Both top corners of my plate are missing.  I had just the plate on there, then one corner went. Wrapped the sides of the plate in duct tape until that wore through from weather/wear. Got a plate frame, then that broke, more duct tape temporarily. Ended up taking two 1/8th inch plates of aluminum, cut one out into a frame, and sandwiched the license plate between the aluminum. No problems since.

I've seen vibration dampeners (little reflector looking things you stick on the bottom of the plate) on some license plates, haven't had the chance to try them on the savage yet since the plate cracked so fast.

does anybody know if this is a common motorcycle problem , thumper problem, or just savages?

I'm on my third plate and I'll have had the S40 for 4 years in August.  Luckily, the state of Ohio doesn't charge extra if you replace the plate at the same time you get a renewal sticker.

Boofer wrote on 07/07/11 at 11:29:34:


Don't make me whip out my cane on you  

I didn't say metal wouldn't crack...  never mind, I'll just shut up now...  

About 2 days after the first license plate was bolted on the back of a motorcycle it cracked from vibration.  

I've had some real shakers in my past so long ago I got in the habit of making a backing plate for mine. It helps to put bolts in the holes that are just through the backing plate too.

I also make my own license frames from diamond plate. In Texas the frame is not supposed to cover the state name so I trim them to fit. No point in giving the PD an excuse to pull you over.

So I did something smart, thinking it was for good looks, but turned out to be beneficial to protecting my plate too.  

Boofer wrote on 07/08/11 at 09:46:55:

Wake51 wrote on 07/06/11 at 14:01:11:


Simple, cheap, proven, unobservable solution:

   1. Put rubber washers the size of normal washers on each side of the license plate.  The order would be bolt head, metal washer, rubber washer, plate, rubber washer, plate bracket, metal washer, nut.  Most license plate brackets have slots instead of holes and some states have slots in the license plate,.. you might want to use fender washers instead of normal metal washers here.
   2. Before you put the nut on the bolt to fasten everything together, put a little silicon seal (RTV) on the threads of both the bolt and the nut.
   3. Install the license plate but don't tighten the bolts down very much,.. make them just tight enough to take out any clearance between all the nuts/washers/brackets, etc.  You want the rubber washers compressed very little.
   4. Let the assembly sit still overnight to give the RTV a chance to cure,.. it takes a little while for the stuff down in the threads to get hard.

Using RTV for this is kind of cute because it glues the nut to the bolt well enough that it won't come loose, yet is easily removable with normal tools.  

If you can't get along with the RTV idea, then use two nuts tightened against each other such that they lock themselves to the bolt.  Just be sure to not compress the rubber washers very much at all.