Topic: Can anyone see a reason not to do this? Headlight mount mod.

[manjisann]

I don't really care for the headlight mounts my bike came with, so I am thinking of modding them a bit. I was thinking I'd cut it off at the red line, remove the turn signal stem and weld it onto the actual headlight ears. I'd also split the old seam on the tube that goes around the fork tube, cut a small amount out, and weld two peices of metal perpendicular to it and use those to tighten the tube up. I've seen similar things on eBay, Z1, etc, but I'm short of fundage and I have some spare sheet metal and a lovely mig welder that I'm always looking for an excuse to use. I'm just wondering if anyone can see any reason why this wouldn't work before I start slicing and dicing.

Thanks,

Brandon

[bryanj]

As long as you like blue chrome no reason at all, but without the rubber mounting rings headlight bulbs may not last as long due to excess vibration

[754]

%&^ the signal lights, way cleaner without..


 For the amount of work you seem willing to do, why not just make 1 offs.. from scratch?

[manjisann]

but without the rubber mounting rings headlight bulbs may not last as long due to excess vibration

See, this is why I asked, I hadn't really thought of that. I wonder if putting orings on the fork tubes before I tighten it down would help to dampen the vibration. Has anyone else used the ones from eBay or Z1, do they have rubber in them?As far as the chrome goes, its gonna be getting painted anyhow, so I don't mind.

%&^ the signal lights, way cleaner without..


 For the amount of work you seem willing to do, why not just make 1 offs.. from scratch?

I don't understand, it really doesn't seem like much work to me, a couple chops a few welds, a small amount of grinding and it would look cleaner I think. I also don't have a sheet metal bender or break, so I don't know how I'd reinforce the ears other than to use rediculously thick metal. I am open to suggestions though.

Thanks guys,

Brandon

[754]

You can bend 10 ga by 2 or 2.25 wide, easily in a vise with wooden dies.

 The popular ears in the old days were just stamped out, 2 pieces that fit together with tab and slot..and a bolt or two.

 IMO, there is a market for these, if they look good.

[manjisann]

I have some 16 guage, do you think this would be sturdy enough to make some customs out of? Sorry if I'm sounding dumb, just trying to be sure I understand what you are saying, my metal fab experience is pretty limited. When you say using a wooden die and a vise, do you mean just a wooden dowel about the same diameter as the fork tubes, clamp it with the metal, hammer it over, remove reclamp and hammer some more, until it was in a circle?

Thanks,

Brandon

[754]

16 ga may be light unless the curl over the edges.. more work.
 
 What do you have for tools, I can walk you thru some of it.

 Bench vise, is a must. Drill press, like heavier tabletop or floor mount will be a big help. Need a way to cut your metal or be able to get it sheared or laser cut.

 For thinner material you can often make bending tooling out of hardwood or other wood.  It wont last forever but will do the job.

 I was thinking of the old 2 pce light brackets, but can probably find a way to bend around, that where drill press will help.

 Let me know what you have to work with.

[cafe2be]

I am going to do this same thing. Already cut off the signal pieces. Next I am going to chop it right below the ear and use the rubber bushing that hold the top in place and also use it on the bottom. Plan to sandwich the ears in place with the upper and lower triple tree as well as the clip ons.

[manjisann]

Sweet, post your results and I'll post pics of mine!

Brandon

[MJL]

I should post a pic of my custom pieces. I used flat plate about 3/16 and some 1-3/4 tube .120 wall. The tube was cut in half lengthwise and the plat was cut and drilled for headlight mounting and turn signal mounting. then it was welded and clamped on with hose clamps. It looks ok and works a ton better than the "one size fits all" ears that I was using before.

My opinion on welding stock ears is that the metal is thin and you may not be able to turn your welded down enough to keep from burning through. Get some thin metal and practice first, don't want to wreck good bits.

[FunJimmy]

You can fab up some simple headlight mounts using T-Clamps available from your local hydraulic supplier. Here you can see the T-clamps are used as fasteners for the brackets that the headlight will mount too. Once you make up the brackets, it’s easy to make whatever length triangle plates you need. You can also use aftermarket signals that thread into the headlight as well.





FJ

[FunJimmy]

Alternatively, you can slip an aluminum (or steel) tube over the fork tubes and weld the side plates to the tubes. Aluminum is light and looks custom. I put rubber O-rings between the clip-ons and lower triple to prevent noise from vibration. Didn’t even consider the dampening effect of the O-rings.

[manjisann]

My opinion on welding stock ears is that the metal is thin and you may not be able to turn your welded down enough to keep from burning through. Get some thin metal and practice first, don't want to wreck good bits.

It looks to be 22guage steel, so my welder does go down far enough, trick is to not stay in one spot too long 

Wish I had the ability to work with aluminum, but don't habe the welder setup. I love these ideas, keep them coming, however my intent was to fab with the original ones since I already have them and some scrap sheet metal that I can use to make tabs. Unfortunately the build is at a point where it's money for custom stuff I don't have, or for things I really need, I hate this point  I think since no one has pointed out OMG if you do that it will explode, I'm gonna go ahead with my original idea. I'll post pics, probably won't be for a while though.

Thanks everyone!

Brandon

[moham]

You can fab up some simple headlight mounts using T-Clamps available from your local hydraulic supplier. Here you can see the T-clamps are used as fasteners for the brackets that the headlight will mount too. Once you make up the brackets, it’s easy to make whatever length triangle plates you need. You can also use aftermarket signals that thread into the headlight as well.





FJ

THAT'S what I'm talking about. Very clean with the slick fork brace (or lower tree or whatever it is...)

I want to go to there.

[SKTP]

I want to see the rest of those bikes...if the fork ears are THAT cool...what about the rest?

[manjisann]

With respect to FunJimmy's design, to get them the right length so the triple trees will hold them, do I just measure the the old ones? I'm gonna see how much some steel tubing is tomorrow. I can't weld aluminum, but since I'll be painting them, steel should work fine.

Brandon

[FunJimmy]

With respect to FunJimmy's design, to get them the right length so the triple trees will hold them, do I just measure the the old ones? I'm gonna see how much some steel tubing is tomorrow. I can't weld aluminum, but since I'll be painting them, steel should work fine.

Brandon

Brandon

While you are at it, pick up four 35mm O-Rings. Those will go between the steel tube and the triples.
With the triples still installed on your bike remove a fork leg and stock headlight ear.
Measure the distance between the triples and subtract the clip-on clamp height if you are using clip-on bars.
This length will still be to long to fit with the O-Rings so you will want to trim it a bit more.
If the thickness of the O-Rings is 1/16", I would trim the tube the thickness of one O-Ring.
If they are thicker you will want to trim a bit more. Test fit the tubes before welding.
You only need a bit of pressure on the O-Rings to hold it all snug. Too much pressure will cause your top trille to bend while tightening the steer nut.

Keep us posted.

Cheers
FJ

[moham]

With respect to FunJimmy's design, to get them the right length so the triple trees will hold them, do I just measure the the old ones? I'm gonna see how much some steel tubing is tomorrow. I can't weld aluminum, but since I'll be painting them, steel should work fine.

Brandon

Brandon

While you are at it, pick up four 35mm O-Rings. Those will go between the steel tube and the triples.
With the triples still installed on your bike remove a fork leg and stock headlight ear.
Measure the distance between the triples and subtract the clip-on clamp height if you are using clip-on bars.
This length will still be to long to fit with the O-Rings so you will want to trim it a bit more.
If the thickness of the O-Rings is 1/16", I would trim the tube the thickness of one O-Ring.
If they are thicker you will want to trim a bit more. Test fit the tubes before welding.
You only need a bit of pressure on the O-Rings to hold it all snug. Too much pressure will cause your top trille to bend while tightening the steer nut.

Keep us posted.

Cheers
FJ

As a mild-jack, FunJimmy have you seen the headlight mounts on the ttr4000 site? Somewhat like your set up, ie very cool...

[manjisann]

I've currently got the bike completely apart as I am painting everything. I'm not doing a cafe, but putting it back similar to stock. Since this is the case, the stock headlight tubes should be the right size, I'm thinking.

Brandon

[FunJimmy]

As a mild-jack, FunJimmy have you seen the headlight mounts on the ttr4000 site? Somewhat like your set up, ie very cool...

Kevin at ttr400.com makes some of the nicest stuff I've ever seen. I have great respect for his devotion to the classics.
Just with he made more for the 550's.

BTW, I got my Dresda from Kevin a couple years ago. Class act!

FJ

[razor02097]

Brandon check out Rina I fit a headlight frame from a DOHC 750 to get rid of the rusty crap headlight ears.  

Takes some modification but the final product is clean and the headlight is still dampened.





 if you want to more details of what you would have to modify I would be happy to explain

[manjisann]

Razor, feel free to enlighten  It looks kinda like what I am thinking of making, a basic tube and ears. I'm gonna take the signal stands off the crappy back end of the parts bike I have and weld those on. I will use an oring on the tubes and then in between the ears and the headlight, that should dampen the vibrations enough. I think I'm gonna need to wait till I have the frame back together a bit more before I fab that though, just so I can get the angles right.

Brandon

[razor02097]

It does not attach to the forks it is mounted to the triple tree.  To make it work you would have to cut and drill the studs on your gauge mount and replace them with longer hardware to retain the rubber mount. 

The headlight ears are mounted to a cage.  You would need the headlight cage and 2 longer bolts and nuts.  The CB650 headlight and bucket will fit.

I like the floating cage cause it leaves the forks open and won't hold moisture against the fork tubes.

[manjisann]

I like the floating cage cause it leaves the forks open and won't hold moisture against the fork tubes.

And on that subject I'm dredging this back from the abyss. I just got around to seeing what the clearance is on the tubing I just bought to do this with and it's pretty tight. I can get it on and off the forks pretty well, but it is very close. I'm wondering if I will be asking for problems with this due to capilary action sucking water in, the last thing I want to do is rust my fork uppers. I'm thinking if I bevel the edges and use orings it'll be pretty water proof, and if I shoot wd40 into the tube before I mount it that'll help too. Any thoughts?

Razor, any chance you can take pics showing that mount? I'm sure you don't want to take it apart, so even if you just do a basic drawing that'd be helpful. I think I have the basic idea of what you are talking about. With all the scrap metal I have laying around, I'm sure could make it if I decide not to do my tube idea. My two major concerns are vibrations and rust on the fork uppers.

Thanks guys,

Brandon

[razor02097]

The basket mounts by using the 2 large holes on the bottom triple tree and on the CBF the gauge studs go through the upper.  On the CB650 though the studs arn't long enough so I ended up cutting the studs off and drilling a hole to use a longer bolt.

The basket is #21 in the picture

http://www.bikebandit.com/assets/schematics/Honda/H00060078.gif