How do we remove the chin fairing without damaging it?

[young scooter]

I've done oil changes in the past and I remove the torx bolts on each side of the chin spoiler, but in order to lift it out of the way you have you sort of spread the sides apart from each other so it clears the bracket it is mounted to. If you don't do this, you cannot unscrew the oil filter because you also have to remove the bracket on the right side of the bike that blocks the oil filter. Over time, a hairline crack formed from this stress and it's slowly gotten worse over the months. I'm thinking about creating some sort of support and epoxying it on the backside of the chin spoiler to keep the crack from growing, but I need to know what method you guys use to remove this piece? The manual states to remove the two rivets on the center piece and then all 3 pieces will separate, but there's actually more rivets along each side of the chin spoiler and frankly I don't feel like drilling out a whole load of rivets just to change the oil again.

Removing the piece permanently is also not an option. The bike looks terrible with no chin spoiler.

I've attached a photo, someone please tell me what I need to be doing differently.

 

[young scooter]

 

[34nineteen]

unbolt fasteners. pull forward and drop downwards while flexing slightly.

if you want to pull apart, you just need to drill the 2 rivits from either side. the center piece will just stick to the other side piece.

i have never had to ever drill out any of the rivits to remove the chin fairing. the only time i ever drilled them out was to fit it into a smaller box for shipping.

not sure about all the other rivits you are talking about unless someone did that on their own.

 

[young scooter]

see the manual here

There's two in the front closest to the wheel. There are two more on each side attaching to each side of the chin fairings. This is a total of six rivets. I'm going to remove these and replace with stainless screws and lock nuts while I do the epoxy repair on the plastics.

 

[34nineteen]

see the manual hereView attachment 13531

There's two in the front closest to the wheel. There are two more on each side attaching to each side of the chin fairings. This is a total of six rivets. I'm going to remove these and replace with stainless screws and lock nuts while I do the epoxy repair on the plastics.

well the nice part is that you wont have to drill out those rivets. if you use a t27 torx driver and twist counterclockwise you should be able to get them loose.

unless someone else decided to put pop rivits there.



here is a pic of what these rivits (#1 - AA0404.11CXVB) look like. #6 is a pop rivit.

and here is where you can buy them

https://st-paul-harley-davidson-bue...uss-torx-screw-1-4-20x1-2-black-olive-x20-u9c

 

[njloco]

$10.00 for one ??????? Go and check out an ACE hardware store near you, it was posted up on here at one time that they have a good replacement.

 

[34nineteen]

one bag of 10. the size is listed on the website, so he can run with that, if he ever gets the rivits drilled out. its going to be a bear to screw these in with the rivits in place.

 

[young scooter]

I will have a look later but I am almost certain it's a rivet in all 6 locations. Like I said, 6 small stainless machine screws and lock nuts will probably hold up better and make it easier to change the oil in the future.

 

[young scooter]

Ok guys I'm just gonna give you the skinny on this situation. I suggest you XB owners also follow suit because its a good QOL upgrade. I removed the whole chin spoiler, drilled out the rivets. I made my repairs to the plastics. I JB welded a metal strap, and a 6-32 bolt across the crack on the one side of the bike. I let it cure for a few hours so I could handle it, and then used 8-32 x 3/4" pan head machine screws, #8 washers, and 8-32 lock nuts all in stainless steel to reassemble the chin spoiler. I put the sides on first with the large T27 bolts, and then I attached the tan center portion with the 6 machine screws using an 11/32 socket and a phillips screw driver. Yes, it adds a few more minutes every time you go to change the oil, HOWEVER.... By removing the chin spoiler piece by piece you can prevent your plastics from cracking over time like mine did. Also, with this method you only need to remove the right side plastic off the bike to remove the oil filter instead of the entire chin spoiler.

 

[34nineteen]

So did the front two mounting holes behind the tire, actually have rivets in them?

I've drilled out those rivets between the side pieces and center piece and replaced them with small screws/bolts, like it looks like you did.

OK, so here is a missing bit... since you are running the Jardine, it explains why someone probably riveted the pieces together there. Normally there are T27 screws that thread into 2 bosses on the stock muffler.

 

[oh9bolt]

It's very strange that you cant get the whole chin fairing off without flexing it, I can take mine off without spreading it at all.

There was a kit back in the day offered by ASB to eliminate the rivets. I did the same just so you can remove only one side of the fairing for oil changes.

 

[Outlaw]

The chin spoilers on both my Xb12ss 08 and 09 come off in one piece very easy with no stress or bending. Not sure why yours comes off so difficult.

 

[34nineteen]

The chin spoilers on both my Xb12ss 08 and 09 come off in one piece very easy with no stress or bending. Not sure why yours comes off so difficult.

I agree with you, on every XB I've owned, they pretty much fall off once the screws are removed.

 

[young scooter]

All 6 of those small pan head screws replaced what used to be rivets. So yes, all 6 holes had rivets in them. Is this how they come stock?

Also not sure what you're talking about with bosses on the muffler or whatever. The bike came that way, had a jardine can when i got it. Sounds beefy too

 

[young scooter]

It does come off if you push down and forwards after removing the bolts. The thing is, some of those t27 bolts were harder to reach or hard to set up the nut behind while using one finger or two. By eliminating the need to remove the whole assembly, I can make the removal much simpler. Now to change oil all I have to do is remove the right side fairing, and then the bracket that it mounts to. This will prevent the chin spoiler from ever having to flex or bend when servicing the bike. Plus, it gave me an opportunity to repair the stress cracks and deep clean the chin spoiler in the kitchen sink.

 

[Outlaw]

All those t27 bolts screw into nut serts. Which dont require access to the backside. One hand install of the bolt while securing the chin spoiler with the other.

 

[34nineteen]

All 6 of those small pan head screws replaced what used to be rivets. So yes, all 6 holes had rivets in them. Is this how they come stock?

Also not sure what you're talking about with bosses on the muffler or whatever. The bike came that way, had a jardine can when i got it. Sounds beefy too

4 of the 6 places you have pan head screws came stock with rivets. The bottom 2 behind the front wheel came with T27 torx screws that screw into the stock muffler.

 

[young scooter]

ah....