Headlight mount question

willis

xsive compulsive disorder
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Does anyone know if earlier headlight mount ears from a 34mm fork fit on a 35mm later fork? I am just not terribly fond of the way the bracket angles up. I like the look of the 73/74 bracket better. It’s just more triangular rather than a “finger” sticking out.
 
Does anyone know if earlier headlight mount ears from a 34mm fork fit on a 35mm later fork? I am just not terribly fond of the way the bracket angles up. I like the look of the 73/74 bracket better. It’s just more triangular rather than a “finger” sticking out.
Let's see if @DogBunny will chime in here. I painted some early XS-1 ears for him that he's putting on 35mm forks. So, according to him, it's doable. Maybe he'll give some details?
 
Length? 70-73 necks are about 1/2" shorter. but 74 up are all the same length.
 
Interesting. I see he also has a pair of tx ears on EBay too. Hmmm
 
There are a number of small components that hold the ears from above and below, that would be necessary for mounting the early headlight ears.
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Hmmm. Might have to think outside the box here. Thanks for your info on this. I’d be interested to hear from anyone that has attempted this before.
 
Let's see if @DogBunny will chime in here. I painted some early XS-1 ears for him that he's putting on 35mm forks. So, according to him, it's doable. Maybe he'll give some details?
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Yes, it is very doable by employing a mash-up of 34 and 35mm parts. This is the mock-up I did a long time ago, and that has been sitting since, so excuse the dust. I don't exactly remember how I did it, but this should get you close.

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Before I get into the details, let me say that you should not be bothered by the fact that my fork tubes do not poke all the way up through the top triple in these pics. That's just for expediency in the current state. I had been doing a lot of dis- and re-assembling, with more to come. The tubes WILL poke all the way up when the time comes.

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To the best of my recollection, without disassembling my mock-up, here's what I came up with, starting at the red arrow, and working my way down.
The red arrow is the thick washer 1T3-23146-50-00 from a 35mm fork that normally sits directly atop a 35mm lower triple.
Next. I think, is the lower 34mm packing 256-23163-60-00. I have moved it from below the fork ear to above the fork ear, and I have flipped it, so that it slips into the thick red arrow washer, I think.
Next is the lower guide, 256-23116-61-00, which is normally below the fork ear, but I have moved it to above the fork ear.
Next is the fork ear.
Next is the upper guide, 168-23115-00-00, which is normally above the fork ear, but I have moved it to below the fork ear.
Finally, I think, is one of the thick gaskets from a 35mm fork.

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For clarity, I think this is the thick 35mm gasket I used (but I did NOT use the associated chrome guide). Maybe I trimmed it????. Don't think so, but who knows, it was a long time ago. Also, to the right, that's the thick red arrow 35mm washer.

If you're wondering why I reversed the positions of the top and lower guides, and why I flipped the 34mm packing, and why I used some 35mm fork parts, the answer is because this is the only way I could get it to work. Getting smaller diameter 34mm rubber parts to slide on a larger diameter 35mm fork took some doing, especially when also trying to get them to fit into the guides. It required lubing with Sil-Glyde and patience.
 
xs500 ears sit more like early ears.

not sure on the height part of the equation.

you can pick em up cheap though
 
I should add that that's a 1970-1973 frame in my pics, with later 35mm triples which had the stem swapped out so that they fit the fork ears. I THINK, I THINK. You'd think I'd remember something like that, but If memory serves, I bought the altered 35mm triples with stem already removed and 70-73 stem welded in from a Forum member, so I didn't actually do the work on the triples.
 
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One last clarification. I think I got this wrong. I probably did not use a thick gasket from a 35mm fork. It seems to make more sense to me that I used a thick gasket from a 1974-1976 34mm fork.
 
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