Question / Removing petrified 1958 harley davidson fL rear fender tip mount screws

[Spuddley]

My goal is to remove these petrified 1958 harley davidson FL rear fender tip mount screws, in order to remove the tip trim. I just want to de-rust the fender pior to re-assembly, part of installing my new wiring project. I have 4 decades of motorcycle mechanical experience, none on the old Harleys. this one happens to be mine, so I proceed carefully. I could just grind off the heads, but I want to be able to re-assemble later. Can anyone supply exploded assembly parts diagram (no luck so far and i got a couple of books) or some useful advise on how to proceed?

Thanks in advance.


Rear fender tip mount screw..jpg

[Chris Haynes]

Use Kroil. http://www.kanolabs.com/

[T. Cotten]

Spuddley!

Since Kroil would be pretty hard to get to the threads when assembled on the fender, I would cut to the chase and grind off the heads.
I routinely remove broken screws and plugs by sweating a dab of silversolder upon them with a jeweler's torch. They can then be easily backed out.

....Cotten
PS: I believe they are just common self-tapping screws.

[Rooster]

I've had surprisingly good results with a product I tried recently called "Freeze Off" by CRC. The aerosol penetrant leaves the nozzle at an incredibly cold temperature, delivering a 'thermal shock' to the stuck fastener. By itself it may not be the solution, but it's something else to try before surrendering to drastic measures.

[Spuddley]

Thanks to all of you for your responses. I should have mentioned that I have been regularly spraying these pesky lil' screws with several brands of thread looseners and penetrating oils for several years (that's right - years). The actual fender tip is stainless steel, my concern is that these mild steel screws are threaded into SST female threaded studs, and grinding them off would result in insufficient remaining material to remove the remaining portions of the screws. My local very talented "go-to guy" friend for this sort of problem lived up the road from me in Missouri, but I'm now living in the Nature Coast area of mid Florida (middle of nowhere). I doubt that these are self-tapping screws if they screw into stainless steel, there doesn't appear to be sufficient room for any type of intermediate bracket or anything like that. And I still haven't found a picture of how it's assembled. It's tempting to just insert a big flat screw driver a bit between the fender bottom and the tip a wee bit and take a look with a flashlight . . .

Eh, I'll try the "Freeze Off" by CRC that Rooster recommends, then a delicate "grind down" with the variable speed Dremel tool if the cold temp approach is unsuccessful.


Rear fender tip detail pic.jpg


Thanks again, ya'll!

[T. Cotten]

Spuddley!

Your '58 would have been issued with a potmetal trim, but nonetheless..

Please look closely at my previous photo attachment, and you will see that the screw was broken off flush.
Grinding the head would leave at least the thickness of the fender protruding, so much the better.

The the heat of the silver-soldering loosens the screw, and frankly, stainless is a lot more forgiving!
If your trim is the simple thin band, 59207-49 for front fenders, nuts have probably been slipped into the trim in place of the original spring clips, and screws used in reverse.
If so, after grinding off the heads and removing the trim, the nuts should be easily forced to the open ends of the trim, and removed.
A photo of the trim itself would make answers easier.

With all due respect to Rooster, silver-soldering is not "drastic".
Its a daily chore.

....Cotten

[upsrod]

A real 58 rear tip is chrome plated brass!

[Chris Haynes]

Spuddley!

Since Kroil would be pretty hard to get to the threads when assembled on the fender

....Cotten
PS: I believe they are just common self-tapping screws.

The beautiful thing about Kroil is that it "Creeps". Apply in the evening and the next morning the threads have Kroil on them. I just did this with a rusted on cast iron master cylinder cap on a cast iron cylinder. A 3 foot breaker bar wouldn't break it loose. The next morning I removed it with an 8" Crescent wrench.

[T. Cotten]

UPSRod!

My Parts book lists the different front trims, including the plastic ones for '57-'58, but nothing for the rear until '59!

So its the 'mystery trim'.

The brass "dove" trim were accessories?

....Cotten
PS: Chris!

I keep Kroil on three different benches, and in storefront inventory as well.
Its great, but it ain't miraculous. My Henrob Dillon MarkIV torch is...

[Rubone]

Standard rear trim on a '58 was the same used from '48 up in deluxe packages. The die cast trim first appeared in '59. No mystery about it.

[T. Cotten]

Standard rear trim on a '58 was the same used from '48 up in deluxe packages. The die cast trim first appeared in '59. No mystery about it.

But Robbie!

How could 40277-55A be the same back to '48?

Can't find a pic in my Palmer's... (Which, like for most years, shows no "standard" rear fender trim at all.)

But to better help Spuddley, we need to see what he has to deal with....

....Cotten

[Rubone]

Tom,
Your number is for a compensating sprocket. That has nothing to do with his fender tip issue....

Spuddley has gotten good advice as to removal of the screws.

[T. Cotten]

Oh. 59885-48 was in the previous text column in Palmer's.

But that part number is still not in the commonly reproduced Spare Parts Book, "standard" or not.
So please show us what this looks like, so we might know if it is what Spuddley is dealing with..

With all due respect to Kroil and CRC (#5-56 is one of my favorites..), not every problem can be solved with an elixir out of a bottle.

....Cotten

[Chris Haynes]

Oh. 59885-48 was in the previous text column in Palmer's.

But that part number is still not in the commonly reproduced Spare Parts Book, "standard" or not.
So please show us what this looks like, so we might know if it is what Spuddley is dealing with..

With all due respect to Kroil and CRC (#5-56 is one of my favorites..), not every problem can be solved with an elixir out of a bottle.

....Cotten

That depends on what the elixir is and where you pour it. :-)

[T. Cotten]

That depends on what the elixir is and where you pour it. :-)

It always seemed like a temporary solution to me, Chris!
(Things were often more 'complicated' the next morning.)

Time is money, and that's why I cut to the chase if Kroil doesn't do it quickly.

So nobody cares to post a pic of the 59885-48 trim for us all?

....Cotten