Removing this ugly windjammer

[ddaniels]

The headlight ears don't clip to the handlebars. They attach to the forks. You should not need rubber.

[physics-teacher]

The black ears for an "81 do have rubber biscuits in them that are probably there to insulate the bulb from the buzzing this machine does put out. You can find the right ears on ebay from time to time, though they will probably need repainting and some derusting. I haven't checked but I imagine Suzuki still sells the rubber rings that go on the top and bottom of each ear mount.

[jpaul]

I had a Windjammer on my 78 GS750, and I didn't need to remove the ears or the headlight bucket to install it. On my 77 Goldwing, I had to remove the bucket, but kept the headlight ears and just turned them in for clearance. Check to see if you already have the ears still on the forks, since it's actually more work to remove them when you install the fairing, and they do give you someplace to hang the wiring from.

[Skateguy50]

You can make anything fit you want to, but easiest would be to find some spare old ones from someone here on the forums. Think you had an offer earlier in this thread, if not try the parts for sale forum, then if not try the wanted parts forum.

[ChicagoBob]

Windjammers mounted over the original headlight bucket

Windjammers were mounted without removing the original bucket. Vetter supplied a wiring harness pigtail that you ran through the hole in the rear of the headlight bucket, and he also supplied a round, elastic-bound dust cover that went over the empty bucket. If yours is like this, you should be able to mount a stock headlight and turn signals to the original ears and bucket without much trouble.

[DanTheMan]

Windjammers were mounted without removing the original bucket. Vetter supplied a wiring harness pigtail that you ran through the hole in the rear of the headlight bucket, and he also supplied a round, elastic-bound dust cover that went over the empty bucket. If yours is like this, you should be able to mount a stock headlight and turn signals to the original ears and bucket without much trouble.

Not all of them kept the original bucket in place. My buddie's Gold Wing did, but not my bike, there isn't enough room between the fairing and the triple to keep the bucket there. On mine at least, the frame mounting bracket puts the fairing closer, and on other GS models I've seen the same setup. Instead, there's a "bag of wires".

[DanTheMan]

No, they did not go to chrome. The chrome ears were to match the chrome headlight bucket on the L models. All the G models were black.

Twadlington, skip the chrome units on eBay, go for the black ones that physics-teacher has.

.

The 80-81 parts G I bought came with chrome ears and headlight bucket. It all appeared original to me. The only body part on the G that wasn't original was a side cover that was black instead of root beer brown.

[kirkn]

I've owned two bikes that came with Windjammers and I put one on a bike I already owned - none of them retained the headlight bucket. Just the "bag of wires"...

[Planecrazy]

"Bag O Wires" on my 1100G as well ... no room for the bucket to be retained...

[850 Combat]

Of the three Windjammers I have had, one had the headlight ears and bucket still on the bike. That was one of the molded plastic Windjammers, I think a really late model one compared to the others. I gave that one to Phaseman with a really nice rack too. I removed either a Pacifico or a Calafia from an 850G which also still had the headlight shell and ears installed. Lots easier and cheaper.

[Buster-boy]

I bought a set of aftermarket ears and turn signals for my 850. I used the Vetter headlight from the fairing so I wouldn't have to mess with the wiring harness - it just clipped right on. I had to unplug the turn signal wires from the the Vetter pigtail and plug the aftermarket signals into that. Then I just tucked them into the wire bag. It all worked just fine.

Here's a few key notes -

The male plugs on the aftermarket signals are slightly smaller in diameter than the OEM females so you'll need some electrical tape to hold them.

If you have any kind of paint job on that front fender, save yourself some grief and cover the fender BEFORE you install the ears. Trust me, you'll drop one and scratch the fender.

But the other guys and gals here are correct. You'll miss that fairing!!

Jim