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Windshield Arm Broken
- Thread starter ThreeWheels
- Start date
Magdave
New member
From Cincy's post
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...-may-want-to-check-this-on-your-machine/page6
This is a Cast Aluminum part and when I asked my buddy, he said cast aluminum can not be welded:lecturef_smilie:I don't know this personally, as I deal with Laser Welders and steel here at work, so I don't know personally but would be inclined to take my buddies word for it
As for the sleeves that we were discussing before, here are pics of them along with the new center bolt that comes with the screw type adjuster on one side, then you have to order the other side seperately. Just thought I'd post the pics and share the knowledge. Again, are these sleeves NEEDED .... doubtful, especially at around $5/pair :shocked: but they are part of the new & improved windshield bracket hardware assembly :lecturef_smilie: and it would make sense that you wouldn't want metal to be constantly rubbing against metal with each and every adjustment of your shield
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...-may-want-to-check-this-on-your-machine/page6
This is a Cast Aluminum part and when I asked my buddy, he said cast aluminum can not be welded:lecturef_smilie:I don't know this personally, as I deal with Laser Welders and steel here at work, so I don't know personally but would be inclined to take my buddies word for it
As for the sleeves that we were discussing before, here are pics of them along with the new center bolt that comes with the screw type adjuster on one side, then you have to order the other side seperately. Just thought I'd post the pics and share the knowledge. Again, are these sleeves NEEDED .... doubtful, especially at around $5/pair :shocked: but they are part of the new & improved windshield bracket hardware assembly :lecturef_smilie: and it would make sense that you wouldn't want metal to be constantly rubbing against metal with each and every adjustment of your shield
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ThreeWheels
Active member
Nice. Looks like you don't even have to remove the mechanism to remove the arm.
4 screws and the arm comes out !
That makes the swap out simpler still.
4 screws and the arm comes out !
That makes the swap out simpler still.
BLUEKNIGHT911
Sadly Passed Oct 2024 - RIP
???????
88888888Now my question is does the plastic cap on the right side come off? would the Bar slide off then?
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Magdave
New member
Just to be clear you are saying the gear position does not matter on the reinstall it will go up and down to the stops on it's own? Roll pins in the gear hold in place? I know grub screws hold the arm in place. It seems like an easy replacement after pulling the cover off 4 screws, pop out gear, replace arm and reverse the process. I assume the gear must be tight as he includes some wedges to remove it.
Any tips on removing the cover?
Any tips on removing the cover?
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BLUEKNIGHT911
Sadly Passed Oct 2024 - RIP
Last edited:
BLUEKNIGHT911
Sadly Passed Oct 2024 - RIP
COVER ????
Last edited:
Tango
Well-known member
It doesn't show up on e-bay.:dontknow: Tom :trike:
Tango
Well-known member
ThreeWheels
Active member
Billet Aluminum Arm Replacement.
So, I received the billet arm at work on Friday morning. Here is my tale of the installation.
I’d like to say a hearty Thank You to two people:
First, noboot (Ron) for making these beautiful works of art. As sturdy as they are beautiful. I understand there is a move afoot to have these arms available through one of the established vendors here on this site. I look forward to that.
Second is John (JRWW). I had contacted JRWW who had installed the billet arm himself. He was able to give me some general directions to follow and a few keen pointers, some of which I neglected, much to my detriment. I will quote parts of his email at appropriate times
I got home, had dinner with Hot Sexy Girlfriend, she went home and I went to sleep planning to do the install Saturday.
Something woke me up at midnight. The billet arm was calling to me. I went down to the garage with a strange sense of excitement. Before turning on the light, I saw a green metallic glow from my work table, and I swore I heard eerie metallic singing from the same location. I turned on the light, and all the noise and colors disappeared, yet when I felt the billet arm, it was warm to the touch, I’m certain I could almost feel the pulse of a living thing. I knew I had to begin on this great adventure. Preventive maintenance for the windshield raising arm. I felt it was……a calling. My duty. My special pleasure to take this billet arm , this work of art worthy of MOMA and mount it to my spyder so that anyone interested at SpyderQuest could see it.
The billet arm is exactly that, a single piece of metal. Manufactured by cutting away unwanted material from one piece of aluminum. There are no welds to fail, nor is there any grain such as the MMI pieces. I am replacing the OEM arm as preventive maintenance. The existing arm, however manufactured (cast, injection molded, printed) has proven often times to be inferior. My 2010 went through two of these arms and a friend of mine surprisingly had his arm fail as well
So, enough with marveling the beauty of the piece and the way it soulfully called to me. Time to get my butt in gear and install it.
First, remove the windshield and the windshield support arm. This comes out pretty easily with just a few bolts and bushings. This takes about 15 minutes.
Next, remove the fascia around the windshield operating arms to get to the one we want to replace.
How do you do that ? Stare at it for 5 minutes. Think some more. There are two screws on the top, take them out.
You have to take off the mirrors, both left and right upper panels and the fascia around the headlights to get to all the bolts to remove the windshield fascia. This doesn’t take a long time. It takes more time to figure it out than it does to do it. But I’d leave about ½ hour to do this.
At this point we’re about an hour into the project.
Now that the windshield mechanism is exposed, you need to start removing the arm from the mechanism in order to replace it.
At this point, I’ll quote John:
"Gidday Steven,
I'll try and explain as best I can from memory, now been awhile since I did this. Once all the Tupperware is removed the tricky bit is prying the top plastic parts either side of the arm apart. They are glued down and after you remove the screws, use a flat bladed screwdriver, I gently tapped it between the top and bottom section, it takes a bit of force to break the glue and mine went flying across my workshop. Then the arm lifts out, make sure you mark the position of the arm on either side before removing. The next difficult part is removing the arm from the shaft, on one end is a magnet, put some tape over it so you don't lose it. I placed the arm in a bench vice to remove a pin that locks the arm in place. I sacrificed a small drill of the same size to tap it out, make sure you don't damage the hexagonal shaft in anyway as you won't get the new arm on. Then using a hair dyer to heat the toothed plastic wheel I used a small open ended spanner slightly bigger than the shaft placed on the wheel and very gently tapped the spanner with a hammer to remove the wheel. Did I mention gently!!!!! Take your time here!!!! Apply plenty of heat and take your time. Once you have the wheel removed then with a rubber mallet gently tap the hexagonal shaft out of the old arm. Again take your time and be gentle!!! The installation of the new arm is just the reverse, make sure the hole in the arm lines up with the hole in the shaft to replace the metal pin. Forgot to mention I had real difficulty in removing two of the screws on one side of the plastic holding the arm in place, ended up removing with multi grips and destroying the head, so went to my local bolt place and bought new bolts with Allen key head. Also once you have put the arm back in place and fitted everything, start your bike and operate the electric button to ensure the arm moves up and down without any issues. If you mark the position as I mentioned everything should be fine. Best of luck and let me know how you go.
Regards
John"
Excellent instructions, don’t you think ? I wish I'd heeded them. Here’s what I actually did.
I removed the screws that hold the top part of the plastic pieces in place. In both cases, the lower screw could be removed easily. I broke the heads of the upper screws. The plastic pieces came off with no problem at all. No glue.
Removing the arm assembly was quite easy, and I was left with the next biggest problem. Removing the plastic gear to make way for removing and replacing the arm. There is a small screw at the end of the gear that retains the gear on the shaft. This needs to be removed.
I tried the spanner (wrench) trick John spoke of with one minor difference. Rather than putting the wrench around the plastic shaft of the gear, I put the wrench around the sprocket and began rapping. This was not wise. Not much happened, so I continue to rap with increasing force until I finally broke the gear. I should have paid more attention to the "gently" part.
Once the gear was broken, it was much easier getting the plastic shaft off the main shaft. I understand Ron is including wedges in his kit to help with uninstalling the plastic gear.
So, now I had to fix the gear. I degreased the plastic parts and got out Plastic Welder, my go to glue for all things plastic from ABS to Styrene. It glues everything except polypropylene. If you ever use it, one safety tip: The instructions say “Use in a well ventilated area”. They aren’t kidding. This stuff is great, but it smells very bad.
Anyway, an hour later, the gear is repaired. I used one of my miniature screw drivers as a punch and hammered it to remove the pins on the old arm. I removed the old arm, installed the new arm reusing the pins and reinstalled the now repaired gear. I had to use a hammer to rap the plastic gear back into place. The outside diameter of the new arm is a little bigger than the old arm. When re-installing the pins, keep this in mind to try to install the pins to get maximam grip from both ends of the pin. Also remember to transfer the bushings from the old arm to the new arm.
Please note the plastic repair to the gear. I filled in the entire void space with glue, so instead of the 1/16" ring mounting the gear to the plastic shaft, now there is 3/8" of plastic mounting the gear to the plastic shaft. I was careful to make sure the gear was square to the shaft before the glue set. I put the gear shaft and arm in place and locked it down with only one screw in each of the plastic retainers. I used the up and down buttons to cycle the mechanism and make sure it worked properly before I fully reassembled everything. I used my favorite glue again to fill the screw holes of the broken screws to make sure the plastic parts stay in place tightly. This is very important. In my opinion, the old arm breaks because it is absorbing the energy from the twisting or bouncing motion of the windshield. The new arm doesn’t absorb the energy; it is strong enough so it just transmits the energy to the rest of the mechanism, so be sure the plastic parts are all locked down firmly, even if you need to use additional glue. This will ensure that other parts of the mechanism are strong enough support the load of the bouncing windshield.
Notice the two new screws in the upper holes of the plastic hold down pieces. These are also glued in place for additional strength.
Before putting everything together, I ran the arm up and down again to make sure it operated properly. You just need to make sure that you put the arm back in the same position you took it out from so the magnet lines up. The magnet is what controls the position of the arm. I photographed everything, mostly so I would know how to reassemble things.
Why BRP doesn't get on the phone and just tell the windshield mechanism guy to make a different arm for 10 bucks more is completely beyond me.
All told, going from old arm to new arm took about 4 hours, and that included repairing all the stuff I broke. I’m waiting another 6 hours or so before I put the windshield support and windshield back in place to allow all the glued pieces to reach maximum strength before use.
Since I have a lot of the body work off, I'll install the SR10 PTT button so I can install the CB radio in the rear trunk.
So, I received the billet arm at work on Friday morning. Here is my tale of the installation.
I’d like to say a hearty Thank You to two people:
First, noboot (Ron) for making these beautiful works of art. As sturdy as they are beautiful. I understand there is a move afoot to have these arms available through one of the established vendors here on this site. I look forward to that.
Second is John (JRWW). I had contacted JRWW who had installed the billet arm himself. He was able to give me some general directions to follow and a few keen pointers, some of which I neglected, much to my detriment. I will quote parts of his email at appropriate times
I got home, had dinner with Hot Sexy Girlfriend, she went home and I went to sleep planning to do the install Saturday.
Something woke me up at midnight. The billet arm was calling to me. I went down to the garage with a strange sense of excitement. Before turning on the light, I saw a green metallic glow from my work table, and I swore I heard eerie metallic singing from the same location. I turned on the light, and all the noise and colors disappeared, yet when I felt the billet arm, it was warm to the touch, I’m certain I could almost feel the pulse of a living thing. I knew I had to begin on this great adventure. Preventive maintenance for the windshield raising arm. I felt it was……a calling. My duty. My special pleasure to take this billet arm , this work of art worthy of MOMA and mount it to my spyder so that anyone interested at SpyderQuest could see it.
The billet arm is exactly that, a single piece of metal. Manufactured by cutting away unwanted material from one piece of aluminum. There are no welds to fail, nor is there any grain such as the MMI pieces. I am replacing the OEM arm as preventive maintenance. The existing arm, however manufactured (cast, injection molded, printed) has proven often times to be inferior. My 2010 went through two of these arms and a friend of mine surprisingly had his arm fail as well
So, enough with marveling the beauty of the piece and the way it soulfully called to me. Time to get my butt in gear and install it.
First, remove the windshield and the windshield support arm. This comes out pretty easily with just a few bolts and bushings. This takes about 15 minutes.
Next, remove the fascia around the windshield operating arms to get to the one we want to replace.
How do you do that ? Stare at it for 5 minutes. Think some more. There are two screws on the top, take them out.
You have to take off the mirrors, both left and right upper panels and the fascia around the headlights to get to all the bolts to remove the windshield fascia. This doesn’t take a long time. It takes more time to figure it out than it does to do it. But I’d leave about ½ hour to do this.
At this point we’re about an hour into the project.
Now that the windshield mechanism is exposed, you need to start removing the arm from the mechanism in order to replace it.
At this point, I’ll quote John:
"Gidday Steven,
I'll try and explain as best I can from memory, now been awhile since I did this. Once all the Tupperware is removed the tricky bit is prying the top plastic parts either side of the arm apart. They are glued down and after you remove the screws, use a flat bladed screwdriver, I gently tapped it between the top and bottom section, it takes a bit of force to break the glue and mine went flying across my workshop. Then the arm lifts out, make sure you mark the position of the arm on either side before removing. The next difficult part is removing the arm from the shaft, on one end is a magnet, put some tape over it so you don't lose it. I placed the arm in a bench vice to remove a pin that locks the arm in place. I sacrificed a small drill of the same size to tap it out, make sure you don't damage the hexagonal shaft in anyway as you won't get the new arm on. Then using a hair dyer to heat the toothed plastic wheel I used a small open ended spanner slightly bigger than the shaft placed on the wheel and very gently tapped the spanner with a hammer to remove the wheel. Did I mention gently!!!!! Take your time here!!!! Apply plenty of heat and take your time. Once you have the wheel removed then with a rubber mallet gently tap the hexagonal shaft out of the old arm. Again take your time and be gentle!!! The installation of the new arm is just the reverse, make sure the hole in the arm lines up with the hole in the shaft to replace the metal pin. Forgot to mention I had real difficulty in removing two of the screws on one side of the plastic holding the arm in place, ended up removing with multi grips and destroying the head, so went to my local bolt place and bought new bolts with Allen key head. Also once you have put the arm back in place and fitted everything, start your bike and operate the electric button to ensure the arm moves up and down without any issues. If you mark the position as I mentioned everything should be fine. Best of luck and let me know how you go.
Regards
John"
Excellent instructions, don’t you think ? I wish I'd heeded them. Here’s what I actually did.
I removed the screws that hold the top part of the plastic pieces in place. In both cases, the lower screw could be removed easily. I broke the heads of the upper screws. The plastic pieces came off with no problem at all. No glue.
Removing the arm assembly was quite easy, and I was left with the next biggest problem. Removing the plastic gear to make way for removing and replacing the arm. There is a small screw at the end of the gear that retains the gear on the shaft. This needs to be removed.
I tried the spanner (wrench) trick John spoke of with one minor difference. Rather than putting the wrench around the plastic shaft of the gear, I put the wrench around the sprocket and began rapping. This was not wise. Not much happened, so I continue to rap with increasing force until I finally broke the gear. I should have paid more attention to the "gently" part.
Once the gear was broken, it was much easier getting the plastic shaft off the main shaft. I understand Ron is including wedges in his kit to help with uninstalling the plastic gear.
So, now I had to fix the gear. I degreased the plastic parts and got out Plastic Welder, my go to glue for all things plastic from ABS to Styrene. It glues everything except polypropylene. If you ever use it, one safety tip: The instructions say “Use in a well ventilated area”. They aren’t kidding. This stuff is great, but it smells very bad.
Anyway, an hour later, the gear is repaired. I used one of my miniature screw drivers as a punch and hammered it to remove the pins on the old arm. I removed the old arm, installed the new arm reusing the pins and reinstalled the now repaired gear. I had to use a hammer to rap the plastic gear back into place. The outside diameter of the new arm is a little bigger than the old arm. When re-installing the pins, keep this in mind to try to install the pins to get maximam grip from both ends of the pin. Also remember to transfer the bushings from the old arm to the new arm.
Please note the plastic repair to the gear. I filled in the entire void space with glue, so instead of the 1/16" ring mounting the gear to the plastic shaft, now there is 3/8" of plastic mounting the gear to the plastic shaft. I was careful to make sure the gear was square to the shaft before the glue set. I put the gear shaft and arm in place and locked it down with only one screw in each of the plastic retainers. I used the up and down buttons to cycle the mechanism and make sure it worked properly before I fully reassembled everything. I used my favorite glue again to fill the screw holes of the broken screws to make sure the plastic parts stay in place tightly. This is very important. In my opinion, the old arm breaks because it is absorbing the energy from the twisting or bouncing motion of the windshield. The new arm doesn’t absorb the energy; it is strong enough so it just transmits the energy to the rest of the mechanism, so be sure the plastic parts are all locked down firmly, even if you need to use additional glue. This will ensure that other parts of the mechanism are strong enough support the load of the bouncing windshield.
Notice the two new screws in the upper holes of the plastic hold down pieces. These are also glued in place for additional strength.
Before putting everything together, I ran the arm up and down again to make sure it operated properly. You just need to make sure that you put the arm back in the same position you took it out from so the magnet lines up. The magnet is what controls the position of the arm. I photographed everything, mostly so I would know how to reassemble things.
Why BRP doesn't get on the phone and just tell the windshield mechanism guy to make a different arm for 10 bucks more is completely beyond me.
All told, going from old arm to new arm took about 4 hours, and that included repairing all the stuff I broke. I’m waiting another 6 hours or so before I put the windshield support and windshield back in place to allow all the glued pieces to reach maximum strength before use.
Since I have a lot of the body work off, I'll install the SR10 PTT button so I can install the CB radio in the rear trunk.
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Bob Denman
New member
Thanks for posting all of this! :clap: :2thumbs:
I've got one coming from him as well, and your info is going to be VERY handy!! :firstplace: :bowdown:
I've got one coming from him as well, and your info is going to be VERY handy!! :firstplace: :bowdown:
ThreeWheels
Active member
I've already gone through two arms on my last Spyder. I'm disappointed that BRP doesn't have a fix, but since one is now available, I'll take advantage of it in order to prevent any future failure in my brand new (685 miles today) machine.
Wedges ? I didn't mention them because I didn't get any wedges so I don't know what they are for.
I received a very beautiful piece of machined aluminum along with some details on how to change out these arms, but I don't recall any wedges.
We don't need no stinkin' wedges.
Bob Denman
New member
If anybody is "uncomfortable" with the process; I spoke with my tech at the dealer, and he's willing to tackle the installation... even though it is outside of BRP's normal practices.
So talk with your dealer; it can't hurt to ask!
So talk with your dealer; it can't hurt to ask!
noboot
Member
Thanks for description of uninstall and reinstall threewheels .... The Wedgers or Shims are now part of the package to help get the wormwheel (or plastic wheel as you called it) off if it wont come off easily. you start with the two smaller "shims" then use a larger one and then a larger one still and it pushes the worm wheel off the shaft.
But!!! If you can get by without them just discard them for something else.
Cheers, Ron
But!!! If you can get by without them just discard them for something else.
Cheers, Ron
noboot
Member
If anybody is "uncomfortable" with the process; I spoke with my tech at the dealer, and he's willing to tackle the installation... even though it is outside of BRP's normal practices.
So talk with your dealer; it can't hurt to ask!
Bob, Is that the dealer installing my arm ??? If so that is good news as well
Cheers
Bob Denman
New member
That'll be the plan...
We'll make arrangements for the work, when the OEM piece starts showing signs of distress... :shocked:
The shop owner is also on-board. :thumbup: We discussed the alternative of replacing that arm with another OEM pice, and agreed that using an updated and stronger piece is the best way to proceed.
We'll make arrangements for the work, when the OEM piece starts showing signs of distress... :shocked:
The shop owner is also on-board. :thumbup: We discussed the alternative of replacing that arm with another OEM pice, and agreed that using an updated and stronger piece is the best way to proceed.
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