Skyway spacers, Yamaha Touring Windshield & Interference

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John_Dumke

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I installed the skyway windshield spacers along with my new Yamaha Touring windshield. But there is interference on the right side.

Actually the Metal W bracket that the windshield bolts to is lower by about 3/16" on the Right Side.

This is a picture of the gap on the Left side with the Right side down fully against the plastic fairing. The bike has never been crashed or even dropped in the garage. I had noticed this before but it didn't really matter with the stock screen. Now it is pissing me off.

Gap.jpg


Any ideas?

Is this mechanism adjustable?

Is is possible the D&H put in back slightly wrong when they swapped out the ODO under warranty?

Is this just normal manufacturing variance?

I am going to pull the fairing off to get a better look at the why it is lower on the right side.

With the skyway spacers the windshield just barely clears the plastic on the Left Side, but there is significant interference on the Right side. I might want to reduce the size of the spacers or cut down the windshield.

Right Side - Significant Interference

SS_right.jpg


Left Side - Minimal clearance - Reduce spacer size and/or cut down fairing.

SS_left.jpg


 
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I took off the front plastic. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the windshield mechanism, so I re-mounted the plastic nose piece and gap is gone. Maybe the nose plastics was slightly mis-mounted.

But there is still some interference with the windshield and the upper corners of the fairing (with the Skyway Spacers). I think the solution will be two fold. 1) Grind the windshield in the appropriate places and 2) Put a small 1/16" rubber washer under the top two or four windshield mounting screws, to minimize the amount grinding on the windshield.

I will post a picture when complete.

 
I took off the front plastic. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the windshield mechanism, so I re-mounted the plastic nose piece and gap is gone. Maybe the nose plastics was slightly mis-mounted.
But there is still some interference with the windshield and the upper corners of the fairing (with the Skyway Spacers). I think the solution will be two fold. 1) Grind the windshield in the appropriate places and 2) Put a small 1/16" rubber washer under the top two or four windshield mounting screws, to minimize the amount grinding on the windshield.

I will post a picture when complete.

John,

You should have ZERO interference with this install - so this would lead me to believe that there's still something out of whack there. I have the Skyway spacers on my 06 with a CB +4+4 and no interference anywhere. Odds are whoever did your meter change got more than one thing wrong during re-assembly.

I have a pdf file of the meter change out that gives step by step instructions for removing the plastic - if you don't already have it, PM me your email address, and I'll send it to you. (anyone else as well) Or perhaps we could get together and I could eyeball it? Easy to compare to mine?

Let me know -

Hal

 
John,
You should have ZERO interference with this install - so this would lead me to believe that there's still something out of whack there. I have the Skyway spacers on my 06 with a CB +4+4 and no interference anywhere. Odds are whoever did your meter change got more than one thing wrong during re-assembly.

I have a pdf file of the meter change out that gives step by step instructions for removing the plastic - if you don't already have it, PM me your email address, and I'll send it to you. (anyone else as well) Or perhaps we could get together and I could eyeball it? Easy to compare to mine?

Let me know -

Hal
Hal, Thanks for the thought. I am sure that everything is together correctly, now. The gap for the windshield mechanism is now at a consistent distance to the surface of the fairing. Why it was not before I don't know. Remounting the nose solved it.

But there is still interference with the Skyway spacers because of the shape of the shield. The Yamaha Touring fairing is wide but most importantly the contour at the edges of the shield is greater. The Yamaha Touring windshield has more bend at the edges where there is contact with the upper fairing. The CB is a flatter windshield side to side.

Thanks again, it sounds like you are local. So it was very nice of you to offer checking your bike out. I will keep it in mind and of course the favor is returned. If at anytime in the future any help is needed.

John

 
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But there is still interference with the Skyway spacers because of the shape of the shield. The Yamaha Touring fairing is wide but most importantly the contour at the edges of the shield is greater. The Yamaha Touring windshield has more bend at the edges where there is contact with the upper fairing. The CB is a flatter windshield side to side.
John, as I reported in another thread ("Another windshield report"), I'm using that exact setup: Yamaha touring windshield with Skyway spacers, and I don't have any clearance issues whatsoever. I don't know what to suggest might be the issue, but the combination is working fine for me.

Brian

'06 FJR1300

'89 FJ1200 (for sale)

'90 K75S

'94 VFR750

'85 VF700C Magna

 
John, as I reported in another thread ("Another windshield report"), I'm using that exact setup: Yamaha touring windshield with Skyway spacers, and I don't have any clearance issues whatsoever. I don't know what to suggest might be the issue, but the combination is working fine for me.Brian
Well that's just bizarre. Maybe I have spacers for an Gen I. I measured the size of the spacers that Skyway provided for my Gen II and they were about 9.3mm thick. A little smaller and they would have been closer to working.

I solved the interference by carefully trimming the point of contact.

This picture shows the area where there WAS interference.

Right-WS-Cut.jpg


This pictures shows (not very well I admit), a consistent 3/16" gap after I cut the fairing.

Right-WS-gap.jpg


For the life of me I can't figure out why one Gen II bike would work and mine doesn't, but both sides had about the same level of contact.

It is probably attributable to variations in the windshield manufacturing, where my shield simply has more bend in it than yours. Controlling the contour of those shields probably isn't the most precise manufacturing process. Or maybe they are getting the windshields from another vender.

 
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John, as I reported in another thread ("Another windshield report"), I'm using that exact setup: Yamaha touring windshield with Skyway spacers, and I don't have any clearance issues whatsoever. I don't know what to suggest might be the issue, but the combination is working fine for me.Brian
Well that's just bizarre. Maybe I have spacers for an Gen I. I measured the size of the spacers that Skyway provided for my Gen II and they were about 9.3mm thick. A little smaller and they would have been closer to working.

I solved the interference by carefully trimming the point of contact.

For the life of me I can't figure out why one Gen II bike would work and mine doesn't, but both sides had about the same level of contact.

It is probably attributable to variations in the windshield manufacturing, where my shield simply has more bend in it than yours. Controlling the contour of those shields probably isn't the most precise manufacturing process. Or maybe they are getting the windshields from another vender.
Well, I spoke a bit too soon. While I didn't have any interference, per se, the combination did put the shield very close to the fairing at the spots you indicated. I've been keeping an eye on it, and noticed yesterday that the paint was being worn off at those spots on the outer edges. It seems that the movement of the shield while riding was enough to start rubbing the paint off...

For now I'm just trying to remember to raise the shield slightly each time I start off, as that immediately increases the gap sufficiently, and maybe I'll go ahead and do that mod that keeps the windshield from retracting every time you turn off the ignition. But I was thinking maybe I could use some of that body-colored tape like is used between the bags and the body -- does anybody know a source for that? Is it orderable off a microfiche? Your solution of trimming slightly is probably the better one, but I trust myself more to taping than cutting. :)

Brian

'06 FJR1300

'89 FJ1200 (for sale)

'90 K75S

'94 VFR750

'85 VF700C Magna

 
Same thing with the V-stream and the spacers (06). There was just enough clearance, but while riding at freeway speed, the shield started touching the paint. No rubbing yet. No such issue with the short stock shield. The spacers are off for now until I figure out what to do. Sam

 
The Skyway spacers are about 9.3 mm. If you put in something smaller. Like 6,7 or 8mm, it pretty much solves the problem. That is what I have done.

 
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