three hole license plate bracket

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fourthgear
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three hole license plate bracket

#1

Post by fourthgear »

I'm running the extra light rack with four bullet lights and have had problems with the license plate bracket cracking . I've had the support bracket welded twice ( we even beefed it up the last time )and it broke again , so I got a later mod. three hole bracket assembly . I had to drill another hole in my fender, of course ,but that new bracket is working , I don't notice it vibrating any more at idle and since I used a 1/16 " thick, Teflon gasket material under it , it is a lot more secure than the two hole . Any one else using the three hole ? Just curious.
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#2

Post by john HD »

yeah i am using one because i didn't know a two hole bracket existed when i put my rear fender together.

in retrospect, i am glad i have the 3 hole version to prevent the cracking you describe.

i guess the boys at harley made upgrades for good reason.

john
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#3

Post by PanPal »

Do you also have the support bracket that mounts to the license plate bracket? I think I mounted the 2 hole on mine. It seems to me my brother just gave me his original off his 03 Fatboy and it looks alot like the ones we are running. They do have part numbers stamped on them.
fourthgear
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#4

Post by fourthgear »

The one I put on is a repop from Jierh cycles, cheap yes and if I find a OEM one , I will pick it up ( I think I had an oem three hole on a 69 Shovel ) . The third hole is actually in the support bracket, the two hole one has the two holes in both the plate bracket and the support , the three hole has the two in the license plate bracket and the three in the support bracket . I also noticed that the support bracket installs first or under the license plate bracket , my two hole did not set up that way , but maybe it should have .After welding it up , I mounted it on top of the license plate bracket , not sure if that had any thing to do with it cracking . The whole set up stands a little taller then the two hole , the license plate bracket mounting holes, bolt higher up on the license plate bracket.

If I just had a license plate on it , it would probably be fine with a two hole , but that light rack is a bit much, I think. Yep, maybe them HD people did figure out, a thing or two.
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#5

Post by PanPal »

After I wrote this last night I checked and found I have the same things going on. I do have the 2 hole bracket with the 2 hole support mounted. the other brackets have 2 holes as well with a different shape where the bottom bolts in the tag go, but the support has three holes. Even the Fatboy bracket has 2 holes with the 3 hole support bracket and an ever heavier duty lower tag bolt hole section.
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#6

Post by fourthgear »

panpal
Does the Fatboy bracket/support have the holes in the same position for fender mounting ?
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#7

Post by PanPal »

I'll check and post tomorrow night. I'll try to get a picture too.
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#8

Post by fourthgear »

The damn support bracket broke on the way to Daytona Friday, I think I got about 200 miles on it ,before it broke in half . I will take a photo of it .
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#9

Post by fourthgear »

Now that I can add a photo ( thanks Panhead ) Here's where the bracket broke , it looks like it had stress on it , but it really didn't . I have it held back by a small bungee cord , which works pretty good. I talked to a buddy of mine up north who has my old 69 with the same set up and he said the we had to put a small bungee from the luggage rack to the light rack to keep it from doing the same thing ( its still on there ).Any ideas , cures ?
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#10

Post by john HD »

try a stock black one that has not become brittle from the chroming process??

looks like you have some extra stuff hanging off of it.

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#11

Post by Panacea »

I had a Heritage softail years ago that would break the rear turn signal bar about twice a year. I finally bought a shorter version that seemed to solve the problem. Maybe some rubber washers might help isolate the vibration. Are the motor mounts tight? Mike
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#12

Post by fourthgear »

I just checked the motor mounts and they are fine , the fender is tight including the two that hold the hinged part of the fender on the fender struts ( 58 frame ), I have a 1/16 "Teflon pad that the assembly sits on and its tight . I had it bolted right to the fender with the two hole mount that was beefed up to keep this from happening and it still broke , of course some where that was not beefed up . Is any one running a the extra light rack like am and not having this problem ? If I can find a OEM black one , I will try it . I may look into building a stronger support bracket ,because that's what is breaking. Maybe all the repop stuff is junk as far as this is concerned , only meant to hold a license plate.

I'm going to check the hing , to see if it has play.
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#13

Post by PanPal »

That bullet light bracket just looks too heavy to be installed on the license plate bracket, but many of us have this bracket. (mine is in my spare parts box). When I restored my bike, this bracket was installed and I had to repair cracks in the license plate bracket, not the support bracket. That's a good point about the Chroming weakening the metal. Also the monkey metal some of these after market parts are made of doesn't help. OEM probably would last longer, or at least until it breaks. This bullet light bracket was aftermarket even back then.

I know that sand blasting stress relieves metal. Even though this isn't happening here. If you have a piece of metal that should flex and return to it's original form, after sand blasting it is more likely to flex and not return.
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#14

Post by fourthgear »

I'm going to loose the light rack , too much trouble now that I 'm going to sell her .
Last edited by fourthgear on Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
fourthgear
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#15

Post by fourthgear »

Here's the diff. between the three hole and two hole plate brackets .If you look they bolt to the fender different , the two hole bolts down at the plate bracket and the three hole bolts down on the support bracket . I guess you could bolt it down the same way ,but you would have to make up for the space under the third hole in the support bracket . The chroming is much better with the two hole and is three dollars more. ( 12.95 / 9.95) I installed the two hole today with out the four light set up .
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