Spent all afternoon replacing the Windshield

[sgoyette]

Well....THAT was fun...*sigh*....

I decided to replace my stock Voyager windshield with a shorter one...been meaning to do it for some time. Windshield came in to the dealer today so ran out at lunch and was thinking ... hey, this can't take long. 5 screws and bam...all done.....well.....not so much.

The well nuts that Kawasaki uses have the smallest lip holding them into the frame that I have ever seen....two of the little buggers dropped into the fairing. Managed to get one out by pulling the speaker but for the other I pulled the whole fairing off and still didn't find it. And those little pieces of crap cost $10 each at the dealer and had to be ordered. Was talking to the tech and he gave me a nice bit of wisdom. Seems the size (6mm) is pretty rare for bikes...but not so much for cars. He said to go check out the local car parts dealer (Lordco here in Vancouver) and they should have something I can use. I got a pack of 20 for $10 and they worked just fine...a little thicker than the stock ones but cheaper than the OEM ones and they keep the windshield from becoming one with my face so ... win/win.

Anyway, finally got it back together but my little 10 minute job turned into an all afternoon job....was kinda fun....but don't let Ma Kawi know :-)

Steve

[smokey]

You may want to pass on the part number or info on the ones you got as other will probably run into the same problem, just wondering why you didn't just pull the headlight though, I did that and found the one I pushed out. You will find the same problem with the ones holding the speakers in as well, usually for some reason the one at the 10 o'clock position, found one, still looking for the other.

[Top Cat]

Originally Posted by sgoyette;565213
[B

And those little pieces of crap cost $10 each at the dealer and had to be ordered.
[/B]
Steve

That does not surprise any of us

[sgoyette]

Originally Posted by smokey

You may want to pass on the part number or info on the ones you got as other will probably run into the same problem, just wondering why you didn't just pull the headlight though, I did that and found the one I pushed out. You will find the same problem with the ones holding the speakers in as well, usually for some reason the one at the 10 o'clock position, found one, still looking for the other.

Tried the headlight first...but no luck. In the end it didn't matter because I didn't find it anyway.

The speaker ones are a smaller size (and more common). Encountered that when I changed the speakers. Pulled the little cubby out and found it that time.

Not sure what the part number was as they came in bulk in a brown paper bag..but 6mm well nuts did the trick.

Steve

[davidhollinger]

I have a magnetic pan and a magnetic telescoping tool just for that kind of crap. Cannot tell you how many times I have dropped tiny objects with these gorilla hands...

[Snake Ranch]

Originally Posted by davidhollinger

I have a magnetic pan and a magnetic telescoping tool just for that kind of crap. Cannot tell you how many times I have dropped tiny objects with these gorilla hands...

If there is a way to find a problem it seems to jump up and bite me. I would be concerned with that missing nut. There is electrical power under "the hood". My luck would be, because it happened before but not on this bike, was the MIA part found a place where it could short out some other components. It may not be possible here but I could not sleep till I found the that little thing so it can't be a problem down the road. If it was not above any electrical components I would not lose any sleep.

[jandmq]

Need to do this job myself. Do the well nuts fall off when you pull the shield off? If so have you any suggestions on how to remove it??

[wolfman46]

Have a 10" CeeBailey shield waiting to go on. My thoughts where to run with the tall screen late fall and early spring and then switch over to short screen for summer. Now I don't know if I want to chance it, if you have replacement weld nuts on hand, does it still require fairing removal to install them?

[highwayman2011]

They seem to be brass inserts in rubber. I was using a power driver the last time I had my windshield off and cross threaded two of them. Had to take out the headlight and radio to get pliers on them so I could unscrew them. I only use hand tools to remove and tighten now.

[smokey]

Are they like this??? http://www.ebay.com/itm/M6-Metric-Ru...8b395f&vxp=mtr

[wolfman46]

In all fairness to Kawasaki, the weld nuts list for $6.31 and can be purchased from online parts retailers for $3.46. Still expensive but better than $10.00. What a lot of parts retailers do is work with a parts matrix program that marks up 2-3 times more than msrp for inexpensive parts, say anything less than $10.00.

[sgoyette]

Originally Posted by Snake Ranch

If there is a way to find a problem it seems to jump up and bite me. I would be concerned with that missing nut. There is electrical power under "the hood". My luck would be, because it happened before but not on this bike, was the MIA part found a place where it could short out some other components. It may not be possible here but I could not sleep till I found the that little thing so it can't be a problem down the road. If it was not above any electrical components I would not lose any sleep.

The nuts are rubber coated so it's unlikely to cause any type of electrical short....but they are a pain in the arse because of how easy they push in.

[sgoyette]

Originally Posted by jandmq

Need to do this job myself. Do the well nuts fall off when you pull the shield off? If so have you any suggestions on how to remove it??

No, they are inserted into the frame that holds the fairing on and held in place by a tiny little rubber lip. Taking the screws out won't be an issue...but be very gentle when you put the screws back in.

Hopefully you will have better luck than I.

Steve

[sgoyette]

Originally Posted by smokey

Are they like this??? http://www.ebay.com/itm/M6-Metric-Ru...8b395f&vxp=mtr

The originals are different than that but I'm sure those would work fine and look very similar to the ones I got from Lordco.

Steve

[Silent Sam]

If your lost screw was able to fall behind your speaker..it's possible it's stuck to the magnet on the back of the speaker ?