Beyond Frustration--Mirror Mount Bracket Snapped

[SacramentoMike]

On the way to NAFO I dropped the bike in a campground dirt road turnaround attempt in Nevada. The mirror started wobbling, though I was able to use the mirror and aux light mounted thereon to complete the ride. Today I pulled off the dash panels for the first time to see the damage. Of course the bracket holding the mirror (cast aluminum) is snapped right in two. ugh.

Looking at it, the prospect of fixing it is horrible. The mirror is mounted on a ridiculously complicated bracket that would require a LOT of disassembly. Not sure I'm up to it. I found a thread from an Aussie FJR site with the same problem, and the fellow was able to do the work himself, eventually. Very daunting. Here's a link. As he says, "To replace the cast aluminium assembly, I am going to have to dismantle the entire fairing, screen, lights, and instrument cluster. It's going to take days of work." He did do it, though.

The weak and very brittle part, believe it or not, looks like this:

Among other thoughts I have on this, one very uncomfortable one is that I think I can expect to break this part again, in the likely event of another zero-speed drop. My appreciation of the design, in this case, is limited.

So the question for the forum is this: what are the chances of making a repair by a welder while it's still mounted on the bike? It's fairly accessible, and the break is clean. I don't know welding, but I am told aluminum is weld-able. I could pull the gas tank, and shield any nearby wiring, etc. If I could find somebody who would be willing to do it this way, any thoughts about the likely outcome? Removal and replacement, either after a welding repair or with a new part, would certainly be a LOT of shop time, and I'd be damn nervous about starting on it solo. (Look through the linked post above if you don't believe me.)

The first pic shows the crack, as well as showing that the two parts fit together fairly well, if welding is a possibility.

In this one, I separated the two parts just to show the break more clearly. Guess it's 2 or 2-1/2 inches long. The piece is only about 1/4" thick. NOT likely to survive a drop unscathed.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Mike this has turned up on THIS forum before. My suggestion is to use JB Weld or something similar.

What sort of tip over protection do you have?

 

[NTXFJR]

Looks like we need our very own Garauld to come up with a stiffy kit repair for it. Not sure of being able to successfully weld the thing in place, or the long term reliability of an epoxy fix, though some of that stuff is dammed good when properly applied. How about making a metal patch and drilling, then bolting it in place?

 

[lonerider]

Welding in place, any plastic/rubber/paint near the weld area will likely ignite. If using MIG or TIG, the ground would need to be as close as possible to the work so no current goes through the bike's electronics or bearings. Also, it looks from your pics like only one side is accessible; such a weld would not have strength against any flexing. I'd advise removing the part for a weld repair, just MHO.

 

[0Face]

Somebody's bike fell over at last year's Hooterville and Smitty worked up a fix that is still holding after many thousands of miles...

Replacing that whole part is an enormous Pain in the ***. I believe the whole cowling has to come off. Not difficult just time consuming.

 

[griff]

Mike: I broke the mount at Smitty's last year at Hooterville. He fabricated a small aluminum brace and fastened it in place with sheet metal screws. It has held for almost a year, but I don't expect it to last forever. I see a winter subframe replacement project coming.

Hah - Marty beat me to it.

I should add I have about 35000 miles since the bracket/epoxy fix and the mirror is still firm. Still kinda leary about hanging aux lights from the mount, but if it breaks again I'll replace it, since Progressive already paid me for it.

 

[Dutch]

I'd form a piece of 1/8" stainless plate to put it back in place and rivet them together.

Use cardboard for a pattern.

 

[RaYzerman19]

I epoxied mine with JB Weld steel epoxy...... it dries slow so you got time to work with it. coat the broken surfaces and put some extra along the joint. Wait until tomorrow and coat it again...... it is at least as strong as the original, and it will hold up well........... however, if you drop your bike again, it will break again.... And if you have a well-meaning friend grabbing the other side to help you keep it from fallling, the other side will break too. DAMHIK.

that material is not likely 1/8 thick..... Yamaha's obsession with weight reduction.

 

[NTXFJR]

Mike: I broke the mount at Smitty's last year at Hooterville. He fabricated a small aluminum brace and fastened it in place with sheet metal screws. It has held for almost a year, but I don't expect it to last forever. I see a winter subframe replacement project coming.
Hah - Marty beat me to it.

Griff, that looks like it could be made into a permanent repair maybe by adding more patching to it?

 

[Teehaml]

Mike... it is a lot of work but really not that bad if you take your time. Take a ton pictures of everything as you go along and use plastic bags to put all the fasteners and small parts in and label the bags. I dropped mine in the garage and it landed on my portable generator breaking the right mirror off and snapping the "Stay" as that bracket is called (Note to self: don't sit on bike and put right foot on peg with a nice beer buzz going while trying to adjust GPS on Rambone like a dumb ***). I thought about using JB Weld or rigging some kind of bracket too but figured it would not hold for the long haul and decided to just jump in. Good luck...

 

[PhilJet09]

I doubt that can be welded in place. It's cast aluminum, which is tricky to begin with. To have any success, you have to clean the **** out of it in the weld area, both sides. Doesn't look like something you can do effectively in place.

 

[garauld]

I suggest looking for a good used one off a salvage bike and replacing it. If one cannot be found, you can remove it and have it welded locally or ship it to me where I would reweld it and ship it back next day. It would be risky welding it in place - too many expensive things can go wrong.

 

[mikerider]

I fixed mine with a tube of QuikSteel and is still holding fine after almost 2 years. After you fixed it, don't hang anything on the mirror mount again like your lights. By looking at the flimsy bracket, even mounting the OEM mirror itself is pushing it...

 

[HotRodZilla]

Mike, fix it however is most feesable for you. Then replace those **** OEM mirrors for the FZ1 mirrors. They fold properly, which should reduce the chance of breaking the bracket again. They will not reduce the tendency for these things to want an inconvenient nap. Sorry!!

 

[st4gary]

Mike it's not too bad. I did it on my 2004 a few years back. I'd rather do that than a valve adjust I had a good used one hanging in the garage (fairing stay in parts name lingo) for years but a year or so back I sent to BigSky to use in the rebuild of his brother-in-laws bike. I never had the chance to collect the beer from BigSky for that one ... If I recall the stay's a bit pricey but IMO it's what you'll end up having to do in the long haul anyways.

Gary

 

[bigjohnsd]

Mike, This repair has 27,000 miles on it and it is still holding just fine. No drops on the repair. FZ1 Mirrors on the bike.

I posted a detailed thread when i made the repair but I can't locate it. I didn't use any epoxy or Liquid Steel etc, I drilled and tapped the casting and screwed the 1/4-28 screws into the pot metal stay, then self-locking nuts on the back side.

I inspected the repair the other day and it is still fine.

The stay replacement is a labor intensive job, the part is ~$300 and there are many hours of tedious work disassembling and re-assembling much better spent RIDING!

 

[HotRodZilla]

^^^I'd do what he did!!

 

[harper]

You say the break is 2 or 2.5 inches long and the material is 0.25" thick. That's about 0.5 square inches. JB Weld or other 2-part, 24-hour epoxies have tensile strengths of about 4000 psi and shear strengths of about 1000psi. The epoxied parts should hold 2000 pounds in tension and 500 pounds in shear. You could probably push the bike with the epoxied mirror. I epoxied a broken mirror stem on my son's scooter with Armstrong A-12 and it was probably just as strong as the unbroken one.

 

[SacramentoMike]

Wow, these have been GREAT suggestions! Big thanks to all of you. I really like the idea of trying what Smitty and some others did, a brace or splint to support the broken piece, combined with one of the epoxy products first. I hope I have the skill to fabricate and install something that will work. It didn't take long for me to abandon the idea of having this thing welded in place, by the way.

Unfortunately, what really banged down on the ground first was the light bracket mounted under the mirror that my Clearwater light was mounted on, and I don't think there's a product out there--sliders, tip-over guards, Canyon Cages, anything--that would catch the bike before that bracket touched down in a fall like this. And man, I'd HATE to give up having those lights.

I suppose I'll try the path of least resistance first--kind of like having the doctor try almost anything else before you resort to surgery. You can always do that later, if you have to. So tomorrow I'll be Googling "strongest way to glue aluminum" or something, and thinking about metal splint fabrication. I'll report my progress, if any.