I was kinda thinking that might work but wasn't sure if it would damage the plastic, I know some plastic when it gets to hot will become brittal, I'm going to play with it this weekend and post how it goes, unless I crack the fairing then I wont be able to post because the wife will crack my fingers when I tell her I have to buy a new one!!

 

just got thru replacing all of mine, put a bolt in heated it up a little and they pulled right out, and put the repair kit on the upper fairing brackets, all done and bike back together in about 2 hours

 

First thing, I appreciate the OP for starting this, and all the responses.
I have a clear picture of what you are doing, but I have a slight twist on the issue.

I think I already had the bushings replaced by the dealer, and now I stripped the inside of the middle one. (My fault, trying to align the inner/outer farings by prying the middle on with a screw driver.... can you tell I am a rookie?)

My question.... does anybody have any idea how I can unscrew the current stripped bolt from the fairing? I really like to have a clear picture on what I want to do on these first time fixes.

Thanks in advance guys, you all are great.

Dave

 

i tried it the other way around -- no wonder they would not go in -- thanks for the write up

 

try useing a easy out, it should bit into the threads and unscrew it from the plastic

 

thanks for the post - I have one that is loose. i was just going to epoxy it and drive it back into the faring.

 

I just did this repair to my bike yesterday.

First, let me say that the windshield screws have never been overtorqued. Routinely, I never use a torque wrench on the windshield screws but decided to use one the last time the windshield was removed just for a sanity check after I had hand tightened them as I normally do. What I found was that the screws were well below the recommended 25-30 in. lbs. so I tightened them to 25 in. lbs. using the torque wrench. The torque wrench is a fairly new, never mis-used, Craftsman with a range of 25-250 in. lbs. (+/- 4% stated accuracy). I realize that this is not the "optimal" wrench to use at the 25 in. lb. setting as that value is below 20% of the full scale of the wrench, but even if it's accuracy was compromised by as much as 20% at that setting I would not be exceeded the 30 in. lb. specification when I torqued the screws to 25 in. lbs.

At any rate, wouldn't you know it, the first time I remove the windshield after using the torque wrench for the first time one of the inserts is pulling out and will not tighten.

So off to the dealer I go to buy the repair inserts. I bought three, but only replaced the two outer ones, the one that was pulling out and the opposite outer one that would still tighten up but looked a little marginal, like it was starting to pull out. The center insert was firmly intact so I just left it alone.

At the dealership I asked the service manager which way the inserts were meant to go in. I already new in my mind which way I thought they should go in but asked anyways, just for confirmation. We went over and talked to a tech who said he used the slots to drive the inserts in, full threads first. I questioned that, stating that I thought the slots were there to help cut the threads. He disagreed. We continued to discuss my thinking that the slots were there to help cut the threads and provide a place for the displaced material to go when screwing the insert in, and also, by installing slotted end first, you'd end up with a full circumference thread for the fastener to screw into, but he just didn't get it and was adamant that the inserts go in his way. I just thought to myself, "whatever", and left knowing full well that I'd be installing them slotted end first.

Got home, disassembled the fairing, and proceeded to install the inserts, slotted end first, using a double-nutted 1/4-20 screw to drive the inserts in. They went in without incident. I considered using heat and/or tapping the fairing prior to installing the inserts, as previously mentioned in this thread, but found that to be unnecessary. Plus I felt that screwing them in without heat, or without pre-tapping the hole, would provide for a tighter fit. If I had to do it again I'd do the exact same process.

If any of you guys do this repair and use heat, or pre-tapping, I don't see that as a real problem, but from my experience I don't think it's necessary and you might end up with an insert that doesn't fit quite as tightly.

These threaded inserts are much better design than the originals and I consider this repair to be an improvement over the factory original design. Not too many repairs are "better than new", but this one is.

 

subscribed! I'll be needing to do this soon! Thanks for all the info guys!

 

I have three bad inserts in mine right now, the screws only screw half way... Awesome thread.

 

Awesome!
Thanks to the OP and everyone who added to the conversation.