I replaced my taillight less a year ago.i thought i broke it with my sissybar luggage. i replaced the license plate bracket with a HD lay back bracket.I notice it was lose,i took off the housing and where the three bolts screw in is all broken up.Is tihs commen?

 

If you're talking about the grey plastic piece on the inside then yes it's pretty common. I had a similar problem when I went to change the tail light housing and license plate bracket on my Deluxe and found it was broken. A lot of guys on here told me it was a pretty common piece to have break. The MoCo charges just over $100 for a new one if I recall correctly.

 

thats the piece,i took it to my indy last time to be replaced.i think you need to take the rear tire off to replace it.

 

Don't need to take the tire off

 

it's a bit of a squeeze, but you can get it off and back on again without dropping the tire or pulling the fender off. I've got bigger than average hands but was able to get in there with a few stubby ratcheting combination wrenches and a flashlight. It takes a bit of patience and time, but not as much as pulling a tire probably would.

 

5 min to pull the fender off though, and for my fat hands I didn't have to fight it.

Is the part thats broken the chrome housing? I have one I can sell you cheap if its what you need, I have the entire stock setup somewhere.

 

Yeah, I didn't have a T-45 socket when I did mine, and I snapped the head off a regular T-45 key trying to get the first strut mount undone, otherwise I would have just taken those 4 bolts off and flipped it over. I guess my point was that you can do it without removing anything.

As for the part, I was going to also offer him my housing if that was what he needed... I actually have two because the MoCo doesn't sell the inside grey part (which is the part he needs, not the housing) separately from the entire tail light housing. I think probably the only way someone would have the inside piece kicking around in one piece would be if they got rid of the tombstone altogether and went to a custom tail light.

 

Does anyone know why this particular part keeps breaking? Is it cheap or could it possibly be from it coming loose and then the vibration snaps it or both? I might check that before I put it on the road this summer and see if it's nice and tight. Possibly some locktite on the threads to keep it from coming loose? I don't know, I am just kicking around my thought's and maybe head that situation off before it does become a problem for me. I swear, it doesn't matter how long a person rides, I learn something new almost every day I visit this forum.

 

I won't need a chrome housing,because after i order a new taillight today.i will have two extra like new chrome housings.i have never taken off a rear fender before.when i get home today,I'll check it out.you guys make it sound easy to remove.Thanks for the info.

 

I think they need to make the piece out of plastic, but maybe if they used a different type of plastic that was less likely to break it would hold up better. I think the problem is that you take the plastic and bolt it tight to your fender, then when you're riding, having a passenger on and off, tying down bags or whatever else the fender flexes and vibrates and cracks the plastic. It's not really a problem if it cracks as long as you aren't going to take off the tail light assembly, at which point it will fall apart. I think the bolts will hold it in place so that it won't even really be noticeable to you unless you take off the outer housing. Yours might have been broken for years without you even knowing it. The only reason I found out mine was broken was because I had to pull off my tail light to put on the softbrake license plate bracket.

Actually, thinking about it now, having the softbrake plate bracket on may help keep it from breaking, as it sits between the fender and the plastic piece. I'm only speculating though, I'm far from an engineer.