Windshield Screw Replacements

This might get booted to NERPT but...

One of my screws sheered off, and I am not going to pay a buck to replace it just on stubborn principal. Will these work?

https://www.mcmaster.com/?orderview=new#machine-screws/=cj5xij

I am going to buy a pack, just worried about the length

topanga said:

One of my screws sheered off, and I am not going to pay a buck to replace it just on stubborn principal. Will these work?

Click to expand...

Absolutely it will work. You sheer off enough of the original ones by over torquing...you can eventually save a few bucks off your $10,000+ FJR. It will help hold the windshield more solidly in position if you go over the handle bars instead of releasing as designed.

Ignacio said:

topanga said:

One of my screws sheered off, and I am not going to pay a buck to replace it just on stubborn principal. Will these work?

Click to expand...

Absolutely it will work. You sheer off enough of the original ones by over torquing...you can eventually save a few bucks off your $10,000+ FJR. It will help hold the windshield more solidly in position if you go over the handle bars instead of releasing as designed.

Click to expand...

And then the windshield becomes a weapon. I get it!

Ahh, the stupid link didn't work.

https://www.mcmaster.com/?orderview=new#machine-screws/=cj6ge2

And mine just sheered off on its own, no tightening was involved

topanga said:

And mine just sheered off on its own, no tightening was involved

Click to expand...

So, it was sitting in your hand and the head fell off? Or did you put just one in and screw it in all the way before you started others?

Otherwise....yes...it was almost certainly overtightened. That's one of the reasons this is a NEPRT thread....been talked about many, many times before.

I recently bought a full set plus some (for extras when they do break, no biggie spending a few $$ more to have a stash) of these spensive plastic screws, cause I want them to shear on impact as designed. Don't need my windscreen becoming a knife.

Mine have broken over time also, just missing a head one day from multiple torques, probably too tight, they expand, contract, etc., they fail. No biggie, I change my windscreens with the seasons so the screws wear out.

They are pricey, but if you're cheaper than me, go to Home Depot or other HW store and buy their plastic screws for way cheaper, they may be white though...

Definitely NEPRT though.

Ignacio said:

topanga said:

One of my screws sheered off, and I am not going to pay a buck to replace it just on stubborn principal. Will these work?

Click to expand...

Absolutely it will work. You sheer off enough of the original ones by over torquing...you can eventually save a few bucks off your $10,000+ FJR. It will help hold the windshield more solidly in position if you go over the handle bars instead of releasing as designed.

Click to expand...

While I don't really recommend this technique, my windshield had no problem shearing itself off when I went over it, and the screws stayed intact. Plastic screws, too.

I took the windshield off to wax behind it and there it was sheered off. If it was overtightened, got me, it was the stock windshield and I had never touched it.

Nor am I trying to replace it with metal screws, I was just checking whether a M5 .8mm pitch 20mm plastic replacement was ok since the bin-o-facts says they are 18mm.

Ignacio said:

topanga said:

And mine just sheered off on its own, no tightening was involved

Click to expand...

So, it was sitting in your hand and the head fell off? Or did you put just one in and screw it in all the way before you started others?

Otherwise....yes...it was almost certainly overtightened. That's one of the reasons this is a NEPRT thread....been talked about many, many times before.

Click to expand...

topanga said:

I took the windshield off to wax behind it and there it was sheered off.

Click to expand...

If you've never had the windshield off before and original owner---It was probably over torqued when you bought it then. Not all dealerships assemble them exactly correctly....as a variety of people have learned after they forget to loctite the saddle bag locks.

SacramentoMike said:

While I don't really recommend this technique, my windshield had no problem shearing itself off when I went over it, and the screws stayed intact. Plastic screws, too.

Click to expand...

And interesting data point. That's 1 out of 4 or 5 self-reports I remember that didn't pop the screws.

SacramentoMike said:

While I don't really recommend this technique, my windshield had no problem shearing itself off when I went over it, and the screws stayed intact. Plastic screws, too.

Click to expand...

Well, those sharp edges are enough evidence for me. They don't look fun.

My windscreen has sheared off on 3 of my 4 wrecks as it is supposed to. In all three, I remounted and kept using the screen, although it was now just a bit scratched.

Were those OEM plastic screws?

---Were those OEM plastic screws?

Yep. But that`s my last glass motorcycle windshield. EVER.

I haven't actually bought these, but someone on the forum recommended them once and I saved the link. Since I frequently change windshields I thought the philips heads would eventually round out and need replacing.

So far that hasn't happened.

https://www.mcmaster.com/#92492a328/=ck59rm

SacramentoMike said:

Ignacio said:

topanga said:

One of my screws sheered off, and I am not going to pay a buck to replace it just on stubborn principal. Will these work?

Click to expand...

Absolutely it will work. You sheer off enough of the original ones by over torquing...you can eventually save a few bucks off your $10,000+ FJR. It will help hold the windshield more solidly in position if you go over the handle bars instead of releasing as designed.

Click to expand...

While I don't really recommend this technique, my windshield had no problem shearing itself off when I went over it, and the screws stayed intact. Plastic screws, too.

Click to expand...

Mike - Yours look like metallic screws, and that windscreen really looks nasty.

FJRBluesman said:

Mike - Yours look like metallic screws, and that windscreen really looks nasty.

Click to expand...

They were special metallic-looking plastic screws. I paid extra. And the windscreen looked fine when I bought it.

Everybody's talking about the jagged edges on the windscreen, btw, and while I can't recall exactly what I might have slid or bounced over on on my way to wherever I landed among the chunks of broken granite, I ended up with bruises, but zero cuts or abrasions. Thanks, Cycleport.

SacramentoMike said:

They were special metallic-looking plastic screws. I paid extra.

Click to expand...

Do you have a Yamaha part number on them? You said they were OEM Yamaha in a previous post. I've never heard of anything but the non-special non-metallic-looking OEM plastic screws....I gotta wonder if they're engineered to break.

Ignacio said:

SacramentoMike said:

They were special metallic-looking plastic screws. I paid extra.

Click to expand...

Do you have a Yamaha part number on them? You said they were OEM Yamaha in a previous post. I've never heard of anything but the non-special non-metallic-looking OEM plastic screws....I gotta wonder if they're engineered to break.

Click to expand...

Geez, I was kidding, Ig. They were OEM. They only looked metallic to the Bluesman.

(By the way, I had a couple of windshields for that bike and had just changed them that spring, so I know they were OEM, but I can't prove it cuz they went wherever tow trucks take broken FJRs to.)

SacramentoMike said:

Geez, I was kidding, Ig. They were OEM. They only looked metallic to the Bluesman.

(By the way, I had a couple of windshields for that bike and had just changed them that spring, so I know they were OEM, but I can't prove it cuz they went wherever tow trucks take broken FJRs to.)

Click to expand...

I keep looking at that picture...and they just don't look like OEM screws to me..so it wasn't just Bluesman. The color, texture, size, or the roundness of the heads just seem a bit off. I still wonder if they are OEM.

I think maybe Skooterg was wondering the same thing.

That's all.

How can they be OEM? They are silver.

Does not compute.

Sure look like metal to me.

Mike - Did you buy your bike used? That would explain what you thought would be OEM.

When I took possession of my new-to-me FJR it also had those so called silver looking OEM screws. That's the first thing I did was ditch those bad boys that mascaraed as plastic, they were steel. The plastic heads are very shallow and wider than the ones I see in your photo. Just sayin'.

If you say they're OEM I'll believe ya, cause someone else on the forum said I should believe everything on the forum and the neanernet.