How to install the stone guard on your Bonneville, Thruxton / 7″ headlight
FITTING THE 7″ HEADLIGHT STONE GUARD/GRILL ON TRIUMPH BIKES
There seems to be a lot of confusion on how to get the supplied clips with the 7″ Headlight grill for Bonneville & Thruxton and we ourselves took a lot of time to figure it out. They are a pain and they certainly need to be rethought about.
All that being said. Since its the most sold grill in the world and also the most value for money here is how we decided to fit it. We would love to get more ideas on how to’s etc. Hopefully we got it right.
Here is another successful installation you could try.
HEADLIGHT UNIT DESIGN
The headlight consists of three major parts connected together:-
- The headlight housing :- Has wires and connectors inside the casing and is connected with two 12mm bolts to the motorcycle. Part 2 and 3 below fit on this with two screws.
- The bulb casing : – Connected to the circular rim mentioned below. Comprises of the bulb and reflection panel. Just like any torch has. Fits inside Part 3
- The rim of the headlight casing which is screwed to the bulb casing :- Just a one inch border like a ring that is connected at three points. Two screws on the sides and one on the face of the rim.
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Philips Screw driver
- Soft cloth to keep the headlight on
- Patience
INSTALLATION:
- Remove the headlamp from the housing: Facing the headlight; remove the two screws on the sides using the philips screw driver.
- Keep the screws safely on the side and disconnect the headlight H4 wire and the other wire to remove the headlamp securely.
- Take the unit with you to a calm well lit area and sit on a table with the parts. Let the fun begin…
- We would recommend removing the two side screws even though getting them back with the washer is difficult. What removing these screws will do is give you space to but the clips inside without much of a problem. These two screws hold the rim from the sides while the third (aligns the ring casing. For the Third screw loosen but not remove as it’s there for the front face alignment and it would help you with keeping the ring in position to slide the clips inside.
- Since the third screw is still in its place you will have to do this carefully without moving the ring rim away from its original position; as you would not want to bend this screw while you put the clips in.
- Putting the clips in. ( Leave the stone guard to the side for now ) Please ignore the screw holes. The clips come from on top of the stone guard they do not fit inside, they just fit in the gap between the rim and the headlamp. The clips have a 90 degree bend at the end that makes sure that once the rims is tightened back they don’t come out . The three clips need to put them at roughly 120 degrees away from each other for them to hold on to the stone guard the best. While the first two are easy the third ones are difficult as you would need to put that in after putting the two screws back on. Once the two screws are back on put the stone gaurd in between the two clips you installed and headlamp glass. Try adjusting the stone guard with clips in such a way that they fall in between the SS wire mesh so that they sit in well. After this put in the third clip. What worked for us is sliding the third clip from a gap that can be found if you closely look behind the rim near the place where the side screws go in. There is space where the clips might go in easier than other places. Just put it through that. (photos soon)
- Basically once the third screws is in with the guard in place. The stone guard is still loose but it won’t come out for sure.
- Assemble the unit back on and bend the clips to fix it tighter in its place.
This is how the clips will settle in after you have fit them. They will be a bit loose but you have to eventually bend them in place.
Need to know!
- Even after installation there is a little play in the headlight grill but you can bend the clips to solve this eventually. The play will never go away completely. We recommend a tie cable as a back up as well incase they ever do decide to come out.
ALTERNATE Installation methods:
There are a couple of more ways to go about it.
- Using a tie cable and tying them up
- Using a steel wire and tying them up.