My headlight fell off!

[TomM]

So I'm cruising along on hwy 141 yesterday heading home. I notice my headlight shaking a lot more than normal,didn't think much of it,figured I'd check it when I got home since I was only 5 minutes from there anyway. About a mile from home I hit a bump,and the damn thing falls off:angry:. I stop,and look to see it hanging by the wires,so I just limp on home. The bolt that holds the light to the triple tree broke in half. I'll have to wait till tomorrow at work to drill the broken bolt out of the bracket.

 

[Ray]

We were riding in the escort ride yesterday and I hit a bump, kinda hard,,, then I notice the tool bag that was on by clear wire ties above the headlight, one side was broken... said a few prayers for it cause my real glasses were in it,, like crap,, I can see them getting squashed on the interstate.. But it stayed on until we got to our destination about 60 miles from there...


I feel your pain,,, and I was running on fumes when we pulled it and I shut it off. I thought I was going to run out of gas way out in the country. There was a gas station a few hundred yards from where we stopped. I( think it was running on fumes too. It held almost $11.00,I milked it into there. Looking up and saying Thank you, thank you!!!


Ray

 

[outdoorsman26]

hmmmmmmmmm!! that sux!!!!

 

[KnotSo]

Has happened to many of us:
http://www.bigdogbiker.com/forums/dog-pound/19056-headlight-fell-off.html

 

[Brew]

Yep yep, I can atest to that. Check your bucket and make sure it's not cracked between the mount and bucket while it's off...

 

[Blackie]

Mine fell off the same way. Boxed it up and sent it to BD along with a pissed off letter as no warranty. They sent me a new housing and bracket no charge. Three weeks later they shut down! I made two thin rubber grommets for bolts and so far no problems.

 

[ChopperJeff]

Yep, has happened to me numerous times on my '05 Chopper. I now carry a spare headlight mounting braket and bolt so when it happens, I can quickly fix it and be on my way. However, I think another good option is to just replace the bolt every so often... perhaps every oil change, or whatever. It's not a matter of "IF" it breaks, as much as "WHEN"!

 

[nine lives]

Kind of makes you think, what else could break? Don't like to think about that while riding.

 

[TomM]

Yep, has happened to me numerous times on my '05 Chopper. I now carry a spare headlight mounting braket and bolt so when it happens, I can quickly fix it and be on my way. However, I think another good option is to just replace the bolt every so often... perhaps every oil change, or whatever. It's not a matter of "IF" it breaks, as much as "WHEN"!

Those are both good ideas. I figure the bolts fail from fatigue due to the vibration. Mine showed none of the typical failure signs of a loose fastener,it just snapped. I was able to get the broken piece out tonight,I'll get a new bolt tomorrow. Might look into getting a spare bracket tuesday when the dealer opens up again.

 

[Ray]

If you think about it that bolt has got to take a pretty good shot to break into,, would a stainless bolt do better or would that break even easier,,maybe a grade 8 bolt,,,I know I have hit a few bumps in the road that nearly shuck my teeth out,, I had an issue with my wolf headlight coming loose every once in a while, so I cranked it down a little more and added some locktite,, no issue since,,,,but I try to stay off roads I think of as trail riding,

Ray

 

[Splitlog]

Same thing happened to me.....I drilled the threads out ALL the way through and put a stainless steal hex head all the way through"not depending on the aluminum threads. you can really crank it down...Its not going anywhere now...

 

[BWG56]

If you think about it that bolt has got to take a pretty good shot to break into,, would a stainless bolt do better or would that break even easier
Ray

SS is much stronger

 

[GDOG_PITBULL]

yep...had the same issue:angry:
G