Honda ST1300 Section > Seats & Windscreen Modifications ST1300

Windshield mechanism gear relacement

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alans1100:
After Pete's problem with his windscreen adjustment playing I noticed this come up on My-Mc-Phoenix.com.

http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?130126-Windshield-mechanism-gear-relacement

ST1300ers,

After spending considerable time and resources in the past 6 months engineering and negotiating ways to produce a replacement gear.
I now have several gears that are machined and heat treated from appropriate bar stock.
Pauls, (STOC #3499) PDF doc in the former post clearly details the critical failure.

A little history ; My 2003 ABS experienced a stripped helical drive gear October of 2012. I had really liked the ability to adjust the windshield to changing conditions and without it the bike just seemed kinda "broke". Defeated after exhaustive searches for replacement parts, workarounds, OEM suppliers, reading all related posts, etc. I finally succombed to buying a window adjuster assembly from Honda (380$ shipped). Honda - ADJUSTER ASSY., WINDSCREEN Item: 64170-MCS-G01. My bike was fixed, however this transaction really gnawed on me... being forced to replacing an entire (expensive) assembly for one - under engineered and failure prone component.
Anyways, as I am a materials engineer with a background in machining and metals and it was winter; cold, wet, dark, I pursued a fix for my old assembly. I first found that the OEM gear is made by P/M (Powder Metal) process; where molds are filled with Fe & C powder and sintered (pressed under heat). The process causes diffusion & basically solidifies the powder. The P/M method provides OEM manufacturers with a way to make hundreds or thousands of fairly intricate metal parts at a low cost/pc. The resulting P/M helical drive gears are fairly hard (Rockwell C = 34) and dimensionally accurate... but quite brittle. (see images of failed gear)
Soooooo , we have a brittle drive gear coupled to an over-complicated multi contact surface mechanism in which the helical portion of the gear must mesh with and move two coordinated spiral cables in curved housings attached to "dogs" sliding on rails attached to a motorcycle windshield. Each cable is constructed of alternating rows of metal and polymer "ribs" on the OD. There is tremendous resistance (perhaps intentionally?) designed into the mechanism from the beginning. The system typically fails at the helical "drive" gear portion depending on multiple bike specific historical factors; speed at which adjustments are made, windshield size, lube, rail and cable condition, alignment, temperature, number of up/down cycles, etc.
Anyways....
The replacement gear is complicated to produce; requiring a knowledge of metallurgy, a journeyman machinist willing to do small batches, special tooling and heat treatment facilities but should be more robust @Rockwell C = 58 with the added "toughness" element based on material selection that should eliminate the brittleness problem.
It is a drop-in replacement. Disassemble, clean thoroughly (yes WD40), lube (no WD40), and reassemble. If there is significant cable (polymer) damage a "fresh" surface can be obtained by rotating the cable 180 deg during the assembly process. The cables do not rotate during use.

ST1300 window adjuster gear made by a small shop in the USA. Should be good to go.
I currently have 4 gears availiable...each one way cheaper than 380$ ... contact me off list if interested.
carlermotorcycleparts@gmail.com
Please put GEAR in subject line.
If the response is positive and reports are good , i can begin on a larger batch.

Gavo:
E mailed and waiting for a reply

tj189:
great find Alan, I will keep an eye out for Gavo's response  :clap

StinkyPete:
Good find Alan, and it may save some ST owners a considerable bag of gold in the event of a failure.

Neale:
Have sent email as well. Will be interesting what it costs and what shipping will be.   :think1

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