Mirror and fairing question

I removed the mirrors on my ST1300 today to check the turn indicator wiring for LED fitment in the mirror edge. As I removed each mirror, with a bump from behind (beautiful work Mr Honda!) a black screw dropped to the floor (both mirrors).

6 months prior I had removed all fairings to allow service (flush) of all fluids. This included the mirrors and the two black screws inside the mirrors that secure the fairing at that location in position. It is the black screws that dropped and the other two were loose.

My question is: Have ST owners noticed these screws may loosen through vibration, or have I been neglectful of tightening the screws at re-assembly of the fairings 6 month ago?

Thanks, D

Would these be the ones that have a cross head and a small shoulder - 2 of them need to be removed to release the middle cowl (1) ?

No, I've never had these work loose. If anything, they end up tighter than when I installed them. I keep a few of these in my tin of ST1300 fittings - any sign of rounding off to the head, they get replaced. And they work brilliantly with a JIS screwdriver.

The fairing can be quite awkward to align in that location. There's a little tag at the front under the headlight, and there's a little stubby peg. The screw is tightened, but the shoulder should sit fully in the hole, with the fairing hole wrapped around the shoulder. The bottom of the shoulder tightens against the metal, so that no pressure is put on the fairing plastic.

I'm wondering if either the screw wasn't aligned in the hole properly, so it was tightening onto the plastic, or the screw has been replaced with one without the shoulder - again so that it tightened onto the plastic. Just a thought. Most fairing screws have a shoulder so that the plastic is protected.

I have pics of all of the screws in an article on this page this page. (pdf file). The screw I am thinking of is part number 90133-MCS-G00

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(1) Or in some cases, you just need to knock the mirror off. Apparently.

As many times that I have removed those screws off my ST1300s, I've never lost one.

I did lose a rightside side cover screw...once. 4:

Yes, these are two black screws in horizontal alignment on the fairing, about 75 -100mm apart from memory. Hidden by the mirror(s). I must have located them but not tightened. Bad and unusual, as I use a 2 column check list for all the screws and buttons (?) So I thought I would check via this question. Thanks again.

D

Duporth said:

Yes, these are two black screws in horizontal alignment on the fairing, about 75 -100mm apart from memory. Hidden by the mirror(s). I must have located them but not tightened. Bad and unusual, as I use a 2 column check list for all the screws and buttons (?) So I thought I would check via this question. Thanks again.

D

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Did I fail to mention that I lost one of the bolts off the rightside front brake mount? The other was about 1/2 way out when I got to the side of the road to see why my brakes were acting weird.

So yeah, loosing screws and bolts happen to us all! :

Ouch! Yes, we must be careful with checking tightness etc. Somehow I manage to take greater care with the more 'serious' screws and bolts, but errors can be made. Overall we are doing pretty well though

All the best, D

SupraSabre said:

Did I fail to mention that I lost one of the bolts off the rightside front brake mount? The other was about 1/2 way out when I got to the side of the road to see why my brakes were acting weird.

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Strewth !. I'm glad that you are still around to be able to fail to mention it.

As I get older and slightly more forgetful, I have thoughts that one day I will forget to tighten something properly. I set myself rules - I never put in a bolt that looks as though it might be fastened - I always leave a bit showing - until I have torqued it properly.
When I've finished a job, I leave it until I have been away from the garage for a while and come back and I sit and look at it and work through everything that I have done / should have done, and I look for the untightened bolts, and then go round and double check the torques.

I must admit I tend to clean up and re-use the caliper bolts a few times - having applied thread lock compound. I the paste stuff that comes in lipstick style container - the liquid stuff flows everywhere and I stopped using it when it flowed between the bush and the bolt. It could have been so easily the needle roller bearings.

Duporth said:

Ouch! Yes, we must be careful with checking tightness etc. Somehow I manage to take greater care with the more 'serious' screws and bolts, but errors can be made. Overall we are doing pretty well though

All the best, D

Click to expand...

jfheath said:

Strewth !. I'm glad that you are still around to be able to fail to mention it.

As I get older and slightly more forgetful, I have thoughts that one day I will forget to tighten something properly. I set myself rules - I never put in a bolt that looks as though it might be fastened - I always leave a bit showing - until I have torqued it properly.
When I've finished a job, I leave it until I have been away from the garage for a while and come back and I sit and look at it and work through everything that I have done / should have done, and I look for the untightened bolts, and then go round and double check the torques.

I must admit I tend to clean up and re-use the caliper bolts a few times - having applied thread lock compound. I the paste stuff that comes in lipstick style container - the liquid stuff flows everywhere and I stopped using it when it flowed between the bush and the bolt. It could have been so easily the needle roller bearings.

Click to expand...

Well, this one I blame on my wife! You see, I was busy (Byron was right there with me too) tightening up the front end after a tire change (now you got to understand, Byron and I have done more than 30 sets of tires over the last 10 years - Byron did the tires, I unmounted and mounted the them). So it wasn't like I didn't know what I was doing, BUT, Chris came home with groceries and like a "good" husband, like I am..., I stopped what I was doing (torquing the right front brake bolts) and got the groceries into the house. I then continued working on the bike. In Byron's defense, he even asked me if I had tighted those two bolts down and I answered "yes". OOPS! 4:

I hadn't (getting is the pits)! Thank goodness, I felt the brakes act up, and I went to the side of the freeway using the rear brakes to stop. Thanks to a neighbor that saw me on the side of the road and stopped, I was able to use a socket from him and loosened up a muffler clamp bolt and replace the missing bolt until I got home! I had left my tool kit in one of the other bikes! :

SupraSabre said:

Did I fail to mention that I lost one of the bolts off the rightside front brake mount? The other was about 1/2 way out when I got to the side of the road to see why my brakes were acting weird.

So yeah, loosing screws and bolts happen to us all! :

Click to expand...

My wife always tells me that I have a loose screw !!

Al st1100 said:

My wife always tells me that I have a loose screw !!

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Yep, I've been accused of that myself! 4: