Attachment Points on Rear Cowling & Tail Light

[thunderbolt]

I am refitting the rear cowling and was wondering how many attachment points it has. I know there are 2 x 6mm screws at the front of the cowling adjacent to the fuel tank. There are another two up underneath about halfway back which are press in body cover clips. There are 2 x 5mm screws in from the top near the tail light.

The tail light attaches to the rear cowling with a couple of 5mm screws. There is a hollow lug sticking out from the tail light housing. This lug aligns with a hole in the rear of the plastic rear mudguard.
Is this lug hole supposed to be threaded. This lug is shown in the picture below at the bottom of the tail light housing between the two light bulb apertures. In the picture I have filled the hole with JB Weld in preparation for drilling and tapping a new 5mm hole.

I thought I'd better check first to make sure it does take a screw and verify it with the knowledgeable people on this forum.




Thanks

[templ8]

No screw as far as I can recall

[VTRDark]

I think that may be a drain hole/vent. If you happen to get water in the lens either through damage or condensation then it needs somewhere to drain/dissipate away.

(:-})

[agentpineapple]

what carl said......

[tony.mon]

I thought it was just to hold the light unit at the correct angle.... As far as I know there's no hole in it.

[E.Marquez]

That is not an attachment point (light assembly has only two)
That pin just locates the angle of the light.

On the other hand, I drilled it out, epoxied in a brass threaded insert and use that as a third attachment point. I use a M6 stud in the light housing and triple nuts as "adjusters" and a locking nut.

[thunderbolt]

That is not an attachment point (light assembly has only two)
That pin just locates the angle of the light.

On the other hand, I drilled it out, epoxied in a brass threaded insert and use that as a third attachment point. I use a M6 stud in the light housing and triple nuts as "adjusters" and a locking nut.

I am thinking that now I have filled the hole with JB Weld I will do as you did. Drill and tap the hole and either fit a 5mm stud of fit a 5mm screw to hold it in place. The tail light does seem to have some wobble in it when mounted. This would prevent that.

[E.Marquez]

That is not an attachment point (light assembly has only two)
That pin just locates the angle of the light.

On the other hand, I drilled it out, epoxied in a brass threaded insert and use that as a third attachment point. I use a M6 stud in the light housing and triple nuts as "adjusters" and a locking nut.

I am thinking that now I have filled the hole with JB Weld I will do as you did. Drill and tap the hole and either fit a 5mm stud of fit a 5mm screw to hold it in place. The tail light does seem to have some wobble in it when mounted. This would prevent that.

Ya BTW I just went out and looked, I used an M4 threaded bushing...OD was 6mm

I used plastic weld to fill it in and build up around it.

[8541Hawk]

I am thinking that now I have filled the hole with JB Weld I will do as you did. Drill and tap the hole and either fit a 5mm stud of fit a 5mm screw to hold it in place. The tail light does seem to have some wobble in it when mounted. This would prevent that.

The wobble in the tail light is a good thing.....
It keeps you from blowing bulb filaments when you sit at idle......remember it is a twin and does shake

[E.Marquez]

I am thinking that now I have filled the hole with JB Weld I will do as you did. Drill and tap the hole and either fit a 5mm stud of fit a 5mm screw to hold it in place. The tail light does seem to have some wobble in it when mounted. This would prevent that.

The wobble in the tail light is a good thing.....
It keeps you from blowing bulb filaments when you sit at idle......remember it is a twin and does shake

Good point..
But instead of accepting a poor design that requires wobbly light assembly, you can replace with LED.. as well as brighter, quicker illumination, longer life and they are more robust.. surviving the vibrations of any motorcycle

[thunderbolt]

I am thinking that now I have filled the hole with JB Weld I will do as you did. Drill and tap the hole and either fit a 5mm stud of fit a 5mm screw to hold it in place. The tail light does seem to have some wobble in it when mounted. This would prevent that.

The wobble in the tail light is a good thing.....
It keeps you from blowing bulb filaments when you sit at idle......remember it is a twin and does shake

Good point..
But instead of accepting a poor design that requires wobbly light assembly, you can replace with LED.. as well as brighter, quicker illumination, longer life and they are more robust.. surviving the vibrations of any motorcycle

Thanks for info.

What is involved in fitting LEDs to the tail light? I have read a bit on these conversions and I seem to remember a diode or resistor needs to be fitted somewhere.

Any info greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[MacV2]

LED rear tail lights come as a complete unit & bolt straight on...If you fit LED indi's that will need a different flasher unit or some put resistors in line.

Most aftermarket rear LED light units have indi's built in...Not legal over here in the Motherland, you may have to check what the legality is over in the penal colony...

Some say they are a bit pants & difficult to see spesh in bright sunlight...

[bazza696]

I am thinking that now I have filled the hole with JB Weld I will do as you did. Drill and tap the hole and either fit a 5mm stud of fit a 5mm screw to hold it in place. The tail light does seem to have some wobble in it when mounted. This would prevent that.

The wobble in the tail light is a good thing.....
It keeps you from blowing bulb filaments when you sit at idle......remember it is a twin and does shake

this is the first bike that I use loctite on all fixing to stop them falling off, all other bikes I use HT grease and copper slip so I can remove fixings.

imagine a girl like the storm, all clothing falls off when you start riding her.

[tony.mon]

Good point..
But instead of accepting a poor design that requires wobbly light assembly, you can replace with LED.. as well as brighter, quicker illumination, longer life and they are more robust.. surviving the vibrations of any motorcycle

Just took my LED one off, it had vibrated the wires off the circuit board again.... When I looked inside, it had also vibrated the lower little circuit board off it's mounts- it's the one that illuminates the number plate- or did, anyway.
It's clearly been running round trying to shake itself to bits for a while, as three loose LED's had come off the loose board and were also floating about.

So no, they're not exactly vibration proof!

[E.Marquez]

What is involved in fitting LEDs to the tail light? I have read a bit on these conversions and I seem to remember a diode or resistor needs to be fitted somewhere.

Any info greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Remove old bulb, install new LED "bulb" Go ride

it will take you longer to remove the seat than swap bulbs