Help with floorboards ,please

[punji]

During Bike Cleaning Day last week I noticed that my Kuryakyn floorboards were getting fairly grimey. Figuring it was no big deal, I popped out two of the rubber strips. Actually, it was quite a big deal since I can't get them back in. I've tried lubing the rubber with 3 In One, WD40, lithium grease, dish detergent, etc., etc., etc. I've used rubber mallets of various weights/sizes and wooden dowels to try to force the plugs back in. Kuryakyn has been no help. I'm guessing that a hydraulic or mechanical press was used at the factory to press the strips into place. Anybody here ever done anything similar and figured out how to get the parts back into the floorboard?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

punji, St. Augustinekuryakyn1.jpgkinserts.jpg

[maww12]

Might try some heat! That will make them soft and pliable. Seems you have tried about everything else!

[Bob Denman]

Getting those three "plugs", down into their corresponding holes is going to take tenacity... and patience!
I agree; heat them up a bit, and lube the holes in the floorboards with grease. (ONLY, where you want those plugs going!)
A sort of alternate method, (With a FANTASTIC possibility for sheer disaster! ); Bevel those plugs a bit, so that they start into the holes a bit easier.
Good Luck! Please let us know what works!

[bikeguy]

Just a suggestion - may or may not help. Along with the lube you might try some clamps. Most of us don't have a hydraulic press but regular old "C" clamps with a couple of boards to act as cauls can generate a fair amount of pressure. If the boards can be removed fairly easily, a vice might work even better.

Cotton

[Bob Denman]

Welder's clamps; with some different amounts of "reach" to them, ought to give you enough extra pressure on them!

[ValCruzSpyder]

Just a suggestion - may or may not help. Along with the lube you might try some clamps. Most of us don't have a hydraulic press but regular old "C" clamps with a couple of boards to act as cauls can generate a fair amount of pressure. If the boards can be removed fairly easily, a vice might work even better.

Cotton

Don't ask me how I know this!!!! Laying a 2x4 flat on the underside of the floorboard, and placing a 2x4 on its side on the actual tread will work. Make sure you lightly lub just the tip of the inserts first. Make sure your clamp is wide enough to accomadate both pieces of lumber and the actual floorboard...or you will have to drive 7 miles round trip to exchange it. (Don't ask) Heat will work, but you have to understand that deforming the insert is a real possibility. Hope this helps!

[Lycosa]

You might try a thin cord wrapped arount the inside/behind the lug. Give it two wraps, run the cord through the hole and where the two ends of the cord come together force the leading edge of the lug through the floorboard. keep as much pressure on the lug from the top as you can while slowly pilling the cord through the lug hole. a small amount of white grease around the hole will help ease the lug through.
This is the only way I have found to reseat these type of rubber lugs without the aid of a specific type of press to reinstall them. Good luck as I have never been able to do it on the first try. Be careful on the size of cord used. It needs to be small enough to force the edge of the lug through the hole but not too small as it may cut through the rubber.

[DriftersWay]

I made that mistake years ago. What I ended up doing was take a needle threaded with a 20 lb fishing line. Threading through the rubber about 1/3 from the end. Then I pulled the line through the holes and was able to push and pull slow and easy till it got seated. And don't forget the lub. Hope this helps.

[rcturner]

Call Kuryakyn. In the past, I have found them to be very helpful.

[punji]

Just a suggestion - may or may not help. Along with the lube you might try some clamps. Most of us don't have a hydraulic press but regular old "C" clamps with a couple of boards to act as cauls can generate a fair amount of pressure. If the boards can be removed fairly easily, a vice might work even better.

Cotton

A blue ribbon to bikeguy. A large C-clamp and little bit of WD40 did the job no sweat. It was a solution so obvious that I never saw it. Glad it wasn't a diamondback! Thanks to all who responded....

punji

[Bob Denman]

[Motorcycledave]

EPOXY