BMW windshield rubber well-nuts

[towerworker]

For those of you who have the sport or touring shield--you probably know the rubber well-nuts don't last forever and can be a source of aggravation. I have had little success in finding the proper replacements from my own dealer!
Another board member told me he thought I could buy them from Home Depot. He was right and I bought 4 and they are an exact replacement for the oem's.
The packaging calls them a Fine Thread Expansion Nut, #10-32 by 1-1/16" long. What appears to be a part number is as follows .... BF-N/45-N/511. I paid a little over $1 each.

Removed what was left of my existing well-nuts (they had come apart) and installed the new ones. Exact fit and the existing screws fit the new expansion nuts perfectly.

Wayne

[R4R&R]

Wayne,
I've bought replacements from Morton's BMW in the past; they usually had them in stock. I like the sound of $1 wellnuts though.

[WildBlue]

can we get a how to on replacement of these?

when I took my touring screen off to clean the dash I noticed one of the well nuts was badly deformed. I have no idea how they go together/ come apart.

[rdsmith3]

I bought some at a local True Value hardware store. They sell them individually.

Getting the old ones out can be a real pain.

[WildBlue]

How does one, get the old ones out?

Just pull till you fall on your ass, or what?

[Monarksy]

Take the screw out-take the windshield off-insert the screw and use it to pull the welnut out, rubber and all of course. You can use a tap and ream the hole on the mounts and the welnut will grip better! Seems to be a pig-and-a-poke how tight to tighten them! This is of course not expert advise (use at your own risk).

[Beemeridian]

11

[rdsmith3]

I believe I used a sharp utility knife to cut around the edges of the rubber, then used needle nosed pliers to grab the metal nut and pull it out. There are probably hundreds of ways to get them out.

[Airman]

Here's the bar code numbers from the package.

306699 83988

Those other numbers on the package don't cross in the computer at Home Depot. The guy ended up finding them the old fashioned way, digging through all the drawers. They were less then $1 for me, the total was $4.19 . I still had one pull loose on the way to work. Probably would be good to make sure all the mold release, etc, was off them and the well in the bracket is roughed up inside. Next time I'm buying stuff down there I think I'll buy a couple of spares to throw in the spares kit. A couple of these, my old fuel disconnects with spare o-rings and clamps in case I stop to help some brother with fuel running down his leg.. Could save a guy's life, eh ?

[awagnon]

The packaging calls them a Fine Thread Expansion Nut, #10-32 by 1-1/16" long. What appears to be a part number is as follows .... BF-N/45-N/511. I paid a little over $1 each.

I thought the OEM nuts were metric sized and threads.

[towerworker]

I thought I would have the same issue concerning the metric vs standard thread. But the oem screw (metric I assume) fit perfectly.

My old well-nuts were seemingly a permanent part of the bracket---no amount of pulling (with the screw inserted) would pull them out. I sprayed a very small amount of WD 40 in the hole and then took a small punch and pushed against the nut portion of the remaining well nut in the hole. (the outer portion of the wellnut had torn off while trying to pull it out) I was able to push against the embedded nut in the remaining part of the well-nut and dislodge the remaining part of the rubber inside the windshield bracket. After getting it to break loose I then ran the screw back into it and it pulled out relatively easily. Be sure to use an appropriate solvent to clean all the WD40 out of the bracket. Otherwise the new well-nuts may not hold and allow the shield to come off.

Wayne

[cricman]

I don't know about ya'lls bikes, but on mine (2004 Silver), the OEM screen hardware was SAE 10-32. I lost one of the screws and the black spacer-thingy several months after i bought the bike, so I decided to replace the screw and thingy with another short screw and stainless washer until I fabbed another black thingy. I used one of the other screws to compare and bought what I thought was a metric equivalent; I was wrong. They were all definately 10-32 thread! now I keep a complete replacement kit (4 stainless screws, 4 stainless washers, 4 rubber washers, and 4 well nuts) in a small plastic container.

cricman

[goomicoo]

I just went to Home Depot. No Joy on the hardware. I was amazed I found someone to help me look!
Guess I'll go to the dealer. Aarghh.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Try Lowe's. They carry them also, and they are called well-nuts.

They are in the section with all the drawers for different sizes of washers and nuts and bolts. Bought them at both HD and Lowe's many times, but finally hated the design and the repeated looseness of the touring screen so much that I replaced it with the bolted in tall 380 screen and never looked back.

John

[rockstercliff]

Got a bunch last year at Home Depot, the old fashioned way, digging in the drawers of misc. rubber parts. They were like .59 each.

[stilldking]

This is where I get my replacements.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#well-nuts/

[goomicoo]

Too late I went to the dealer and bought 2 of them @ $8 ea.
Thanks for the McMaster link. I just got my last order form them today.
Timining is everything!

Which part number did you get?

[stilldking]

Sorry 'bout that. I think I got P/N: 93495A250.
The original ones were less than 3/4" long, so these were the closest.

[duegi]

I went a little different route than the rest of you fellow. Drilled through the mounts, bought longer bolts (stainless steel), and stop nutz (nylon lock insert on one interior side. Two washers under the wind screen, one a fender washer of steel and the other rubber et al. and done. Loose a part on the road and easy to replace from any hardware store.

[Sunbeemer]

I thought about doing the same thing a while ago, but realized that it would defeat the safety engineered into the shield mounting system. If the shield is too firmly attached and you hit an immovable object that jettisons you headlong over the handlebars, the shield might not give away from the mounting brackets and break off to become a scythe to your torso, thus turning an otherwise painful event into a lethal one. Just something to consider.