SuzukiSavage.com - Print Page

SuzukiSavage.com
/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl
General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Annoying rattle from headlight.
/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1652304056

Message started by Evanswv on 05/11/22 at 14:20:56

Title: Annoying rattle from headlight.
Post by Evanswv on 05/11/22 at 14:20:56

I took my Savage out today, and almost immediately started hearing na rattle from something up front. I was intending to pull my windshield off for summer anyway, so I removed it , hoping to remove the rattle with it, but it still rattled, and I traced it to the headlight. I removed it from the housing, and tighten everything up good,but it still has a little rattle . Have any of you had this issue? If so how did you fix it? Thanks

Title: Re: Annoying rattle from headlight.
Post by Gary_in_NJ on 05/11/22 at 16:11:02

Make sure it isn’t the steering head nut. The one below the triple clamp. It’s shouldn’t be tight, but it also shouldn’t be lose enough that it turns with finger pressure. There is a procedure/tightening sequence, but it can’t be followed with the upper triple clamp in place. If it’s loose, finger tighten it and use a screwdriver and the palm of you hand as a hammer and turn it an additional 1/2 to full turn.

Title: Re: Annoying rattle from headlight.
Post by Proudfoot on 05/11/22 at 17:53:34

I'm going to have to check mine too! I just noticed the same rattle on my bike last night. I thought it was the metal sheathing around the front brake cable rattling against something...then I (also) thought it might be the headlight housing...better check that steering head nut.

Title: Re: Annoying rattle from headlight.
Post by Evanswv on 05/11/22 at 19:12:31

Thanks guys. It was the metal bezel that holds the light assembly into the plastic housing. I tightened the two screws at about the 5:00, and 7:00 position with an offset screwdriver good and tight, and it still rattled. It just had a miniscule amount of movement on the upper portion of the bezel , which just has a fixed tab that hooks onto a lip in the plastic housing. I was afraid to try bending the tab, so I neatly applied some electrical tape on the upper half of the bezel, and when I put it back on all the rattle was gone. I went down the road to get gas, and it completely took care of the issue. .

Title: Re: Annoying rattle from headlight.
Post by Dave on 05/12/22 at 03:14:53

Headlight rattles can be annoying and misleading - especially with a full coverage helmet as it funnels the sound to your ears and masks the direction the noise is coming from.

I was riding and when I would stop I could hear a horrible racket and I started to believe my cam/rockers were coming apart.

I reached up and started to put my hands on things to see if I could determine where the noise was coming from.....when I put my hands on the headlight bezel the noise went away.

I cured the problem similar to what you did....a tiny sliver of mounting tape and I left the plastic on one side as I didn't want it to function for mounting - just as a cushion. It has worked for the last 10,000 miles.

The speedometer can also rattle, and there is a fix posted in the Technical Section.

Title: Re: Annoying rattle from headlight.
Post by ohiomoto on 05/16/22 at 16:52:26

The OEM mirrors can make a good bit of racket too.