Sounds like anyones guess if they will be reliable or not seems either they work or dont for some people howerver I have to agree with op i have broke 3 sets of fairing mounts bike has never been down first two were within 10 k of owning it its gotten to the point where the only thing i would ever consider is an aftermarket fix I agree its total bs I will never buy another NEW harley again especially given the fact everytime I take it to the stealer for a fix they either "dont find any problems" or "fix" the problem and it leaves the drive with the same problem and ends up costing me out of pocket even though bike is still in warrenty I feel harleys quality while in some areas has gotten better has majorly slipped in others they are just riding the wave of having a name thats lasted over a hundred years at this point...

 

Besides the fact they are made out of cheap material - the other reason the vertical brackets break at the top is that if the top hole in the bracket does not line up with the hole on the inner fairing and the screw is tightened it puts stress on the bracket, therefore they will break eventually. That is why some have better luck than others. Do yourself a favour and get someone to make or buy an "L" bracket and make all your holes that when everything is tightened up there is no stress on the inner fairing or vertical bracket.

 

I actually heard my upper left bracket break on my 09 while I was riding. I wasn't riding on a rough road, it just snapped. Fairing started to vibrate at certain rpm. After I got home I removed the fairing only to confirm my suspicion. I had a short 90 degree bracket with a hole in each leg I had purchased at a hardware store for about a buck. It aligned perfectly with the mount on the fairing and was long enough to be able to drill a new hole in the broken bracket. I put a rubber washer in at the fairing bolt to absorb some of the vibration in hopes that it may relieve some stress on the bracket. So far so good. Yes it's disappointing that this has been a problem for so long.

 

The small horizontal brackets have been upgraded and may be durable enough to last. The vertical brackets can be fixed and there's a tutorial on that here. This fix has held for 2½ years for me.

 

i was surprised to see a broken bracket when i took fairing off my 2001 bike this winter. even more surprised when my dealer had one in stock. didnt know this was an issue.

 

I have an appointment April 6th to have my two broken brackets replaced under extended warranty.
05 Ultra w/ 42k

 

If any of you are a machinist or have access to one this is what i did to my bike very easy and for me it was a free fix. Help your self to the print. the material is 1/8th thick x 1-1/2 in. wide angle iron
i don't think they will ever break again.

 

Very nice post. For the verticals on mine, I used the "L" shape on one of the broken horizontals. A bit of grinding and a drilled hole, and no more broken brackets.

 

FWIW I was told that with all these new flip up windshields putting more pressure on the brackets HD is selling a lot of replacement brackets.

 

Just got the bike back, no broken brackets.

 

Wow...I had no idea why my fairing had a bit more rattle than it had, and I just replaced my speakers 2 weeks ago and never even noticed the top bracket broken on one side!
I used a siple piece of L bracket and drilled it to match the fairing hole, plus a self drilling sheet metal screw into the old backet. Fixed for me...
v-twin forum comes through again!