[Stonewheel]

Anyone with the cobra swept pipes installed; can you get your right side cover off? The one covering the shock adjustment wheel? Had the pipes on for almost a month and was pretty happy with them, but finally had occasion to need to remove the side cover and damn near couldn't. In fact, on removal had two tiny scratches on frame - very tiny and low down but on a bike with just approaching 600 miles *any* scratch is a huge one .. grrrrrr ... cannot get the side cover back on without some major pushing which I'm reluctant to try after the mess getting it off ...
None of cobra's advertising says ANYTHING about blocking side cover access, and it if takes loosening or removing the heatshield just to do that I'm gonna be seriously irritated.
Finally got so pissed I had to walk away from it - anyone know some easy trick I haven't figured out or any feedback on this would be appreciated - Thx

 

[chucklh]

Loosen the shield and rotate towards the front of the bike just far enough so that you cant see the hose clamp that is there, the lower pin that snaps in is hitting the wireing harness, wire tie the harness back it will give you enough clearance to get it on and off with out damage, that is what I did to mine.

 

[Richard1]

Stonewheel,
Let me know if that works. I ordered mine on Monday after hearing yours.

 

[rocker22]

Its a tight fit but I can get mine on and off. Have to be careful and kinda work into place before snapping into the grommets. Coming off, I place a rag over the cover and pop it off...being careful not to bang it and then work it out slowly.

Its tight...but it can be done.

I have also found that the use of the proper cuss words in the proper sequence seems to help tremdously!

 

[chopped]

I have been concerned about the clearance around the cover with aftermarket pipes. Luckily the Vipers from L&M don't pass by the cover. That is one reason I went with them.

 

[460brevill]

i have the cobra swept pipes and no problem on cover removal or putting back on.

 

[Jim Yaro]

Something to keep in mind when I start shopping for pipes.

 

[Stonewheel]

Loosen the shield and rotate towards the front of the bike just far enough so that you cant see the hose clamp that is there, the lower pin that snaps in is hitting the wireing harness, wire tie the harness back it will give you enough clearance to get it on and off with out damage, that is what I did to mine.

Not sure exactly what you mean about rotating the shield toward the front of the bike; the front hose clamp on the shield is already out of sight directly behind the pipe. I agree however it is the wiring harness which is in the way of the lowest peg snapping into its' grommet. I'll take a look and see if there's an obvious place/way to pull back the harness and zip tie it somewhere that allows clearance, thx.

Stonewheel,
Let me know if that works. I ordered mine on Monday after hearing yours.

I'll let ya know Rich; might be a day or two till I get off work and can take another look at it.

 

[Stonewheel]

bleh

Took another quick look while waiting on a work call, so couldn't spend much time on it. But my wiring harness isn't going anywhere; is pretty much rock solid zip tied to frame in two locations plus a 3rd little plastic connector of some kind. Could cut the ties of course, but since I figure it's tied where it is for a reason, I'm reluctant to try and move it around. Looks like my only option is going to be rotating the heatshield slightly to center that gap at the point where I'm lacking what appears to be only about 1/8 or maybe 1/4" clearance to get the bottom corner of the side cover to clear the wiring harness. Going to contact Cobra about this though; clearance issues or even possible clearance issues with oem bike parts is a pretty big deal and shoulda been mentioned *somewhere* on their site or something ... imho ...

 

[chopped]

Yea, cobra should have specified that there was a clearance issue with the stock cover.

 

[chriswill]

I have the Cobra Swepts, I took the side cover off for installation, and had not problems putting it back on. I havent tried to remove it since then. I give it a go this weekend and see if I have any problems.

 

[Stonewheel]

End to the side-cover saga

Okies; after a couple days on the road, got back late tonight and decided to try to fit the cover back on there one last time before I resorted to loosing/wiggling around the hose clamps on the back heatshield. Whaddya know it went!!! But it took some work. All I can think to say that I did different was that now that I had an idea what I needed to do (negotiate the wiring harness bundle) I was able to place the cover in approximate line-up position tabwise between the heatshield and the bike, and by looking down almost vertically while I started jimmy'ing it around I was able to move that bottom tab forward enough that it finally went down around the front part of the wiring harness (the hole with rubber gromet the bottom tab has to go into is actually directly below this fat section of the wiring bundle), then I had to work it backwards until I (hoped like hell) the lowest tab was in fact over the hole/grommet (you can't actually see it at that point) and began very gingerly pressing the whole cover inwards and SNAP in she went. It feels like I could do it again now if necessary, since I have an idea what I'm trying to do with it, but after all the trouble I just gave the bike a big kiss and left the garage ...
So, for what it's worth, if you have the cobra's or are expecting them, the cover can be jiggled around on an off but it takes some doing and whatever you do don't be an idiot (like me lol); walk away if it gets frustrating and come back to it. Even tiny scratches on a brand new bike tend to have a very Marianas-trench like look lol; and at a couple points during the cover re-install that damn cover is in contact with: downtubes under the gas tank; back of the faux-chrome rear cylinder cover, inside of the sideways-M part of the frame, *and* the shiny chrome heatshield of the back pipe. So the situation is, as they say, rife with potential disaster ...

I suspect that with slight variations in the placement of the wiring harness/bundle on different bikes from the factory, you might be lucky enough to just have clearance and not have to go thru all this, but if yer not one of the lucky ones, don't give up the faith; it can be done

P.S. Thx to all who posted suggestions on this problem; your idea's helped a LOT to git 'r done

 

[Richard1]

DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!! Now I have some little scratches from putting that DAMN thing on. Is there an easy way to fix them. Looks like it is only in the clear coat.DAMN!!!!

 

[TX Fury]

It's a tight fit, but it comes off.

You have to be careful of course, but it comes off. Even harder getting it back on, but I have only needed to take mine off once since I got the bike so it is not a huge issue for me.

 

[TX Fury]

If the scratches are in the side panels...

It is a good reason to have to paint them to match the bike!

 

[no_fury]

Yea, cobra should have specified that there was a clearance issue with the stock cover.

I personally feel it's more of a design flaw on the Fury then the Cobra pipes. I thought that the VTX-1300's side covers had very limited clearance but from the sound of it the Fury are much worst. Honda knows very well that over half the bikes they sell will get fitted with aftermarket exhaust systems, designing enough clearance only for the punnie stock 2" exhaust pipes is just ridiculous.

 

[chopped]

I personally feel it's more of a design flaw on the Fury then the Cobra pipes. I thought that the VTX-1300's side covers had very limited clearance but from the sound of it the Fury are much worst. Honda knows very well that over half the bikes they sell will get fitted with aftermarket exhaust systems, designing enough clearance only for the punnie stock 2" exhaust pipes is just ridiculous.

That is one reason that I made the decision to go with the Viper 2's. I remove the cover frequently to access the shock adjustment.

 

[springmaker]

I've had mine on and off a few times, and Yea its tighter than with the stock pipes, but if you are careful and patient it will go on fine. I have the Cobra swepts.

 

[ryguy00]

Its a tight fit but I can get mine on and off. Have to be careful and kinda work into place before snapping into the grommets. Coming off, I place a rag over the cover and pop it off...being careful not to bang it and then work it out slowly.

Its tight...but it can be done.

I have also found that the use of the proper cuss words in the proper sequence seems to help tremdously!

lol that's usually how things work around here too. i have the fuggin mayhems and that side cover is NOT coming off with the rear pipe on. i just dialed it in BEFORE installing pipes. never had a reason to mess with it since... just curious, why do you guys feel the need to keep adjusting the rear suspension? is it because you didn't do it before? or because you keep NEEDING to change it? if you need to keep changing it, why?

 

[no_fury]

[/COLOR]

lol that's usually how things work around here too. i have the fuggin mayhems and that side cover is NOT coming off with the rear pipe on. i just dialed it in BEFORE installing pipes. never had a reason to mess with it since... just curious, why do you guys feel the need to keep adjusting the rear suspension? is it because you didn't do it before? or because you keep NEEDING to change it? if you need to keep changing it, why?

Isn't the fuses also under that panel???