Fairing disassembly

[Mountaineer47]

Ok, on a 2008 Venture, how much is involved in removing the fairing cover? I have seen the allen head bolts around the inside...do I have to remove the chrome trim on the front? The windshield?

 

If so, how is that done?

 

Thanks!

[Ryana7769]

Yep, the allens on the back side towards the driver, 8 total. The top two allow you to remove the chrom ring.

Then there are about 6 more under the chrome ring that hold the windshield on. They must be removed as well. Once you remove these, gently pull the windshield out and store it someplace safe.

Also, there is a allen head underneath the headlight that must be removed as well.

A couple of words of caution:

Place a blanket or heavy duty towel on you front fender just in case.

When reassembling the fairing, don't overtighten the allen heads. I broke a tab that way. They are pretty flimsy really. You will see what I mean once you have it apart.

One last thing, if your bike has the passing/fog/driving lights installed with the turn signals, you will most likely have to remove them as well. There was a post on hear about making a bracket to place behind them so you wouldn't have to so maybe not. If you do have to remove them, pull the chrome cover off of the center bar of the light bracket and there is 2 allenheads behind it that will allow you to drop the driving lights down.

 

I'm probably making it sound more difficult that it is. Take your time and be careful and its pretty easy

[SilvrT]

Take your time and be careful and its pretty easy

 

DITTO what he said.

 

When you put the fairing back together, take note of the "alignment tabs" on the inside edge and ensure you get them in place before you attempt to put the screws back in. You can easilly determine this because the outer edge should be fairly snug against the inner fairing plastic, especially obvious at the top edge where it is rounded. Take a look at that before you remove it so you have something to go by.

 

Here's a writeup...

 

http://venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=494&highlight=splitting+fairing

[Guest tx2sturgis]

The only tricky part is after you remove the two inner bolts(screws?) at the top of the inside fairing (by the speakers), now you will be able to remove that nice looking but VERY fragile chrome molding. Just go slow, and gently peel it away, using just your fingers, and work it loose.

 

It will kinda feel 'stuck', but after you peel the top edge slightly forward, then the ends will start to loosen and it will eventually peel away from the base of the windshield. If you force it at all, you will probably break the little tabs that are molded onto the backside of it. Dont use any type of prying tools to remove it.

 

 

 

I save the bolt under the headlight for last. Its ok to loosen it a few turns, this will help you figure out when you have all the other bolts removed. If you leave this headlight trim bolt in place, the fairing cant drop and do any damage unexpectedly. The headlight itself is NOT attached to the fairing shell, its mounted to the inner fairing structure. With that headlight trim bolt in place, you can be confident removing all the smaller bolts from the fairing and windshield, that the fairing shell wont just fall off.

 

When you reinstall the fairing outer shell, put that large bolt under the headlight back in first, but just finger tighten it. Then reinstall all the fairing perimeter bolts (except the two that hold the molding), threading them in then loosening them a few turns. Dont tighten ANY of the bolts until you get them all inserted, and then after you have ALL of them inserted, then its OK to go around and tighten everything up with your wrench. When replacing the molding, just work it back in place slowly, and when its all lined up right, it will snap in place. If you see a noticeable gap between the molding and the windshield, you dont have it settled in correctly. It may take a few tries but you will figure it out. Just dont force it.

 

Work slowly, and dont get into a rush or you will probably forget or break something.

 

The write-up will show you step by step how its done. One little hint: Buy yourself some metric 'ball driver' type allen wrenches. They are a lot easier to use, and will only cost a few dollars for a good set.

 

Something similar to this set will work fine: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Ball-End-Allen-Wrench-Hex/dp/B0006TW0CQ]Amazon.com: Ball End Allen Wrench Hex Key Set - Metric: Home Improvement@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417E5P6TRZL.@@AMEPARAM@@417E5P6TRZL[/ame] They also have similar sets at Harbor Freight.

 

Good luck and let us know how it went.

Edited July 20, 2011 by tx2sturgis

[Guest]

That chrome strip needs to be lifted straight up on each end, very gently, as stated before. Brian wrote it up perfectly, especially the part about installing the bolt under the headlight first when putting things back together. Makes lining things up easier later.

[gunboat]

that chrome piece at the windshield is a costly little bugger. about $118.00 +/- , i will admit i have bought 2 of them. as the others have stated go slow and easy pulling the chrome off and back on. i have never been lucky as to glue the tabs back on.

reguards

don c.

[Mountaineer47]

Thanks for the input.....one day when I have the time.... that will be another project....removing the cassette player.....