LTD front fender?

So one of the stays on the front fender of my '80 650F is bent.. and instead of trying to straighten them or find replacements, I was thinking of just replacing it with one of the fenders from a different model that is of the "floating" variety, meaning its attached near the fork, and does not require prominent stays like my bike. I like the cleaner look a lot better!

I've found one on the 'Bay from a 1980 550 LTD.. Does anyone have experience with doing a front fender swap and be able to tell me if it will fit? Or even perhaps which years/models fender would fit so I can narrow my search?

Looks like the fender I currently have is part # of 35001-1017, and the 550LTD fender i'm looking at is 35004-1047.

I found a lot of posts in the archives on front fenders, but none that address the fit specifically.

It seems that others have made this swap as well, and I may need to do some modifications to make it work, but any advice would be greatly appreciated!.

Thanks in advance!

I can't help on the fender swap info, but I took the stay off the front fender on two 750 twins so far, and it has not caused a problem. But I do like the look of the shorter LTD fender

I put an LTD front fender on, came from a 900/1000 originally. I liked the look as well. Then one day on a rainy group ride, my bike started dying. Eventually the engine conked out all together. With the shorter front fender, I was getting water spray up under my gas tank, and soaking my coils. When I pulled the tank, my coils were dripping with water. Luckily I had a small towel with me. I dried them off, and away I went.
I sprayed the coils with an electrical sealer, and have switched back to the stock fender, minus the stays(actually, the stay were removed about 15 years ago).

wow, thanks for the replies guys, thats good info!

I guess I was not aware that I could just remove the stays and be fine..

have either of you noticed any extra vibration up front since removing those stays?

No problems in 15 years, 30000 kms.

I'd remove the fender stay and then see if I could make the fender get into the tire. If I couldn't make the fender hit the tire I would be resonably assured but a big pothole could still deform that fender and if it hits in the rear of the tire I could see some bad things happening pretty darn fast. The shorter fender is certainly more rigid but a don't like to clean the front of my engine all that much or like rstnick says I like my coils dry. I put a sr fender on my 900LTD for just those reasons.

Excellent, I think this will be the route I take.. Especially since I can't say I like the prospect of water getting tossed up at the engine with a different fender..

Definitely will have to check out the rigidity of it all after doing so, just to be sure, definitely a smart plan

Thanks a ton you guys!!! Much appreciated!



Post edited by: paulie, at: 2006/05/17 15:15

why don't LTD's soak the coils? do they have a different rake?

The 900/1000/1100 LTDs engine is taller maybe, blocking more water flow.

Post edited by: rstnick, at: 2006/05/19 17:25

if looking for another fender keep one thing in mind.
there are two very differant designs - dependng on if the front axle is at the bottom of the forks - or if it is in front of the forks.