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broken turn signal stem repair

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by tabaka45, Nov 28, 2019.

  1. tabaka45

    tabaka45 Well-Known Member

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    My bike fell last week and fortunately the only thing damaged was the rear turn signal which has always had a slight crack in it. This time it cracked all the way so that the tail light was angled down and a little to the rear. Although I have two good stems, I decided to attempt a repair since this seems to be a common problem. I thought about putting a splint on it but decided against that since I wanted the repair to not stand out like a sore thumb. The solution I finally settled on turned out to be very simple. I took one of the washers found in the female end of a water hose, cut through it so that I could get it around the stem and pressed it into the crack about 3/4 of the way around forcing the stem back into shape. I then split the remaining 1/4 of the washer and placed it in the remaining part of the crack. Since there were still some open spaces around the repair, I filled them with silicone. After the silicone cured, I tightly wrapped the stem with self amalgamating black tape. I don't know how long it will last, but it actually looks pretty good and from a distance it looks normal, notwithstanding the fact that the repaired stem is now about 1/8 inch longer.
     
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  2. lostboy

    lostboy Well-Known Member

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    The repair can only be verified with a picture.
     
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  3. cgutz

    cgutz Well-Known Member

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    I tried a similar fix on mine using a rubber washer, silicon (and shoe goo on another) then wrapped in high quality electrical tape. Held up for a while, but not permanently. The self amalgamating tape would work better I would guess.
     
  4. tabaka45

    tabaka45 Well-Known Member

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    I'm going to see how it goes. As long as it looks decent I will probably leave it. When I get a chance I will try to post a couple of pictures. Since I have a good one, this is more out of curiosity than anything else.
     
  5. Nuch

    Nuch Well-Known Member

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    I attempted the splint fix a few years ago. I used finishing nails and black electrical tape. Eventually, the tape started to shrink and retract, but it held for a good long time and was not really noticeable. In the end, I found some after market stems to replace the stock ones. The aftermarket parts are still holding up but are not near the quality and strength of OEM. I imagine over time they will sag. But doesn't everything? Time is no one's friend. Heh...
     
  6. tabaka45

    tabaka45 Well-Known Member

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    It looks pretty good and I have some pictures on my phone, but have no idea how to post them here. If anyone knows how, let me know.

    If I ever need to do this again, I think I will remove it from the bike, remove the light and wires, and take a dowel or bolt and put through it to hold it perfectly straight. Then take some JB Weld and completely fill the gap all the way around and actually into the space between the spring. I am guessing that when that completely dries the dowel can be removed and it will stay straight or darn close to it. Wish I had one to try that on.
     
  7. raskal

    raskal Active Member

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    right at the bottom right of the page it says "upload a file". Do you see that? Maybe it's different on your mobile?
     
  8. tabaka45

    tabaka45 Well-Known Member

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    Let's see if this works. Apparently so. You can't tell from the picture, but the green washer insert is thicker at the bottom.
    xj700 light (2).jpg xj700 light 3 (2).jpg xj700 light2 (2).jpg
     
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