Sprucing
Up An Ugly Duckling
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A fresh
look for a tired Dyna brake pedal.
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The Dyna Low Rider and Superglide series bikes use a
forged aluminum brake pedal, which, compared to other
bikes, is not the most visually pleasing part of the
bike, to say the least. Not only does it have a rather
"freeform" shape, it has the pedal surface
molded into the lever, and does not lend itself to any
type of add-on aftermarket pedal or pad. To make matters
worse, it is the ONLY thing on the Low Rider that isn't
chromed, and as it works its way upward from the chrome
exhaust and in front of the chrome timing cover, its
polished aluminum surface becomes out of place big time.
With no aftermarket companies focusing on that pedal, the
best you can do is replace it with a chromed version,
available through your H-D shop, at a cost of around $70
to $80, but that still leaves an unsightly pedal pad to
contend with.
After aquiring a "take-off" pedal from a cyber
friend who changed to forward controls, I started
shopping for a pad that would at least come close, and
not require too much "whittling" to make it fit.
The KuryAkyn ISO Softail Custom and Springer Brake Pedal
Part # 8029 for $19.95 looked to be just the ticket, so I
bought one, and headed to the grinding wheel!
With a pair of calipers, I measured
the hollow mounting recess under the new pad from
end to end, and used the calipers to monitor end
to end grinding on the pedal. Just enough off the
inside edge to make it flat, then take the rest
off the outside.
Next, the same thing was done with the front to
back measurements of the hollow, then take off
just enough back surface of the pedal to square
it up with the ends, and take whatever else you
need off the front edge.
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The
pedal has ridges and grooves along its top
surface that actually bow up a bit, so the new
pad will not sit flat on the pedal.
By grinding and filing, you can bring down the
ridges enough to flatten the top surface out and
enable the new pad to sit lower on the pedal.
I ground the entire set of ridges off, and as you
can see, there is still one (forward) groove left.
I got it flat and level, so I quit there.
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Finally,
the pedal was drilled to accept the pad mounting
bolt, and counter bored underneath so the bolt
wouldn't have to stick so far out the bottom.
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To get a nice close low fit, the new
KuryAkyn pad had to be ground down at the left
rear of its skirting, to allow it to straddle the
bar section of the pedal at the rear.
After grinding the chromed pad, I applied a few
heavy coats of clear touch up paint to the raw
edges to prevent rust/corrosion and chrome
blistering.
(masking tape
applied for photo clarity)
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After all grinding, filing and sanding
was done, I sent the pedal off for a gorgeous $70
polishing and plating job.
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Now the right side of the bike has a nice chrome pedal
and KuryAkyn ISO pad to match the chrome gearshift pedal
and ISO shifter peg on the left side, and Lady Mocc's a
happy camper!! :-)
Total cost, approx $100 including shipping to the plating
company.
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Many thanks to my cyber
friend Gary Rogers for the donation of the pedal
for this project
and Mark at Cajun Cycle Accessories
for assistance with getting the plating done! :-)
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