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The very first thing I attempted to do was to remove the plate that covers the battery in order to install my battery tender leads. The bolts, as Warchild, famous on the fjr forum and other boards would put it, are as soft as moist ass cheese. The real problem with the battery cover bolts are they have no depth. There is simply not a lot of inner surface to grab.
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those are usually the first ones everyone here strips....problem is, it all began at thedealer when they hosed them up installing the battery....90% of those out there got cross threaded by the dealer, making re-use by the owner a p.i.t.a.
The most important thing you can do, and immediatly, is to take all your allen wrench nibs and apply them properly to a bench grinder or belt sander, AND REMOVE ANY CHAMFER FROM THE END, LEAVING THEM SHARP, SQUARE, AND PERFECTLY CLEAN.... the biggest problem with the C14 outer bolts is the minimal depth of the socket recess, removing the chamfered ends on all wrenches is a necessity, tapping on each nip when inserting it into a bolt head insures good grip.
The bolts themselves aren't too bad, they are stainless, albeit a soft alloy...
I suggest chasing every tapped hole you remove a bolt from with a good quality tap tho, to remove any damaged threads, and residual locking agents applied at the factory, before re-installing any bolts... anti seize agents are not really a suggested application, as if you use the wrong ones you will actually create a corrosive situaton caused by disimilar metals if the compound contains copper or zinc. Simply applying some generic bearing grease to the threads offers a better solution, and prevents corosion much better... k.i.s.s. principal works best there.
