Bike Troubles Ad Nauseum...

I posted this over on tigertriple.com this morning:

This all started out as a "straight forward" weekend project to mount the SW Motech center stand I finally got around to ordering. I have a '98 steamer that I have posted the odd question or ride report here on and have had it for a bit over a year now. I put the Hepco-Becker crash bars on it last winter with no trouble at all.

I read the article here on center stand installation, read my Haynes manual on the removal of the exhaust system et. al. Let me tell you it was quite the hassle getting the bolt that fits through the lower suspension point to go together using only jack stands and a 2-ton floor jack to support the bike! I managed my way through all of that though and my bike sat right up onto the center stand just like my dog when offered a treat ;-)

The trouble began when I went to reassemble the other parts. Firstly the exhaust pipes did not want to fit all the way back into the headers. The metal ring gaskets appeared to be in good shape and pretty fused to the pipes so I decided just to leave them on and reuse them. Perhaps this was a mistake? In any case I put them in as snug as I could get them and screwed the retaining rings back on over the header studs. There is still about a quarter inch separation between the retaining ring and the header, but after putting the silencer/mufflers back on and firing her up she runs fine and I don't notice any exhaust leakage. I held a strip of paper down next to the header, revved the engine, covered the muffler ports with a rag and I don't see any leaks. I can live with that.

The real fiasco came when I tried to put the skid plate back on where the bolts go through the crash bar holes and the frame and screw into the skid plate. Things are not lining up and I'm afraid I have stripped both the bolts and the skid plate threads as when I do get the bolt to start it just wont go more than one turn before getting so tight I'm afraid I am going to shear the bolts! I put the skid plate behind the frame hole (the crash bar hole is in front of that). The aluminum spacer from the HB crash bars goes on the right side (I know) between the frame hole and the skid plate (I think). I should have paid better attention when I was taking everything apart on Friday.

All in all I wish at this point I had just taken the whole assembly down to the dealer and paid them the two hours labor it would have taken them to do it instead of the over 10 hours I spent on it this weekend and still don't have it finished. Arggghhh!
Any help, insight or advice you all might have would be greatly appreciated.

Pictures to my bike with the crash bars installed (before the center stand) are here: http://tigertriple.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3813&highlight=