One late June night we heard a loud noise sometime around midnight. Both of us partially woke in response but went back to sleep. The next morning I went to our General Store and picked up the Sunday paper. On the way back down my driveway my eye caught the front stone guard – which was hanging down on the street side. I usually leave our TM set up with the stone guards open and windows ajar for air circulation. A close inspection revealed severe damage to the guard. The attached thumbnails speak for themselves. My first reaction was vandalism. That quickly changed when I noticed parallel scratch marks on the lower, street side of the guard. We have had issues with black bears in the past. Given the amount and direction of the damage, the parallel markings left no doubt in my mind that a black bear had done the deed.
I have a replacement stone guard on order and it has arrived at our dealer on Cape Cod. We are heading to a campground on the Cape next weekend and I will pick up the new guard then. Unfortunately the replacement guard does not come with the factory decal(s). They can also be ordered but are quite pricey. Perhaps we can paint something similar on the replacement.
Today I removed the damaged guard and completed a temporary repair. In the process I noted several cracks in the fiberglass that were hidden from view (behind the attaching plate(s)). Two years ago I drilled small relief holes in an attempt to stop a crack in both upper corners of the fiberglass guard. With the stone guard attaching plates removed it was easy to see why those cracks developed. They were a continuation of a crack in the leading edge of the guard, just beyond the rivet point. I also noted two more cracks developing at other rivet points.
I’ve posted photos of the damage and the temporary repair . . . using clear duct tape (the strongest force in the universe!).
https://picasaweb.google.com/commodo...oneGuardRepair
Dick
Front Stone Guard Damage and Repair
Linear Mode
