[sutty]

Hi Guys

Whilst I have the bodywork off, to do some other work, I thought it might be nice to replace my bodywork screws. As it happens, I have one missing anyway, so I was going to have to order one, so I began checking out the prices. I've been surprised before, at pricing of OEM components, but these screws, washers and nuts are seriously taking the Mickey. Each set would cost me about £10, and with close to 30 in total, that's not going to happen.

Below is a picture of the M5 threaded bolts, nuts, and washer sets that I need. Might not be obvious from the photo, but there are two types, one type has a longer shank, to reach through thicker parts, or more layers, where they are sandwiched together.

Surely nobody is buying replacements at that price, and I wondered what people had come up with as an acceptable alternative to the OEM parts, for both? The nearer one looks thicker, but I think that's just because it's nearer the camera.

Hopeful that a much cheaper solution has been found before.

Best regards

Sutty

 

[KangKwad]

I replaced mine with stainless steel Allen button head bolts from the hardware store

 

[sutty]

Thanks, yes, I was looking at ordinary bolts, such as that, but I wondered how important the stand off portion might be? One washer clears the shank, and the other one doesn't, meaning that the nut probably goes tight on the shank, whilst applying minimum pressure to the plastic. I considered using nyloc nuts, so that you can stop with only a small amount of pressure being applied to the plastic, and yet the nut will still not vibrate free. Could use bigger threads too, because the holes are for the shank portion, probably get away with m6 instead of M5. I too would go with stainless, if I go the normal bolt route. The cost, from a real hardware supplier, for that sort of alternative, even though stainless, is trivial by comparison. My goodness, £300 to screw my bodywork back on, for the OEM product!

I'm going to look for little collars, and see if there's a wide enough selection to match up. Maybe that's an option too, not sure? One or two of my bolts are still good enough to get an accurate measurement, so I'll see what's available.

 

[PilotJet]

You are right, OEM hardware is always insanely priced. You should be able to find collars that will fit those bolts. I usually keep searching the oem part number until I find a site that has the dimensions listed. Some of them do list the sizes and threads but most dont.

 

[sutty]

I've got my dimensions now, thanks. I did find a site, with measurments, as you said, and I confirmed them with my Vernier, just to be sure. It's now just a matter of trolling through hardware sites to find a match. As it stands, annoyingly, it looks like no one site can match all requirements. As an example, a stainless steel washer, is 7 pence, as opposed to £2, from a Suzuki part store, for zinc plated.

 

[KangKwad]

I didn't use a sleeve i used a nylock nut and just stopped when it started pinching the plastic too tight. I figured why replace the hardware with expensive suzuki stuff that will just rust again. When i can use stainless for a fraction of the price that wont rust. I ended up removing the hardware a few times when pulling the plastic off to do other maintenance. It all came apart easy so i seen the hardware store bolts as an upgrade from the factory stuff.

 

[sutty]

Yes, as I mentioned above, I thought nyloc would work okay, to stop over pinch, yet remain tight, so it's good to hear it confirmed, thank you. I think I'll go with M6, for a closer fit because the shoulder measures 6.5. At least M6 is nearer. M7 would be better still, but they don't seem to be common.

I've spent hours now looking for combinations of bolts washers and sleeves, and I am abandoning it, and going for your simpler approach. Wherever I replaced a nut and bolt before, I always went with stainless, and having to undo a couple of those just recently, it was a delight, so I'm with you on that. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I simply cannot remove the front bottom section of the rear plastic fairings from the footrests. There are three bolts per side, and both times I've spent time working on it, 5 years ago and then now, I've ended up leaving those in place, and separating the rear fairing from it, in order to remove the rear fairing from the machine.

As it happens, this time, it doesn't really matter, that lower front part wasn't in the way of anything, but the first time round, it was a bit of a pain in the neck, working around it, often. I should have bitten the bullet back then, drilled them out, and replaced them with stainless, as I did for the under trays.

Cheers for the tips guys.

 

[McTool]

I too went for the stainless dome head screws , washers and nyloc nuts . I used a dremel cut off wheel to slice down the side of the old nuts which made them easy to remove . You either have to take your time or dribble a bit of water in there coz you dont want the plastic melting from the heat of grinding the nuts . I use a smear of copperslip grease on all the fender bolt/nut threads.

 

[sutty]

Thanks for confirming the standard dome head bolt, in stainless, route, and the cutting suggestion, but no need for cutting, because I managed to get them all off anyway, bar the small section of bodywork that has remained affixed to the footrests. As I said, they weren't really in the way, so I've managed just leaving them in place.

If ever they have to come off, I'll have to drill them out, because they're definitely solid, I've tried very hard, and there are no normal nuts to undo, or cut, because the bolts go into welded, round, captive nuts. I could possibly grind them off, and then use nuts on the back, but I haven't looked at it in enough detail to know if that would work. I would maybe need a plate, or similar, welding on, before the nut. Not sure?

 

[KangKwad]

I found a picture you can see them on the front and rear mud flaps where the bolt to the edge of the fender.

 

[Foot0069]

Great job! Man I love stainless, till I don't. Never ever Never put an impact on stainless hardware. They will gall up in a heartbeat. Anti seize is always a good idea. I have had them gall up even taking my time and being careful. For some reason the smaller hardware like that seems prone to making the curse words flow. When I've not been able to find a shouldered bolt in the past, a piece of stainless tubing cut to length has worked for me. They won't take a lot to crush but are fine for things like fenders with a nylock.

 

[sutty]

Thanks for the picture KangKwad, helps visualise the outcome no end. I ordered my bolts, nuts and washers last night, and it appears they are already out for delivery for today, which is awesome. Not sure which will win the race, the plastic welding kit, ordered ages ago, or the hardware, but both are down as out for delivery today.

Oh man, foot0069, that is so true. You get stainless, for an ever easy life, and then that happens. Just in the last couple of months, I was doing work on my new steps for the fishing cabin and was using a driver for speed, and bang, right out of the blue, a nut just locked solid. I'd come across it a bunch of times in the past, but had 'forgotten'. Sort of, I mean I knew, and I should have waxed them, but didn't, and there I was stuck half way through the job, and having to resort to sawing it off. Couldn't get my saw to it, without disassembling almost the entire steps, so I did that slowly, using care on all the others, no speed tools, sawed it off, and then put it back together, again slowly.

I shall not forget to lube these screws, even though doing them by hand, thanks to your timely reminder.

Cheers

Sutty

 

[Foot0069]

Little jobs love to argue, blast em.

 

[McTool]

Had a friend ruined a brand new (faulty )stainless Ruger rifle . It was a bit short on head space and when he closed the bolt for the 1st time it galled up the locking lugs .
Opinion .......I have bought 3 new Ruger rifles .........Never again😠

 

[PilotJet]

Anti seize is always a good idea

Yes Indeed, good advise for stainless

 

[sutty]

Finished fitting the bodywork with the new stainless hardware. Even though they had heads the same size as the original bolts, and my nuts were flanged nylocs, and bigger than the originals, having chosen to go with M6, to better approximate the size of the shank portion of the originals, I went with a washer on both sides, just to really spread the load and lower the risk of damage or pull through even more. Original nuts are so small, being to suit M5 threads, it's no wonder they suffer so badly from rust, and become so hard to undo. See below for pictures.

On a separate note, has anyone ever dropped a bolt inside the machine, and had it seemingly disappear from the face of the earth? I wasted hours, last week, trying to find one. At some point, I decided to replace it with a stainless steel alternative that I had in stock, despite the fact that it really irked me to have to leave it lurking like that. Replacing one seemed uneven, with it being one of two, so I lifted out two, with an appropriate washer for each, and put them in my pot, ready for later reassembly. Then, sometime this week, I had another go at finding it, with a powerful head torch, purely because it just makes my brain itch, knowing it's there. Eventually I just caught a glimpse of it, and thought, 'how the hell did you get there?' Couldn't reach it with my hand, so went for my little grabber tool, and fished it out, and it has now been returned.

Now having two spare bolts in my pot, I've been pondering all day, as I've been reassembling, where on earth have I missed out these two bolts, getting in a semi panic, thinking 'I might have to completely remove the fairings, once more?' Sitting on the floor, and once again scouring around with my head torch, to find the missing holes, it suddenly dawned on me that they were brand new, and unneeded, having only been placed in my pot to correct for the lost one, which was later found. What a plonker.

Cheers

Sutty

 

[sutty]

Oh, a further quick note. Plastic welding kit turned up, and what an excellent job that has done. Came with metal gauze which I cut and bent to shape, to suit the inside of several cracked areas, and after melting it together to tack it, I positioned the gauze and melted it right into the plastic, and then smoothed it out on a lower heat. On the outside, I then did the same without gauze. I melted it on high to get some depth, and shuffled the plastic about, and then set it to low heat, to rework the surface to be nice and smooth once more.

Don't get me wrong, the outside appearance has been affected, but it's made a damned strong job of it, and the first sign of mud and you'll never see it.

 

[Foot0069]

Oh, a further quick note. Plastic welding kit turned up, and what an excellent job that has done. Came with metal gauze which I cut and bent to shape, to suit the inside of several cracked areas, and after melting it together to tack it, I positioned the gauze and melted it right into the plastic, and then smoothed it out on a lower heat. On the outside, I then did the same without gauze. I melted it on high to get some depth, and shuffled the plastic about, and then set it to low heat, to rework the surface to be nice and smooth once more.

Don't get me wrong, the outside appearance has been affected, but it's made a damned strong job of it, and the first sign of mud and you'll never see it.

what did your kit look like? I've been thinking about one for a while. As much as you like yours I'd like to try and find a comparable one.

 

[sutty]

Link below. Reviews were a bit all over the place, either died or worked well, but I figured easy enough to return if it doesn't work. Fortunately it did, and for long enough for me to finish the job. Now it will go in a drawer, for a long time, lol.

100W Plastic Welding Kit with Soldering Iron Tips, Fast Heating 2-in-1 Plastic Welder & Soldering Iron Gun, 2 Adjustable Speed with Indicator for DIY, Car Bumper, Dashboard, Kayak, Canoe Repair Tool : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

Shop 100W Plastic Welding Kit with Soldering Iron Tips, Fast Heating 2-in-1 Plastic Welder & Soldering Iron Gun, 2 Adjustable Speed with Indicator for DIY, Car Bumper, Dashboard, Kayak, Canoe Repair Tool. Free delivery on eligible orders of £20 or more.

www.amazon.co.uk

Cheers

Sutty

 

[Foot0069]

Link below. Reviews were a bit all over the place, either died or worked well, but I figured easy enough to return if it doesn't work. Fortunately it did, and for long enough for me to finish the job. Now it will go in a drawer, for a long time, lol.

100W Plastic Welding Kit with Soldering Iron Tips, Fast Heating 2-in-1 Plastic Welder & Soldering Iron Gun, 2 Adjustable Speed with Indicator for DIY, Car Bumper, Dashboard, Kayak, Canoe Repair Tool : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

Shop 100W Plastic Welding Kit with Soldering Iron Tips, Fast Heating 2-in-1 Plastic Welder & Soldering Iron Gun, 2 Adjustable Speed with Indicator for DIY, Car Bumper, Dashboard, Kayak, Canoe Repair Tool. Free delivery on eligible orders of £20 or more.

www.amazon.co.uk

Cheers

Sutty

The ones I've been looking at have hot a air blower element to them. I wonder which is better? I like the strengthening of the mesh. And yours sure is less expensive for a drawer filler. Did you repair all the way through cracks with yours? Sounds as you did with both top and bottom repairs.