morinal said:
I have a rattle caused by vibration when i first start my bike it is in the front plastic cover behind the front wheel; as soon as I put my hand on it, it stops. Any ideas on how to stop this annoying noise
I have been on a quest since I got the LT to eliminate rattles, and I have nearly succeeded. I suspect that the rattle you speak of is on the side fairing pieces and at the front next to the radiators. There are a couple potential causes for this specific vibration, and all can be solved with foam weatherstripping.
1. On the inside of the panel there is a black plastic baffle that directs air through the radiators (I think). At the bottom of that piece there should be a pad between it and the inside of the panel. On my bike one side had it and the other it had fallen off / dissolved over the years. You will need a fairly thick piece of sponge foam for that.
2. Same piece, there is a support framework for the fairing running in a groove channeled out inside that panel. I installed a thin piece of weatherstripping along that whole frame member on mine because the plastic was flexing enough to come into contact with that frame member occasionally.
3. more difficult to explain so see picture attached below titled 'rattle hotspots'. The area I circled on the side panel installs over the side panel. You will need a fair amount of thickness here to insulate these two parts from each other. The point where the front spoiler and side engine covers meet at the top also needs to have some weatherstripping stuck in between them.
4. See the picture titled "tipwings" for another hard to describe potential problem. This would be a problem if your bike has ever been over on its side. You really don't need weatherstripping for this one, just make sure that the tabs that part 3 mounts on are properly positioned, bend them as needed to fix it. The red circle near 12 might be contacting the fairing which will cause a rattle, also the tabs (one is circled near #5) will contact and rattle if the attachments are tweaked a little.
Those are the biggies that I can think of. I have taken the additional measure of adding some very thin weatherstripping along the bottom of the upper fairing where the side fairing panel covers it and virtually every other point where two plastic panels come together. Just make sure at these points you use the thinnest weatherstripping you can find. I found a roll of 1/8 thick in black at ACE that worked nicely.
Sorry for the lengthy post but this has been an obsession for me. I have removed the tupperware from my bike about 10 times in the last year working on this. If anyone in the Phoenix area wants to do their own maintenance but is afraid of the tupperware drop me a PM, I'm a freakin' pro at getting that plastic on and off with all this practice
