Adventures in Windshield Control Arm Replacment

[PW2013STL]

I dicided to powder coat the windshield brackets Black to better display my etched windshield , and since it will be appart to also replace the stock control arm with Ron's (Noboot) machined arm. Having read on here about all the problems with snapping the heads off the philips screws. That I needed to apply heat, or as Mike (Bluenight911) recommended use a impact screwdriver. Due to the low heat that my pencil iron puts out I went with the impact screwdriver. It worked fine on the lower screw, but on the upper one the head snapped off.

Since it was a clean flat break I proceeded to drill it out. Sadley that resulded in part of the screw body breaking off at an angle. I then dilled a hole next to the protuding part of the screw. My plan was to heat up the screw by appling heat from a punch that I heated with my torch to red hot and then grab the hot screw with my needle nose vice grips and turn the screw out. That did not work so I grabed my dremal with a very small grinding tip, and proceeded to grind the screw body flat again. Once I acheved that I tried drilling it out again. This was working well until the drill bit shapped off inside the screw. At this point I said to myself #%$#it and placed the dremal tip on the screw and held it there until smoke started to rise from the tip area.

Turn out that the screw got so hot it melted it's way deeper. This allowed me to cut off the head of a stainless 1/4" bolt and with the help of some JB weld make a stud. I put a small amount of JB weld into the hole with the bolt and then place the cover back on with a nut on the bold to keep it aligned. Once set I then fill up the hole with more JB weld. I also drilled and tapped the other side and made that a stud as well.

If I ever did another Spyder I would purchase a cheap plilips screwdriver and place it in the screw head and than heat up the screwdriver with a torch while appling turning force until I was able to remove the screw.

TIP - when putting on Rons arm make sure the side markd with "top" is facing the Spyder when assembled.

 

[BigGuy66]

That etching is very...

... outstanding!! I have thought about something for my windshield but I need to save up some farkle $$$. Too, reading your work on the arm console reminded me of most projects I do... it's always something else that gets messed up. Love the etching!
Jim

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

IMPACT DRIVER

:gaah:...... sorry this didn't work out as well for you as it did for me ....... and even tho your small " pencil iron " doesn't put out a lot of heat it just would have taken a bit longer ............. I see from the pics you took the gear wheel off - you got lucky with that :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: ......... the magnet is easier , it has less hold on the shaft - so it comes off easier .... Mike :thumbup:

 

[PW2013STL]

:gaah:...... sorry this didn't work out as well for you as it did for me ....... and even tho your small " pencil iron " doesn't put out a lot of heat it just would have taken a bit longer ............. I see from the pics you took the gear wheel off - you got lucky with that :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: ......... the magnet is easier , it has less hold on the shaft - so it comes off easier .... Mike :thumbup:

Mike,

With the spacers that Ron sends it was easy to remove the gear wheel.

Les

 

[cognaccruiser]

Etching looks terrific. Nice job to whomever did it. The blacked out looks great too especially on the white.

I know exactly how you discovered that top actually means top near windshield and not just facing up. :shocked:
But it was an easy fix compared to the other problems.

The pencil iron worked for me but who knew what would and what wouldn't when doing it. I'm starting to understand why they sell the whole thing as one unit but I would still do it with noboots arm. Just knowing what can happen would probably make it a non issue or least less frustrating.

I took the worm gear off too and the shims made it easy. Both approaches seem to work so take your pick.

Good job.

Gary

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

EASY & EASIER

Mike,

With the spacers that Ron sends it was easy to remove the gear wheel.

Les

....as stated above .......... plus people have broken the GEAR WHEEL ...... no one to date has broken the Magnet end ................... one of my mantra's is " why tempt CR*P unless absolutely necessary " :lecturef_smilie: ..... Mike :thumbup:

 

[PW2013STL]

Etching looks terrific. Nice job to whomever did it. The blacked out looks great too especially on the white.

I know exactly how you discovered that top actually means top near windshield and not just facing up. :shocked:
But it was an easy fix compared to the other problems.

The pencil iron worked for me but who knew what would and what wouldn't when doing it. I'm starting to understand why they sell the whole thing as one unit but I would still do it with noboots arm. Just knowing what can happen would probably make it a non issue or least less frustrating.

I took the worm gear off too and the shims made it easy. Both approaches seem to work so take your pick.

Good job.

Gary

Sara - Harvy's (Spyderpops) daughter did it at Spyderfest last year.

 

[cptjam]

Snap

Ann broke one, too! I thought it was me, muscling it. Nope, they just break! Sometimes the heat works, sometimes it still breaks! It is much easier to drill off the bike, jigged up to be flat.
Another terrible design! Why is that a screw, instead of a stud and a nut, like Les replaced it with? Or, a threaded insert, and a machine screw! Noboot makes a fine part; beautiful and strong. Plan on 4 hours, all told.

 

[noboot]

I have updated the fitting instructions to include heating up the screws (and or Impact driver). I have also suggested a light filing of the end of the hex Shaft as some have found it to be a very tight fit getting the new arm on.

 

[ThreeWheels]

This is one of the essential upgrades to the RT.
The whole mechanism, screws, gear wheel, etc, is designed to be replaced as a unit.
That's disappointing, since this arm seems to fail fairly often.

 

[PW2013STL]

I have updated the fitting instructions to include heating up the screws (and or Impact driver). I have also suggested a light filing of the end of the hex Shaft as some have found it to be a very tight fit getting the new arm on.

Ron,

I agree with the tight fit, but when I removed it to turn it around it went on easy.

Your arm looks like a piece of art. I almost did not have it powder coated as it seemed sinfull to cover it.

Les

 

[PW2013STL]

Ann broke one, too! I thought it was me, muscling it. Nope, they just break! Sometimes the heat works, sometimes it still breaks! It is much easier to drill off the bike, jigged up to be flat.
Another terrible design! Why is that a screw, instead of a stud and a nut, like Les replaced it with? Or, a threaded insert, and a machine screw! Noboot makes a fine part; beautiful and strong. Plan on 4 hours, all told.

Joe,

I never had a screw in plastic be so hard to remove like this one was. I swear it was like it became one with the plastic.

BTW - good luck tomorrow. Kathy and I will be thinking of you!

Les

 

[Roadster Renovations]

Looks awesome!