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Need help removing bar ends

21631 Views 17 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  Desorder
So I bought bar end mirrors similar to tremonts but I can't get the bar ends off at all. I have watched his YouTube tutorial and even though I also tried the heat gun and impact driver method, all I've accomplished is making my handlebars smoke. There are no other videos I could find. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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I will be working on this today. From what I have seen as far as information coming Loctite. The locktite needs to be heated up to 500°F to soften. I have a Tempature gun and will be heating the L wrench with a torch until the bolt reaches that temperature. I am guessing that bar end is some kind of hard plastic, so it can melt if heat is applied directly to that area with a heat gun. I will report with any problems.
This sounds real scary to me, when things start smoking, I'll start panicking to be honest. But having that heat measuring gun should be helpful because you'll be able to get as precise as possible.
Yea honestly its my own fault it started smoking. I was getting so frustrated thinking I needed more heat to melt the red lock thing so I had it on there for like 5 mins. No surprise it still didn't help. I'm starting to think it's my impact driver I just bought. It doesn't rotate at all when i have it on that bolt thing in the handle (sorry, not good with tool/hardware names). It seems to just do the impacts and that's it.
Ok, attempted to remove the bar ends. I placed a L wrench on the bolt and put a torch under it. Left on for like 20 mins. The L wrench got bright red but the wrench wouldn't heat up over 430°, you would think it would heat up more than a heat gun (which I also own and started with) anyways no matter how hard I tried holding on to the bar end it would still rotate. I also used a brand new craftsman impact driver, I wonder how strong Tremont is? I can't get enough grip on that bar end to keep it from rotating, it just slips. I think there is something missing from the explanations/instructions, I never saw super human strength being a necessity. I tried wrapping the bar end in a towel and holding on to it with a wrench. Now i got a silver streak (scratch) around the bar end. Frustrated and eager to get those bar ends off.
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Wow, now that I read about your unsuccessful blow torch attempt, I know there's no way I can do it with just my heat gun :(. Maybe we gotta ask tremonte himself to do a video on it or something. He did like a minute of the heat gun and pulled the bar end off with his bare hands in a few seconds. His impact driver didn't look like anything special either. Im gonna keep trying to figure this out since I spent $85 on each mirror already. If I have any success ill post here. Please, if anyone knows an easier way, tell us!
I went out and tested out the impact driver again (now that no one is asleep) I could not for the life of me get the stupid thing to turn. The letters on the hex adapter stayed in the same position. I put some towels down on the floor put the tool facing the ground with no bit. I smacked the poop out of it with a hammer and still wouldn't turn. Then I tried a small sledge hammer. Smack smack and nothing. Now I am suspecting the tool is not working properly. Will be going to sears and returning it and buying the electric one.
If you don't plan on using the oem bar ends again you can just pull out the entire bar end and internal weight it is attached to. then you'll be able to get it off the weight without much of a struggle. After that, just pound the weight back in as far as you need to attach new expandable bar ends. This is what I did with one end so far and it works just fine.
So turns out my impact driver was the problem. I guess the battery didn't have enough juice in it. I charged it all the way, put it on the highest setting, did the heat gun thing again for about 2 mins and it came off no problem. Can't believe I went through so much trouble just for mirrors. They look great though!
I'm not super human, I promise. lol. All I did was heat the allen wrench for about 60 seconds, and pulled back on the bar end as I impacted it. Came right off as you see in the tutorial. Both sides came out fairly easily.
I finally finished. The one thing I was doing wrong was not pulling on the bar end weight while using the impact wrench. Tremont I thought you were just holding on the weight for it not to spin. Anyways all done now and was easy as stated by others. I also bought the same LTC Amazon set, i took the time to take them apart and used JB weld behind the mirrors and BLUE loctite on all the screws on the mirrors. Hopefully they hold up.
Do you think this can be tackled without using an impact wrench?
Do you think this can be tackled without using an impact wrench?
So I ended up trying this by hand...

I was able to crack it loose but the bar end rotates with the bolt as I turn anti-clockwise and doesnt seem to be coming out.

Guess the next thing would be to have someone hold the bar end with a plier as I attempt to turn it again...



So....$400 and 3 hours later...finally got these sumbitch's off..

At first, I kept trying to apply heat for 2 minutes just like Tremonte did in his video...to no avail...the impact driver couldn't get the bolt to budge.
Then my brain meats got activated and I realized that the ambient temperature was -8C...so after spending an hour heating each handle bar (to raise it to room temp of 25C and then heat it up to a temperature that I couldnt touch without using my work gloves)

What a hassle...sheesh!



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Yes those bar ends are a pain to remove. I just used an Allen key and twisted while turning. With a bit of pulling and turning they came out. Once out, I used a candle and held the bar end over it to free up the red loctite.
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So I bought bar end mirrors similar to tremonts but I can't get the bar ends off at all. I have watched his YouTube tutorial and even though I also tried the heat gun and impact driver method, all I've accomplished is making my handlebars smoke. There are no other videos I could find. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Used Tremonte’s method today and had zero problems. Went with Rhinomoto bar ends and they went on no problem. Counting my blessings.
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I finally finished. The one thing I was doing wrong was not pulling on the bar end weight while using the impact wrench. Tremont I thought you were just holding on the weight for it not to spin. Anyways all done now and was easy as stated by others. I also bought the same LTC Amazon set, i took the time to take them apart and used JB weld behind the mirrors and BLUE loctite on all the screws on the mirrors. Hopefully they hold up.
Can I use a impact driver as a wrench or do I need a impact wrench in particular?
While we're at it...

I'm also trying to install some side mirrors. I managed to remove the end weights from the bar but looks like the bar itself is not hollow.

I got a pair of those but the end of the bar has a fixed part with where the screw comes in. Have any of you guys managed to remove that part?
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