Windjammer V alignment issues

[GS850_Mike]

I am wondering if anyone has had alignment issues when mounting their WJ fairing. Mine has a lean to it, that is it leans to the left. This "lean" causes the right side to be very close to the gas tank and the the left side to have an extra large gap. Another issue the "lean" causes is the fairing is now closer to the right handlebar and makes me feel like I'm leaning the whole bike while riding straight down the road. I have tried to re-adjust the mount I have but only made it worse. My temporary solution is to add washers between the mount and fairing on the left side. This works execpt (for now as I dont have lowers) you can see this 3/16 to about a 1/4in gap at the mount. I have bought my 4th mount (the first two were wrong) to see if maybe the mount is bad. But in the mean time I just wanted to know if anyone else has had this problem and if there might be an easy fix that I am missing.

 

[Dave Ireland]

My bracket is the same on the GS850 - definitely sitting down to the left a little bit. I'll resolve that by doubling the amount of rubber strip to isolate the bracket from the fairing.
Kicking my heels just now, waiting for a bike-side wiring harness to plug into the fairing, having this notion to keep things as factory as reasonably possible.
No matter; other electrical gremlins raised their heads today, including a terminally-corroded ignition switch terminal which necessitates a new ign switch, so more hassle and expense. Better that, and better it happened now, than out on the road. It must have been ready to break up for ages.

 

[GS850_Mike]

My fairing is more then a little, I've got almost 1/4in of spacers between the mount and fairing. Hoping the new mount will fit better.
As for the wiring, my 850 gave me an issue one day trying to come home from work. That day I ordered all the connectors needed for a complete new harness. Shortly there after I rewired the bike to insure no more surprises. I added a few extra connections so adding the fairing and lights on the bags was very easy.

Good luck on yours Dave

 

[Kynan C.]

My fairing is more then a little, I've got almost 1/4in of spacers between the mount and fairing. Hoping the new mount will fit better.
As for the wiring, my 850 gave me an issue one day trying to come home from work. That day I ordered all the connectors needed for a complete new harness. Shortly there after I rewired the bike to insure no more surprises. I added a few extra connections so adding the fairing and lights on the bags was very easy.

Good luck on yours Dave

Do you have any images Mike?

 

[brianinpa]

Is the fairing mounting surface equal distance from the ground at all 4 corners? Sounds like it may be bent.

 

[GS850_Mike]

Sorry for the slow response, I took some pictures today to help explain what I'm talking about but I'm having issues uploading them from my phone. So I'll have to wait till tomorrow. As for measurements there is a littlte less then an 1/8th of an inch between the leading edge on each side. I have another mount so I'll have to try that and see if its better.

 

[GS850_Mike]

Here's a few pics so you can see just how bad the alignment is.....

 

[brianinpa]

That's what I thought you meant, but I wasn't sure if you may have meant that the fairing was tilted horizontally on the frame, in which case it would have led me to think the mount was twisted.

In this case, my original Goldwing mount was very similar, but not as close on the right hand side (that may be a difference in the shape of the tank between a GL and a GS). I had just enough room to feed a long 3/8 extension and 7/16" socket between the tank and the fairing to tighten/remove the rear mounting bolt. Getting a wrench under the mount bracket can be entertaining... I won't even mention what it is like trying to get the nut started on the bolt, but telescoping magnets are my friend. On the left side I have about twice as much space as I have on the right side (similar to yours).

My bike had the signs of being in an accident at some point in it's life, so I thought the mount was bent. I took the mount off and measured to see if it was square... it was. I later bought another WJ fairing and a new to me mount came with it. I swapped out the mount and found that even with the different mount, I had the same clearances on the left and right sides of the tank. Two mounts with the same issue... coincidence or designed that way?

 

[Dave Ireland]

Wouldn't be at all surprised if the original factory jig got bent and several were made with that flaw in them. It's something to watch for in batch production work - and not the first time I've seen it.

 

[brianinpa]

My thought as well. I have a mount that came with a WJ 5 that I am going to try out and see what I see.