So I ran into an issue with some aftermarket turn signals I purchased, the stalks that came on them were too short to mount on my stock (CB550) headlight ears. I searched on here and found a few threads where people had the same issue, and couldnt find where anyone had solved it and posted back. I searched online for some hollow threaded rod but found it was pretty expensive for what it is, about $20 (!!!) shipped from McMaster-Carr. At this point I thought I was destined to buy new ones and eat the $30 or so I had spent on the lights, but during a trip to Ace Hardware today I found something that worked beautifully on the cheap cheap. In the fasteners section I came across what is called a lamp nipple (
), its basically a hollow threaded rod used to connect a bulb socket to a lamp body. It looked about the right size so I picked up 2 pieces and the corresponding lamp nuts and headed home.
Turns out it was exactly what is used in my turn signals! Same thread pitch and everything, so I was able to reuse some of the hardware that came with them in the end. For $4 I got two long sections of rod and 4 nuts. I ended up only using 2 of the 4 nuts, so I could have saved a buck too
The turn signals as I got them, about 1" staks that were too short.
Dissected
The stalks that came with them had welded nuts attached
Comparison of the two rod lengths (could have cut them a bit shorter but I was in a hurry)
Assembled, with the new rod tightened against the light body
Boom!
Pow!
And Im spent
All in all it was an easy, cheap way to mount the lights and kept me from buying new ones. Yay for surprise finds at the hardware store
