Rear Fender Removal--HELP

[Pete]

Cutting a notch to ease removal is as cunning as a sack full of foxes, but it will leave exposed steel and promote rust. The exposed surfaces should be painted appropriately. Personally I wouldn't do this to a chromed part.

[KEN.]

Hello  All....Glad you liked the idea...Lets just share the wealth of ideas we come up with...
...I cut mine on the horizontal...but each to his own.....KEN.

[Trall]

I removed the exhaust side fender  bracket & bolt, then slotted the lower bracket so you only need to loosen that bolt to remove  the fender the next time...KEN.

That did the trick.  Cutting the bolt shorter is a option but making it a slot/ notch is even better.
I used a recipercating saw with metal blade and cut two lines from bottom edge to bolt hole. Then finished/ smoothed the edges with dremel grinder bit.

Thanks. Great idea.

[Trall]

I removed the exhaust side fender  bracket & bolt, then slotted the lower bracket so you only need to loosen that bolt to remove  the fender the next time...KEN.

NOW WE ALL KNOW.  Brilliant resolution.

[pcarrell]

I removed the exhaust side fender  bracket & bolt, then slotted the lower bracket so you only need to loosen that bolt to remove  the fender the next time...KEN.

HEY!!!!!  No fair using that "thinking" stuff against us!  I'm calling a foul!!!!

[KEN.]

I removed the exhaust side fender  bracket & bolt, then slotted the lower bracket so you only need to loosen that bolt to remove  the fender the next time...KEN.

[CDNRatMan]

You could have used a dermal tool and cut it to fit? I did that with my sissy bar bolts.

[Diddly squatt]

Some talk about replacing the exhaust side fender bolt with a shorter one when it won't clear some exhausts. To save you newbee's (myself included) that might benefit from this some time in the hardware section, it is a M10/1.25 fine thread. The one I got uses a 17mm wrench. Mine was a 25mm (1 inch) and seems to work fine

[Diddly squatt]

I want to thank you all for all of the good info and tips. I feel more comfortable tackling this job now. I think I will replace the bolt with a stud & bolt or a shorter bolt for future convenience.  Thanks again, Mike

[CDNRatMan]

  I have a really easy way to remove the rear wheel from the 800. But here I thought we were only removing the rear fender so did not go into that.
For removing the rear fender,
1. remove the seat,
2. remove the battery cover,
3. Unplug the connector under the seat, and feed it back to the fender,
4. remove the two small 8mm bolts on both sides of the fender,
5. I then remove the 2 bottom 12mm bolts, and as stated you may have to loosen your muffler bracket to get the clearance, to remove the bolt completely.
6. then you can remove the two upper 12mm bolts, I turn them out till almost out and then I get comfortable and remove them the last bit and the fender slides right out nice and easy.

If any one wants help with the rear wheel let me know.

[Troll]

Sorry, that's instructions for a 1500...good to know, but won't help him with an 800

[Trall]

http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/Rearwheel.html 

[Trall]

Somewhere on this site there is a how to for rear fender.

Also make sure you place a blanket or towel against the rear tire to protect your fender tip so when all your fender bolts are out and if your not ready it will fall to the floor.

[Trall]

Does the exhaust need to be removed to remove that blasted, lower rear fender bolt? Is it necessary to replace the exhaust gaskets every time the exhaust is removed? Thanks for your help.. Mike

No,  You don't I just removed mine for the paint shop last month on my 800.
On the right side near the exhaust I took off the black long bracket that sandwiched between the exhaust pipe and fender.
The tough part was the one bolt has a Phillips head and really hard to get to it.  I used a Harbor Frieght right angle screwdriver slowly but surly to get it out.  Hope that helps.   

[CDNRatMan]

    Well it would depend on your exhaust system. I have the roadhouse exhaust, and I just have to loosen off the rear mounts on the muffler, I can reach the lower fender bolt with no problem, and I can turn it out all the way and enough to work the fender out, but if I want the bolt out completely then I need to loosen the rear muffler mount a bit to be able to give the muffler a bit of movement.

[Troll]

According to the manual, you separate the muffler at it's joint and remove it....here's the page from the manual for you. I don't have an 800 but if this was mine, I think I'd look into using a stud and nut in place of the bolt.

[Diddly squatt]

Does the exhaust need to be removed to remove that blasted, lower rear fender bolt? Is it necessary to replace the exhaust gaskets every time the exhaust is removed? Thanks for your help.. Mike