25 about 20 mm long.

If the dealer can't fix you up, I can double check the size and let you know for sure.

They were bolts on my '03 anyway. I took mine off to mount the Epcos after about a week and they came right out. Over time, the threads of the bolts will collect carbon and get harder to unscrew to the point that they will twist out the nuts.

Thought I'd report back on what all happened. Got a happy ending, but gettin' there was painful.

My local dealer couldn't, well, give a crap. Three visits, three phone calls, two promises to return my calls and nothing. Meanwhile, I'm not ridin' my bike because I don't like how that muffler wags around when it's not fastened well.

So on a business trip to Columbus, Ohio, I stopped in at another dealer. Mind you, this is 130 miles from home. I explained my problem to the lady working the parts counter. She said to give her a few minutes. I wandered off to ogle new bikes. Within five minutes she finds me and hands me two bolts.

"How much?" I say.

"Don't worry about it," she says.

So I spent $60 on Triumph shirts. They did well. I might just buy my next bike there.

Days later, finally, my local dealer calls. They found the bolts I need, I'm told. Just $2 each.

No thanks.

Good to hear you got the problem solved and dealers like that ....

Hi Phaedrus...The standard bolts are 8mm thread 25mm long with allen head (button type) I replaced the standard bolts with stainless when i fitted new mufflers.Cheers, Tadpole

Thanks, Tadpole. That's what I learned from the dealer, after much monkeying around. I appreciate the help.