front fender frustration

Those damn stays won't clear the forks. There's not enough room between tire and fender to remove and replace the stay screws. Bending them inward makes me cringe. Anybody have a favorite trick for this?

maylar said:

There's not enough room between tire and fender to remove and replace the stay screws.

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1.Tack weld (or epoxy glue?) one set of nuts (or both sets?) to the stay/s?

2. Fit an 850 Mk3 fender/mudguard? (or leave the front stay off?) As it has no front stay, the assembly can easily be slid out of position backwards.

3. Remove/drop the wheel first each time to give enough room to get at the nuts?

If you mean the front and rear stays, I find that once both front and rear are unbolted from the forks and the center stay is unbolted, then you can raise the fender enough to remove the front stay and remove the fender from the rear without removing the other stay.

Bending them inward makes me cringe

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Are you speaking of the center stay? It will spring over the studs with no damage with a little effort. I prefer to remove the studs and replace them with 1/4-20 hex bolts. It eliminates the need to spring the center stay.

Ron L said:

Are you speaking of the center stay? It will spring over the studs with no damage with a little effort. I prefer to remove the studs and replace them with 1/4-20 hex bolts. It eliminates the need to spring the center stay.

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The center brace is not a problem. The '74 850 already has bolts to hold that, not studs. The 2 stays that splay out from fork bottom to the fender are the issue.

I discovered that if I remove the wheel it makes things much easier. I may persue the idea of epoxying the nuts to the stays, thanks for that idea.