Topic: Headlight ear bushing tricks?

[The Gurg]

Does anyone have a trick for getting the bushings that go up in the headlight ears seated? Every time I put the ears onto the triple tree it mashes the bushing up. I used a little 10w-40 oil to see if that would help, but no dice. I also tried to use a plastic spackling tool and cut it into a circular shape to hold the bushing in place. Haven’t gotten that to work yet, but it helps a little.

[754]

Do you have bevel pointing down ? A 750 ? Or.. ?

[The Gurg]

Bevel pointing down?

Cb750K5 stock setup. Reproduction ears, oem style.

[The Gurg]

Oh, bevel pointing down, realize now what you meant. Yeah the bevel is pointing down. So the flat part of the bushing is seated skyward.

Got out the old rusty ears to see if there was a big difference. They seem the same as far as how they feel.

Is it ok to use light oil as lube on the bushing or should I get some silicone lube?

[bryanj]

Loosen the top tree to give you more room and retighten afterwards

[pjlogue]

What Bryanj said.  Also, using Dow Corning Silicon vacuum grease on rubber parts/O rings is a huge help.  It allows the rubber so slide and seat properly.  It is expensive but a little goes a long way.  It does not ruin rubber like petrol based oils can. 

-P.

[Bodi]

Parker O-Lube is cheaper and easier to find than Dow high vacuum grease. It is basically the same silicon based stuff but less viscous.

[The Gurg]

Ok thanks for the silicone lube suggestions! <Insert your favorite innuendo here>

The top tree isn’t really getting in the way. Didn’t torque the top acorn nut yet, so I may take off the top tree to make things even easier though.

The tubes aren’t in the trees. And there aren’t any bolts in the trees yet either. The tree comes in from the side of the ear. Slides in. The tree will snag both the leading edge and trailing edge of the bushing as the tree slides in and across the bushing.

Could be that the tubes straighten the bushing out and I should just go with it. Could be that I should work the bushing flat, but I’ve tried that and it’s not working well, might keep at it. Wiped off all the oil,  could be if I liberally lube the bushing with Silicone lube that helps.

#18 on the attached diagram. Goes up inside the ear with the bevel pointing down!

[bryanj]

That gap does look small in the pic, the tubes will straighten everything but you need to slide the ears and rubbers onto the lower tree first, its a long time since i did this on a 750, the 500 can be awkward but ive always managed to slide them over

[The Gurg]

I can definitely get the ears over the tree, but when I look up in the ears that bushing is twisted a lot. Once I run the forks through I don’t think I’ll be able to see if the bushings are straightened out. I feel like the bushings should be not twisted before running the forks through, but maybe not?

[madmtnmotors]

Remove the top tree, put the forks in the bottom tree, slide the ears (with rubbers) down over the fork tubes, install top tree, adjust fork height, tighten everything up.

EZPZ

[The Gurg]

Madmtnmotors-
Ears have to go on the bottom tree first before any other steps, at least with oem style ears. The ears have a little square cut out that the tree slides into. I think the square cutout allows for the angle of the ears to change slightly to accommodate the headlight.

Mine are aftermarket because they’re aren’t any nos ones left. The ones that I pulled off were rusted through. My suspicion is that the seating in the aftermarket ear is just a half millimeter more shallow than it should be and that causes the fit to be extra tight.

The problem is that the tree that goes in through the side of the ears bunches up the bushing. The bushing gets twisted.

[754]

If the bushing is greased or lubes it should find a happy place if you  wiggle back and forth.
 If it were a bit bunched up it may actually let water out.. water staying in kills  the light ears and the early tubes ..

[The Gurg]

754-
Thanks! Sounds like I just need to grease it up and work with it.

Maybe I should drill some tiny holes in the bushing lol!

[The Gurg]

Assuming Napa knock off Sil-Glyde is ok to use, have a tube of that. Ordered Dow Corning hi-vac grease but don’t have any on hand.

White lithium or dialectic grease might be easier to pick up at the local store. Maybe I should use one of those?

[madmtnmotors]

Ears have to go on the bottom tree first before any other steps, at least with oem style ears.

Yeah, looking at the picture I see where the lower tree fits in the cutout at the bottom of the ear.

[The Gurg]

Realizing too that a lot of guys have moved away from the oem style ears and probably haven’t put on a set of stock ears anytime recently. I thought about going another route, but the wife aka “the boss” liked the look of stock ears.

[bryanj]

Always believe the boss!! Anything slidey that doesnt attack rubber should do the job, put a bit indide the hole as i seem to remeber they are a tight fit on the fork tube as well

[The Gurg]

Update:
Got the ears on the bike and both triple tree fit. The trick for anyone who stumbles upon this thread later on was to put the ears on the trees without the bushing. Then I pushed the bushing in (through the bottom circular hole for the fork tube, not the square hole for the tree) and forced one side onto the lip inside the ear. Then while holding one side of the bushing down, worked the rest of the bushing in. Actually popped into place. Worked a lot better than trying to work the ear on with the bushing already in place.

Of course none of that would have been possible without the lube advice I got in this thread. I did go with the Dow Corning hi-vac, I had to take out a second mortgage on the house to afford the lube, but I got a great interest rate. Not sure how another lube would compare, but the Dow Corning worked perfectly.

[Don R]

 I'm wrestling a set,  all of my used bushings are thinner on one side, from being squashed in there. I did put one back into an old headlight ear and it went right on far enough to get the fork through, not so with the new fork ears, they must be reproductions.
  I'm ready to head to the belt sander and then boil them. 

[caluser2000]

Try CRC 556 on them. It should soften them up a bit. WD40 wont.

[Don R]

 I tried the old slip the entire set of forks into the triples, suuuure. Then I had to take the forks apart in place.

[PeWe]

I mounted tubes in lower tree sitting on bike (maybe lower fork mounted too), then the bushing, ears, bushing again and finally the top. I added  a rubber washer on top under yoke to cover a small gap.

I remember that the lower rubber bushing was not that well described in the chart I saw. Had to check how flipped.

Very good idea to replace the inner piston ring inside fork, sits on the pipe that goes inside tubes. White plastic when new, brown and brittle when old.
Make a difference when working.
I replaced rebound springs too just for sure. Not expensive.