The Suggestion Box

Got a Suggestion or Feature Request?

Use the suggestion box to submit suggestions

Vote on suggestions submitted by other members.

Monthly Archives

Playing In The Cat Box

By Danny Martin (American Cycle Auto & Truck)

Cat Box

Hello let me introduce myself. I am AMCAT from American Cycle Auto & Truck. Welcome to my cat box. In the upcoming issues, I’m gonna try to show you how to save some money by doing things yourself. I will try to give you tips and advice on things I feel you should be able to do in your garage at home. Well how cool is this? A free magazine giving you free advice to save you money. I will include some of my part numbers so if you go to your local dealer you know just what to ask for. Some things might be different, but I will do my best. So, you better get this magazine monthly so you can read and follow along! I’ll even put in some pictures to give you something cool to look at. Lastly and I don’t feel this really needs to be said but I’m going to anyway, if there is a specific thing that you would like to see us cover, or attempt to do for you on your bike or model feel free to write to the magazine’s email and I will do my best to make your request an article. All that being said, here we go…

Resized_IMG_20170113_180250_1484433870955

Now I know your bike’s been sitting in the garage since Biketoberfest and the battery is probably stoned dead. So today we are going to install a YTX30 Series battery in a touring Harley-Davidson. Most of these FL bikes have the same battery from somewhere back in the 1990s through today. They retail somewhere around about $130. We are going to install a drag specialties 2113-0107 ($127.95 list) just for an example. If you’ve got a cool guy that runs your local shop it should be about $100 bucks out the door. It comes as a kit so to speak with its own acid pack and a sweet handle to install it; because you’re going to find out it’s kind of hard to get that factory one out of there with no handle. That’s why I picked these. Now if you’re like me and it is last minute and you really need the battery today, cuz you got to get on a poker run this is a common number. They should have it in stock everywhere. I’m sure when you get it home you’re going to be in a big hurry. First thing you want to do is take the battery out of its box, peel back the little red aluminum foil cover on the top of the battery, take the black seal off the acid pack, turn it over and put it on the battery slightly tamping down the acid pack so as not to break anything or spill or squirt it. I say to do this first because it gives your battery some time to fill, some time to self-charge and it allows the glass mat plates inside to expand before you put the black seal on the lid and cover your battery permanently.

Resized_IMG_20170113_180738_1484433870968

Now comes the fun part. Grab that Phillips screwdriver, undo the screw from the back of your seat…some bikes will have bolts on the side but with this Road King we are doing today it’s just a screw. Once the seat is removed you will see the battery, take your 45 Torx and remove the hold down clamp, then take your 10 millimeters or 3/8 and remove the positive cable, then the negative. Try to get your hands in there and get that old battery out of the way. To install simply grab the handle and place your new battery in there. From the nut and bolt packet use a longer bolt with the spacer to keep cables spaced from the battery giving you a little bit of room to work. First install the positive cable, then install the negative. By now your battery should be sufficiently charged enough to start the bike, although a good 2amp overnight charge is always recommended. If you did everything right your bike should fire up. Put your seat back on and get out there in the wind and have a beer for me. Hope to see you soon. Thanks for stopping by and playing in the cat box…

Resized_IMG_20170113_180621_1484433870963

 

Comments are closed.