Another Passenger Backrest Vibration Solution

[deacon1984]

I can't take credit for this. My brother-in-law came up with the idea.

The connection of the pipes to the same bracket that the passenger backrest is bolted to seems to cause a lot of the problem. To minimize this vibration, I used a longer bolt to hold the pipes to the bracket, and then inserted a spring onto the longer bolt. (The bolt was a 5/16-18 x 2inch). This allows the pipes to vibrate more freely than the thin OEM rubber gasket. There is about 1/4 inch for the pipes to move. Picture is attached.

My wife claims it made a big improvement in the vibration problem. I had also installed rubber washers on every connection between the pipes and the backrest.

[ringadingh]

Thats a good idea, just check them so they don't back off on their own.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Glad you came up with a solution.

[deacon1984]

Originally Posted by Ringadingh

Thats a good idea, just check them so they don't back off on their own.

I used another nut at the bottom as a lock nut, but it is really hard to tighten that with the limited space in there. I will likely add some locktite to the bolt and keep my eye on it. I have the original bolts in my bag, just in case. ;)

[blowndodge]

Lots of people don't realize that a LOT of vibration on our Nomads originate from the solidly mounted exhaust. My saddlebags vibrate like a biotch at just a certain low rpm... You got me thinking about playing around with the exhaust. Cars use a rubber hanger type of mount which has me thinking....

[deacon1984]

If you are able to come up with a better idea, I would be interested to know.

I had considered hanging the pipes from a spring, instead of inserting the spring on the bolt as I show in the picture above. I couldn't come up with an effective way to do that with the hardware that is on the bike.