Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Removing back fender

Last time I had the fender off was when I did the Freak. That's been three years....

Far as I remember, I jack the bike up, unplug the back lights harness, remove the two bolts up front, remove the four strut bolts, and work the fender out from the rear.

If you've removed your back fender lately, can you confirm this?

Aren't there six strut bolts? Haven't removed the fender but I have rotated some bolts in and out and it seems there are two 10s and four 8s through the strut. Also, it seems to me like it'd be a lot easier if you drop the shocks and let the swingarm drop completely out of the way.

Phil

Depending on what you are doing, there might be no need to jack the bike up.

Might help to loosen the bolts that hold the fender supports to the frame, as this will allow the supports to spread, meaning that there is less chance of them marking the fender when you move it. I also found that having the fender rack on makes it real easy to hold the fender and manoeuvre it out!

Other than that, what you have said is correct.

Good luck

Shaun

Old Roadie be right , shock drop and swingarm drop be mo better , good idea to take off the pipes so swingarm doesn't skin them . Otay ?

Way too much work! I unplugged the harness, removed the front two bolts (attaching the front of the fender to the frame), removed the 4 strut bolts, had the wife hold the fender in place, loosened the forward strut bolts, and the fender dang near fell into her hands. I took over and rotated it to the rear and removed it. Done!

Thanks all!

(Wade, you OK?)

Oh , we tawt you was tryin' to get acess to the Freek . Never mind .

Again, I over thought it, easier is better; second pair of hands really helps.

If it's still off the bike...

The rear fender's forwardmost wire harness pinch clamp on my 05 Speedmaster faces downward. This questionable design feature allowed the wire harness to fall down on the tire while riding through Knoxville one night. A wire tie of a color matching your fender could be wrapped around the left side fender tang near this clamp if you so desire. The wire tie is barely noticeable once the fender is re-installed. A dab of silicone caulk into the clamp area would probably work too. When my wires disappeared onto the TN ether at around 10 pm that night, some butt connectors and a wire tie had to suffice.

Sorry guys, I should have explained myself better. I removed the fender to replace a stripped nut (front right strut). btw, the strut nuts are shouldered nuts! Inside the fender is a brace that extends from one side to the other and is wide/long enough to encompass all 4 strut mount points. Pretty hefty gauge too (10 maybe). That and the other thicker gauge mounting points are what what make up the heaviness of these fenders. That's also why they kink right at the rear strut when struck from behind.

The strut nuts are welded to this brace and the shoulder passes through the brace and the fender metal so they are flush to the outside of the fender. Nice design but what a bear to get off!

I don't have any milling equipment to make another and I don't want to be welding anything right there (guaranteed to ruin the paint) so I am going to JB Weld together:

- some washers to fill in the thickness of the brace/fender hole
- a flat fender washer as backing
- an M8 nut on the back
- spray the parts black

I fit these pieces together last night and they are just under the original thickness of the nut/brace/fender so I am good to go. I plan on keeping the original nut so I can have one made whenever I find a machinist willing to take this on and not charge me an arm and a leg.

I will gladly entertain any better suggestions!!

Martin, thanks for the heads up. I'll check that this evening!

I had a stripped solo seat bolt & decided to chisel off the existing bolt and weld a new one on. It did bubble the paint a bit, but you've seen my bike...d'ya think I care?

For the strut nuts or other welded nuts whose bolts aren't removed very frequently, any opinions on whether or not it be an easier & stronger fix just to use an ordinary bolt & a lock washer instead of JB Weld?

I thought about that Mark but wanted a temporarily permanent() solution. I figure when/if I get a real solution (machined nut), I will install it properly just before paint. Oh yeah, she will definitely need some new clothes before too long!

Phil,
JB Weld should work just fine for this job. I admit that I used JB Weld to repair a header on my old 1961 Econline Van/Truck and it held up for years. Might be a simplistic solution but it was very sturdy.