2007 Softail Custom (with factory wobbly headlight).

Went to disassemble the wobbly headlight to do the nylon washer/rubber hose mod.

Unfortunately, the front two stock rubber posts disintegrated when I tried to remove them.

Now, the two nuts on the mounting plate inside the bucket, and the two acorn nuts outside the bucket just spin freely, and I can't remove them.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

I ran into a similar issue when I bought a used headlight off of an FLSTSC to replace the stock headlight on my Crossbones. In order to have it powder coated black, I had to disassemble it completely. Although the rubber mounts were fine, the nuts on either end were seized up and I had no choice but to destroy the mounts in order to get the thing pulled apart. This still left me with the problem you are having; the ends of the studs still in the light bucket and mounting bracket with the nuts attached and no way to keep them from turning.

After studying the problem for I bit I did the following;

I removed as much of the rubber that was left on the stud to get to the stud head which looks like the head on a carriage bolt. Since the head is completely round there was no way for me to grip it in order to break the nut lose on the other side. I took my small air cut off tool and very carefully, I attacked the edge of the stud heads on apposing sides in order to give them two flat spots. I made sure to cut not just the stud head, but the external tooth washers that are underneath as well. This then allowed me to grip the heads with a small set of vice grips and then I could break the nuts lose on the other side with a ratcheting wrench. Once I got the hang of it, the process took only about ten minutes. The studs are not too hard so be careful to grind a bit, then check, then grind a bit, then check, being careful not to cut into the inside of your light bucket. Some scratches are unavoidable. In my case I didn't worry to much about nicking the inside of the bucket since it is getting a good powder coat anyway and it is inside to it will never be seen.

This would probably be easier to do with a good dremal tool with a cut off wheel but I only have a small cordless one with not enough power to cut into those stud heads.

This only left me with one problem; replacing the rubber mounts. I went to my dealer who said that they were-non replaceable. Fortunately I found some cheap suitable replacement ones from this web site:

http://www.debrix.com/3pk-5-16-UNF-S...p/28002-k1.htm

They are listed under gas tank mounts but are essentially the same thing as found in the headlights.

I hope this helps. If anything is unclear just ask. I may even be able to show you pictures of what I did.

Good luck.

 

Wow, thanks for the great reply. Do the new rubber mounts (shown in the link you provided) wobble like the old ones?

Any advantage to coughing up the $325 for the HD Bullet style light?

 

The reason I went with those same studs is because I am not too concerned with the wobble that the headlight goes through on my Crossbones and I wanted to reassemble the light back as close to factory as possible. I would describe what I see on my headlight more as a heavy vibration than a wobble and it only happens on initial acceleration through first gear and the early stages of second gear when the whole motorcycle goes through a bit more overall vibration. Once I settle into second gear those heavier vibrations stop as does the shaking light. The other reason that I wanted to try and stay as close to stock form is because from what I understand, the reason the MOCO designed the light mounts for Springer bikes such as the Classic and my Crossbones with those rubber studs is because the forks transmit more vibration to the light and without the rubber mounts to absorb it, there was a tendency for the bulbs to crack. I wanted to make sure not to alter the properties of the light to much since I prefer to see a bit more vibration in the light than have to constantly replace expensive headlight glass.

I honestly can not say how this all effects a light that is mounted on a HOG with telescopic forks so I hate to try and offer insight and steer you in the wrong direction. Until recently, I thought that this style of rubber mounted light was used only on Springers for the reason I described above but last month I notice that the Sportster (a 1200 Custom, I believe) that parks next to me at work had the same (or similar) style light as the used Springer Classic light that I mentioned in my reply. I just assumed that the MOCO realized that all motorcycles are subject to heavy vibration and it would only make sense to take the same precautions on all headlights and not just the Springers.

Sorry I couldn't help you more there with your choice of headlights. Let me know how things turn out.

Good luck and ride safe.

 

I used the torch for a few seconds to remove mine. Don't leave it on too long so you don't melt the rubber. Leads me to believe they used red loctite. Why?...I don't know.

 

Thanks for this answer.i just did the same thing you described. I scratched the hell out of my housing and wanted to get it powder coated. I knew I had to remove the rubber and acorn nuts. Little did I know that part is pressed into the housing. After ripping the rubber stud in half I proceeded to gring out the stud. I tryed getting new bolts with rubber sleeves but that didnt let the light flex barely at all.i will be ordering these mounts in the link. Thanks again. Do you have those pictures of how it turned out?