Electric Windshield adjustment bar broke. Any suggestions?

[KAMJAM]

Good thread as we both have F4 windscreens on our RT's. Both screens are taller, wider and heavier. Plus we have some really bad secondary roads that really get things bouncing.

I really like the look the arms from Noboot, so 2 of them will be arriving by 11/1!

Thanks again for the discussion.
Ken

[ks4hcoach]

Interesting thread and several good options to replace what appears to be "Not IF it breaks but WHEN it breaks" stock adjustable windscreen arm on the Spyder RTs.

I have a 2021 RTL with 8800 miles and the stock arm is still intact, I think. But reading about the many Spyder owners who had the stock arm break, I felt it best to be prepared. Ron (Noboot), from what I have read, was the first person to make and distribute a high quality replacement for the crack-prone stock arm. Everything I have read on his replacement has been very good so I contacted him a bit over a week ago about pricing, delivery time, and terms to buy. He was very responsive and very helpful, so I ordered one of his replacement windscreen arm kits (arm plus 3 wedges to help remove the old arm from the hex shaft that drives it.)

The kit arrived today via DHL. It was extremely well packaged, and, DHL was in contact with me regarding delivery terms. All in all, a perfect transaction from start to finish!

The arm is polished, billet aluminum and has a very good finish and also well radiused corners and edges on all machined areas. It is a polished, shiny aluminum finish...and I will NOT be painting it black for it would be a shame to cover up the very nice machine work on display.

Nice product Noboot, with service and followup to match!

Thanks again,

Rod

[EdMat]

What's the latest year model that one has broken on?

[noboot]

Rod, Glad it arrived safely. and a great write up, thanks.

Safe riding, Ron (noboot)

[ks4hcoach]

Hi Ron,

You are welcome and, looking closer, I see your kit came with 2 wedges and 3 spacers to use with the wedges when removing the original arm, rather than the three that I mentioned in the original post. These all look useful.

Thanks again,

Rod

[Mikey]

What's the latest year model that one has broken on?

I cannot tell you what you want to hear, but I can tell you keep Noboots in your favorites file, if yours breaks it's worth every penny to get one of his arms, it will be a one and done!!!

[EdMat]

I cannot tell you what you want to hear, but I can tell you keep Noboots in your favorites file, if yours breaks it's worth every penny to get one of his arms, it will be a one and done!!!

Oh, I completely agree. Had that bookmarked for a couple of years.

[Peter Aawen]

What's the latest year model that one has broken on?

I personally haven't seen any of the 'new style' RT's with this 'broken windscreen lift arm' issue, maybe Ron could comment on that; but I have seen a broken arm on one or more of every year/model of the original style RT's...

I guess it's a similar thing to the dodgy OE Sway Bar links - it's pretty clearly an endemic 'poor choice of materials' problem with our Spyders/this adjustable windscreen set-up that's taken a while to reveal itself; or maybe BRP knew from the set-to they wouldn't last all that long/well, but decided that since most failures would be on Spyders that were out of their warranty period, the 'cheaper choice' was to just not bother resolving it/upgrading the materials used?!? That wouldn't be the first time, nor would it be a decision unique to BRP on something like that?!

[ThreeWheels]

I personally haven't seen any of the 'new style' RT's with this 'broken windscreen lift arm' issue, maybe Ron could comment on that; but I have seen a broken arm on one or more of every year/model of the original style RT's...

I guess it's a similar thing to the dodgy OE Sway Bar links - it's pretty clearly an endemic 'poor choice of materials' problem with our Spyders/this adjustable windscreen set-up that's taken a while to reveal itself; or maybe BRP knew from the set-to they wouldn't last all that long/well, but decided that since most failures would be on Spyders that were out of their warranty period, the 'cheaper choice' was to just not bother resolving it/upgrading the materials used?!? That wouldn't be the first time, nor would it be a decision unique to BRP on something like that?!

I only have a "seat of the pants" observation.

On both my 2010 and 2014 RT's, when I hit a bump or pothole, I could see the windshield shake in a way that it appeared to rotate around that center arm. This of course, stressed it until it eventually broke.
You could also rotate the windshield by hand if you grabbed it.
On my 2020, the center arm is painted black, but it appears to be made the same as previous models.
The major difference is that the windshield seems tighter and doesn't shake as much over the bumps. It doesn't rotate much by hand either.
I'm hoping that BRP has solved the problem by beefing up the windshield supports.

[noboot]

As Peter and ThreeWheels have commented The Windscreen Arm in the newer models (after 2019) are painted black but are still the same manufacture since 2010. And in my opinion all the painted black will do is hide the possibility of seeing any cracks that might appear. Also if the windscreen on the newer models are fitting tighter ("beefing up the windshield supports") and not "Rotating" as much it would be taking less stress off that Centre arm and less chance of it cracking and breaking, I sure hope so.

[Jetfixer]

I recently replaced the windshield arm on a friends 2012 RT. I advised him to get noboot's arm, but he bought Pierre's. Pierre's arm seems to be good quality but there are differences. For anyone wanting to do this repair themselves, you'll need a lot of patience. Pierre's arm did not come with any wedges or spacers. If you do not have wedges similar to what noboot shows in his video and supplies, you will more than likely break the black plastic drive gear. In this case, you are done. Also, noboot's arm appears to me to be fully broached on the internal cavity for the shaft and utilizes the two roll pins. Pierre's is only broached about an inch and does not utilize the roll pins, but comes with a set screw to keep it in place. Other than these differences I can't comment as to quality of the metal.