32 Miles - mudflap bypass

Rear Fender Removal

That rear fender had to go. I plan to get a rear hugger before it gets rainy.

Below is a general description of what I had to do to get the fender to go away. The process wasn’t as quick as I had hoped it would be, but it isn’t rocket science.

Materials (all can be bought at almost any hardware store):

• Framing bracket/joist hanger (bought from Orchard Supply Hardware for about two bucks)
• 2 skinny bolts (thin enough to fit through the holes in the joist hanger) that are roughly 2 inches long
• 4 washers to use with above skinny bolts
• 2 nuts (preferably locking) for the skinny bolts

Time:

• I spent about 3 hours, including head scratching and swearing.

Difficulty (one bleeding knuckle to five bleeding knuckles):

• One bleeding knuckle

Process:

1. Expose the two seat mounting bolts by removing the two triangular side covers which attach to the frame. (2 allen bolts)
2. Remove the two allen bolts that attch the seat to the frame, and lift the seat off as shown. (2 allen bolts)
3. Unlock and remove the passenger pillion seat, and disconnect the left and right turn signal wires. Note which is which. Remove the grab handle. (2 bolts)
4. Remove the four phillps-head bolts that attach the tail section plastic to the frame. Two are at the front of the tail section, and two are shown below. If necessary, use a magnet to remove the rearmost two bolts from the recessed area, as shown. (4 phillips-head bolts)
5. Remove the single small phillips head screw that holds the two halves of the tail section plastic together. This screw is just under where the back of the seat normally rests.
(1 phillips-head screw)
6. Remove the terrible plastic pop-rivet that, along with the the screw above, holds the two halves of the tail section plastic together. Use a screwdriver or other blunt object to push the pin from from the outside. It will pop right out, and you can then pull the whole terrible plastic pop-rivet out of the tail section. (1 terrible plastic pop-rivet)

   Note: If you are a hamfisted buffoon, you might try to do exactly the opposite of what I wrote above. If you do that, it will look just like what you see me doing in the image below. That is the wrong way to do it. Ask me how I know. Doing this means you may damage the tail section plastic around the rivets. Again, ask me how I know. If you are doing this in the direct sunlight, you may begin sweating, and you will definitely begin swearing. Shower when you are finished with this process, and then go apologize to your neighbors. Their children may never have been exposed to such language before, you big jerk.

7. Remove the six remaining terrible plastic pop-rivets that secure the tail section to the undertray. Two are at the rear of the trunk area, seen from the top. The other four are on the underside of the tail, two on each side. Just as before, you want to push the rivets through from the front. If you break them, I have it on good authority that they are about $1.25 each from Suzuki. Lame. (6 terrible plastic pop-rivets)

   Thanks to JD, a sundaybender visitor, who explained the right way to get these rivets out. He suggests pushing the pins through from the top with a small screwdriver or other thin blunt instrument. His comment is below.

8. With the tail section plastic free of the frame, you will note that it won’t come off. That’s right. You need to flex it just enough to get it around the frame. Spread the pieces as much as possible without breaking them, and lift the plastic up until you can access the screws shown below.
9. Remove the two bolts that hold the plastic undertray to the frame. (2 Bolts)
10. The undertray will still be secured in place by bolts near the shock. There is no need to remove those bolts to access the fender bolts. Simply flex the undertray out of the way and remove the four bolts that secure the fender to the frame. See the image of the fender assebly (removed) below to note the relative position of the four bolts. (4 bolts)
11. With the fender assembly removed, remove the nuts that hold the turn signals to the assembly. Thread the turn signal wires through the fender. Remove the plastic spacers from the fender assembly bolts and set the signals aside.
12. Use the tool of your choice to cut the fender from the top section of the assembly. You will be left with a “batwing” as shown below.
13. Depending on the hardware you chose from which to fabricate your bracket, you may need to re-use the black plastic spacers to affix the turn signals. Cut the prongs, shown below, off of the faces of the black plastic spacers so they will fit flush with the bracket.
14. Fashion your bracket. The bracket shown below was made by bending a framing bracket. The flat face with the bar code sticker on it was originally not bent perpendicular to the rest of the bracket. The bracket was bent 90 degrees to make what you see below. Clearly the work of a master fabricator.
15. Drill holes in the bracket for the mounting hardware and wires. Affix the license plate and turn signals. Smile with pride.
16. Reassemble the tail section, using the “batwing” in the place of the fender assembly.
17. Move the fuse holders from the trunk, place the bracket where you want it to be (be sure you have it right!) and drill through the undertail plastic and trunk plastic.
18. With the holes drilled, thread the bolts through and mount the bracket. Drill a large hole through which you can thread the turn signal wires.
19. Go take that shower, and don’t forget to apologize to your neighbor.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 7th, 2005 at 4:48 pm and is filed under Vehicles, Motorcycles, Sv650. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.