K75S Headlight & Front Fairing

My whole front fairing bounces around when on bumpy roads. I put weather stripping around the gauges and it doesn't vibrate like it used to. But, the main problem is the stability of the whole front end. I don't have any screws loose and they are all there.
Is there any way to beef it up some more?

Working from memory here (I sold my K75S in 1997), there's two likely causes for Loose Fairing Syndrome:

1. There are two 10mm bolts which fasten the center fairing piece to the front part of the fairing mounting bracket. The bolt heads can just be seen when you remove the front turn signals. Look in the gap (I think it's a little rectangular opening) between fairing pieces. On my bike, the left-side bolt loosened regularly, and once disappeared. In retrospect, Loctite would have been appropriate.

2. The main fairing bracket is a chunky piece of plastic that screws to the steering head and reaches forward to the headlight. While my bike's didn't, I have read posts on the IBMWR list reporting that the bracket sometimes fractures.

HTH.

The bolts behind the turn signals on Tina's S would get loose all the time and I'd have to tighten them.

dbrick said:

Working from memory here (I sold my K75S in 1997), there's two likely causes for Loose Fairing Syndrome:

1. There are two 10mm bolts which fasten the center fairing piece to the front part of the bracket. The bolt heads can just be seen when you remove the front turn signals. Look in the gap (I think it's a little rectangular opening) between fairing pieces. On my bike, the left-side bolt loosened regularly, and once disappeared. In retrospect, Loctite would have been appropriate.

2. The main fairing bracket is a chunky piece of plastic that screws to the steering head and reaches forward to the headlight. While my bike's didn't, I have read posts on the IBMWR list reporting that he bracket sometimes fractures.

HTH.

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David's memory is 100%

Both sets of bolts are worth checking. The ones holding the main fairing mount to the steering head - if allowed to loosen up, will cause wear on the mount holes and then it can never be tightened up again. That means buying a new mount (price really isn't bad at all < $70 or so - the labor is a PITA).

This is a fairly common "feature" of the S..

Best,

My K-bike used to exhibit this problem regularly.

1. as mentioned, the bolts that hide behind the turn signals. These attach to the headlight. I replaced them with phillips head bolts so that I could easily tighten them. I could never fit the allen key into the space for the stock bolts.

2. IIRC, the small bolts that attach the plastic bracket to the steering head. If they come loose at all, the whole fairing will bounce and wiggle. They are a bit finicky to reach, but you can get to them with a small 10 mm open wrench.

knary said:

My K-bike used to exhibit this problem regularly.

1. as mentioned, the bolts that hide behind the turn signals. These attach to the headlight. I replaced them with phillips head bolts so that I could easily tighten them. I could never fit the allen key into the space for the stock bolts.

2. IIRC, the small bolts that attach the plastic bracket to the steering head. If they come loose at all, the whole fairing will bounce and wiggle. They are a bit finicky to reach, but you can get to them with a small 10 mm open wrench.

Click to expand...

Interestingly enough (or not) - I noticed today that my fairing and instrument pod were moving around more than usual... if I grabbed the fairing at the front of the bike, I could lift it about 3/4" - which I normally couldn't do.

I first checked #2 - you can just slip a thin 10mm open end wrench between the decorative cover and the actual steering head. These bolts are very close to the bottom and located on each side of the steering head. They were tight on my bike..

So - off came the turnsignal housings.. the left side one was fine (I found a ball-end allen wrench can fit in them fine) - you look for these at the very front of the housing recess right behind the windshield. The right one wasn't so fine.. it had gone missing!

Took about 1/2 hour to remove the windshield and the right side of the fairing (I have a lot of experience in doing this - if you've never done it before - there are more screws and bolts then you expect - some of them not too obvious. TAKE YOUR TIME. Here is what you're looking for: (1) one under the windshield - lower corner of the windshield recess (2) the two that hold the fairing section to the radiator surround (3) The one in the upper corner behind the turnsignal housing (4) the 10mm bolt that is up behind the small plastic trim panel at the lower edge of the fairing. You'll need a 10mm socket on a 6" extension to reach it easily (5) FINALLY - the one screw that holds the inner trim piece and the panel together - it faces inwards towards the forks.

OK - once I had it off - I dug in the spare parts box of metric nutz and bolts - found one long enough, found a lock washer for behind it, found my Locktite[tm] and had things tightened up in a few seconds.

Then it was just the reverse of diassembly to put things back together. REMEMBER to feed the turnsignal socket through the hole in the fairing BEFORE putting the panel back on. It's a PITA to fish through if you don't (DAMHIK..)

Time from start to finish - about 30 minutes.. and it is back to being it's old solid self again.

Oh - the clue that this was the problem bolt - not only was the fairing moving more than normal - the instrument pod was also - and the brackets that hold the pod in place are part of the bunch this bolt holds together.

Funny how things work out eh?

Yeah what Don Said - I started to get the wobbles in my fairing and instrument cluster in the last couple of weeks. I had about 45 minutes to kill so I took the fairing apart all the way down to the instrument cluster.

The right side fairing to center post bolt was loose. I tightened that and also lined up and reassembled the whole plastic managerie and it is as good as new.

Next on the list is diagnosing and finding an air leak. Bad gas mileage and a little throttle lag when it is cold. Second time I have had this probelm.

Maybe I should just do a motorectomy like Burnzilla. That would fix the bad valve guides and the oil leak as well as the air leak


I still enjoy riding the old "Chopper".

Dick said:

Next on the list is diagnosing and finding an air leak. Bad gas mileage and a little throttle lag when it is cold. Second time I have had this probelm.

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What are you considering bad gas mileage?

Maybe I should just do a motorectomy like Burnzilla. That would fix the bad valve guides and the oil leak as well as the air leak

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Burnszilla is the master now. Its his turn to be detained at four different airport security locations with a clutch alignment tool.

jdiaz said:

What are you considering bad gas mileage?

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I posted my chart below - you can see it was running about 42-44 MPG and now I am getting 37-39 MPG. Where I really see it is my miles per tank.

jdiaz said:

Burnszilla is the master now. Its his turn to be detained at four different airport security locations with a clutch alignment tool.

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He's Canadian and they will wave him through. Not like those swarthy folks from IL.

Dick said:

I posted my chart below - you can see it was running about 42-44 MPG and now I am getting 37-39 MPG. Where I really see it is my miles per tank.

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What does the end of the tail pipe look like? Blackened with heavy soot, or clean with white dots?

jdiaz said:

What does the end of the tail pipe look like? Blackened with heavy soot, or clean with white dots?

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Does it have any banana in it?




Sorry Beverly Hills Cop Reference I could not resist.

Can you describe the ruckus?

jdiaz said:

What does the end of the tail pipe look like? Blackened with heavy soot, or clean with white dots?

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Black

jdiaz said:

Can you describe the ruckus?

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Here is a mug shot

Dick said:

Black

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And your sure its not the coolant temperature sensor? Burnszilla has a used one you could try out. I've got a spare too.

jdiaz said:

And your sure its not the coolant temperature sensor? Burnszilla has a used one you could try out. I've got a spare too.

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- I would be willing to give it a try. What is the test to see if it works?

I think Don may have posted something on this - let me do a quick search