cracked plastic already?

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Ok finally got my driving lights mounted today...all this talk about them in another thread got me motivated...(and they look and work great!) but I noticed something...the little plastic mounting holes that the metal bar mounts to, under the windshield, have already cracked and broken off!

 

Son of a %$%^$$&()%#@!!!!!!!

 

I guess it would be repaired under warranty if I nudge the dealer, but that would buy me what...another few thousand miles before it happens again?

 

Ok...so what I may try to do, is make a couple of metal brackets, supports if you will, and brace those mounting tabs down to the bolts that hold the speakers to the fairing..I have done something similar to this before...on my Ultra, something similar happened at around 30,000 miles, the metal braces under the fairing fatigued and broke....so I fabricated some metal braces to provide more support.

 

Hey what can I say? We got some crappy roads in this little town...lots of cobblestone, or brick, type of roads. And they are ROUGH!

 

I had started to hear a bit of a clinking sound in the front when I hit some large bumps with the front tire, but chalked it up to something in the fork tins or maybe the fork deflectors .

 

If you guys start to hear this noise, I'd recommend looking for the cause...it could have eventually broken the center mounting tab, and although the windsheild is not likely to fall out...its still something that is a concern.

 

Maybe someone can fabricate something that addresses this and sell it to the members?

 

Here I was looking forward to 100,000 miles of trouble-free ownership. Dang.

 

 

 

 

[Vance]

You're in good company with those broken plastic tabs.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Just to clarify, these broken 'tabs' are NOT the ones on the chrome trim piece that sits under the windsheild on the outside of the outer fairing. I know those are very fragile, so I'm very careful when I'm dealing with that piece.

 

These are the little 'loops' of plastic under the fairing, attaching that gold-colored metal bar (that the windsheild mounts on) to the inner fairing. There are 3 of these 'loops', and the ones at each end are broken off.

 

 

 

[Carbon_One]

Ok finally got my driving lights mounted today...all this talk about them in another thread got me motivated...(and they look and work great!) but I noticed something...the little plastic mounting holes that the metal bar mounts to, under the windshield, have already cracked and broken off!

 

Son of a %$%^$$&()%#@!!!!!!!

 

I guess it would be repaired under warranty if I nudge the dealer, but that would buy me what...another few thousand miles before it happens again?

 

Ok...so what I may try to do, is make a couple of metal brackets, supports if you will, and brace those mounting tabs down to the bolts that hold the speakers to the fairing..I have done something similar to this before...on my Ultra, something similar happened at around 30,000 miles, the metal braces under the fairing fatigued and broke....so I fabricated some metal braces to provide more support.

 

Hey what can I say? We got some crappy roads in this little town...lots of cobblestone, or brick, type of roads. And they are ROUGH!

 

I had started to hear a bit of a clinking sound in the front when I hit some large bumps with the front tire, but chalked it up to something in the fork tins or maybe the fork deflectors .

 

If you guys start to hear this noise, I'd recommend looking for the cause...it could have eventually broken the center mounting tab, and although the windsheild is not likely to fall out...its still something that is a concern.

 

Maybe someone can fabricate something that addresses this and sell it to the members?

 

Here I was looking forward to 100,000 miles of trouble-free ownership. Dang.

 

 

 

 

 

TX, you're on the right track of bracing the ends of the windshield bar. like many others mine are broken too. Well at least one side for now is. My soulation was to use a couple of washers with a rod welded between them. One end goes under the screw at the bars end and the other went to a speaker grill screw. I put up a post a while back on this repair. Not sure if it was before or after the sites crash.

Below are a couple pics showing what I did.

Larry

[Guest KitCarson]

I discovered that situation on my bike when I went to put on a light bar I had custom built also. I looked at that deal and still cannot believe how yamaha engineered that. The plastic end rings are so flimsy I really cannot see how they even get off the assembly line before being broken. I am sure mine were broken before it left the factory. I mean that set up is cheeeeppp!!!. Yep that was another feather in my ownership experience. Another broken plastic situation was on mine from I figure day one......just did not notice it till I had it on the lift one day.......up front at the bottom of the front lowers...up under them in the middle is an allen head bolt holds the two together.......well mine had a two inch crack into the right side lower, again evidently left the factory like that.

You get a new bike......and if you are like me quite proud of it. You take care of it.....clean it.......shine it........baby it and then open it up and enjoy it on that interstate entrance ramp......then you start seeing stuff like that......No I was not impressed at all.......in fact it really upset my whole outlook on things for a couple days. In my opinion that whole windshield affair was built my Mickey Mouse.

[royalstarjac]

I think I would take it to my dealer and try to get it fixed under warranty. You shouldn't have things breaking under normal use.-Jack

[Guest KitCarson]

Okay want to say one more thing and then will shut up......some have suggested taking it back to the dealer......gee......for one thing dealers scare me......all they could do in this instance is tear it down and replace the inner fairing...and why?? If you had a brand new inner fairing the way this is designed it would not be two days before those flimsy end rings have snapped off.......we are talking about a ring made of plastic that is very,very,very small...less than 2/32ths of an inch thick and less than 1/8 inch in width. Simply not going to hold up in the field if you put a new inner fairing on every week. What they should have done is mold a metal boss into the plastic to secure the ends of the windshield bar to.....ever try to walk in the wind with a piece of plywood? Wind forces create a lot of stress......

I cut what was left of the end ring plastic brackets off with a dremel tool.....made some new brackets out of tydex plastic material.....this is a plastic material you can heat with a heat gun and mold to any shape.....I was afraid to use metal as I did want some flex.....if you make it too solid, just might cause something else to break......anyhow made brackets out of that material.....in fact made like ten of them....trial and error!! and glued them to the inner fairing with PC-7 epoxy. Took a dremel tool and carefully roughed up the surface below where the original plastic ring sat and allowed the new made bracket to fit to the existing curvature of the shield bar. When set for two days over Christmas.....went out and yanked on it.....it held well. PC-7 is good stuff....have used it for years to mount transducers and other stuff in boats.......I have an old aluminum boat I use in the Santee Swamp....log in the way....just get up some speed and run over it.....boat jumps...motor flys up in the air....over you go.....that transducer still sits solid........

No going to a dealer and getting a new inner fairing would last about as long as you got out of the parking lot.

[rsstar]

Had the same problem on my 99 but evidently mine were broken when the dealer installed the windshield at assembly. If you overtighten the end screws those tabs will break. Was lucky on my 06...changed the windshield twice and didn't break the tabs. As for fixing them I never did on my 99 and didn't notice any negative effects. As was stated,. the dealer WILL replace the inner fairing under warranty but like was also mentioned, most dealers scare me and I would be worried about something else being messed up. Changing the inner fairing is not an easy task. Maybe the 09 will be redesigned totally and all these little problems will go away. I'm waiting to see before I buy a new bike. If no major change in 09 I'm afraid my next bike will NOT be a Venture.

[Yama Mama]

Okay, I am trying to be open minded about this whole thing. I know that the Gold Wing is an excellent motorcycle. However, I personally think the Yamaha RSV is an excellent motorcycle too.

Some have had bad experiences with other brands.

Some engineering mistakes are made.

But I do recall that in the past, the Gold Wing had a major flaw of having the aluminum frame crack.

Now I think I would rather deal with the crack on the fairing.

We have a 99 RSV, bought it used. We love it.

Yes Yamaha could have improved the RSV, but I think that too much negative comments can sway future purchasers from buying a Venture.

I also realize, that since I am a woman, this commentary will be laughed at. But that is the way I feel about it. Love our bike. Would not ever get rid of it. Peace be with you both.

 

Peggy

[flb_78]

Those little plastic rings dont do anything anyway.

[BuddyRich]

I have a couple that have been broken for 30k miles. When its all tightened up I don't notice anything different between now and the day it was new. Just ride it.

[Condor]

If you guys start to hear this noise, I'd recommend looking for the cause...it could have eventually broken the center mounting tab, and although the windsheild is not likely to fall out...its still something that is a concern.

 

Maybe someone can fabricate something that addresses this and sell it to the members?

 

It seems like this is a common problem on the Second Gens. Something that may work is to do a little preventative maintenence on all those tabs before they break. I used the product pictured below to lay fiberglass mat over a very large hole in the 91's trunk, and was amazed at how good the stuff acted on the ABS. It's a thicker viscosity then the stuff I usually use to 'weld' spider cracks that develope with age. It does a great job of getting the mat to set up. Maybe glass matt on the tabs would keep things from breaking, or if they have broke to repair the tab... The stuff is available thru TAP Plastics here on the west coast.