Harley Backrest Grommet Lube

Let's take a look at what I consider to be the most neglected area of any detachable component. Those are the rubber grommets that lie beneath the detachable component. The rubber grommet that the component engages into. Whether it's a backrest like this on an XL or a tour pack on a dresser, it seems like these grommets always get forgotten when it comes to regular maintenance. Of course, you remove the component, set it aside. Now you see the rubber grommets are clearly exposed. Let's take a little mild cleaner. A little glass cleaner, soap and water. Make sure you clean them up real good. Now, these grommets serve two purposes. One, they locate the detachable component, but more importantly, the rubber grommet itself keeps the detachable component from vibrating, creating noise while you're riding. In order to keep the rubber component supple and make it easy to engage and disengage the detachable component, Loctite's ViperLube seems to be the perfect fix for this situation. All you need is a little bit on a new acid brush. Just wipe a little bit into the opening of the grommet. And you don't wanna put enough where it's gonna be flying around when you're riding. If you do happen to put too much on there, wipe the excess off. And then re-install the detachable component. What that little bit of wipe of the white synthetic grease, what that does, it allows everything to slide together easy. But more importantly, it protects the mounts. The actual rubber or hard plastic portion of the grommets. Make sure whenever you remove a detachable component, it literally locks back into position. And, again, if there's any lingering grease, any residual, wipe it up before you go for a ride. The point of this is just to enough of the grease on the rubber or hard ABS plastic grommet to the point where it engages into the detachable component to make it easy to install, but also keep everything pliable. So the rubber or the hard plastic doesn't dry out and need to be replaced. Again, it's a highly neglected area. It's a very simple service. The back of the dresser. We don't have any of the detachable components on it, but it's easy enough with them removed during a regular wash of the motorcycle. Once you're done washing, waxing, cleaning, whatever you're doing. A thin wipe of Loctite ViperLube on all the rubber or hard plastic grommets or inserts, as they're commonly known, keeps installation, removal and installation of the detachable component easy. And it also keeps the component from becoming brittle, rotting, dry rotting, cracking, and falling off. It avoids having to replace them. Again, service life really depends on service. If you keep things maintained, they should last a good, long time.