Emblem removal

[Exnavyabfc]

Did a search and got nothing. Want to remove emblem from tank on 2015 Free. Have heard it can be done with fishing line, but that there may be a couple small holes under it? Anyone done this and have info on holes or not? Thanks

 

[Gorilla]

I have not removed the emblems from a free, but have from many other HD tanks. They have been glued on for years. I would expect nothing less on the free. After you cut the emblem lose with the line, you will need glue/decal remover to get the rest off without hurting the paint. Good luck.

 

[Exnavyabfc]

Thanks a lot.

 

[gerald martin]

removing emlam

I would not use fishing line as that could possibly also cut some paint off. I have removed many embalms, the last one was the reflector just under my trunk lock on my freewheeler. What I did was use WD 40. Hold a rag under the embalm squirt some WD40 on the top part of the embalm,let it sit for a while, using your fingers gently pill the top of the embalm away from the tank. Not too hard just enough to allow more WD 40 to get behind it. keep doing it till the embalm comes off then just gently wipe the glue off with the WD40. you will get no discoloration nor will you hurt the paint in any way Take your time it will take a while but its winter now so you have nothing better to do LOL

 

[jc1300]

All good idea's...I would think unless the paint on the tank is 100 years old, you'd be hard pressed to hurt it with light fishing line.....But for me, a little heat with a hair dryer works wonders. The emblems are basically held on by two sided tape. Thick rubbery tape, but still tape. I have used Goo Be Gone most of the time to remove the excess glue on the tank. A citrus based product will not harm the paint either {But I still wipe pretty quick} Easy Peezy....jc

 

[Sunman]

Be careful with fishing line! I damaged the paint removing tank badges on a Honda Valkyrie using this method a few years ago. I think the safe way would be WD-40 or Goo-Be-Gone.

Sunman

 

[Exnavyabfc]

Thanks for all the info guys

 

[headheaded]

the trick with the fishing line is to keep it on the backside of the emblem.

 

[Hrolfr]

1. Fishing line - saw slowly keeping it as close to the badge as possible, you want to keep it away from the paint.
2. Then for the foam backing/tape you want to work up a small edge and then stretch it parallel to the tank, this will cause the tape to release with very little work. If you go slow enough you will get it in one piece.
3. 3m adhesive remover to get the residue off. (Yes goo gone works but 3m works faster, the 3m also will come in handy to remove tree sap even after it hardens.
4. wash the area thoroughly
5. wax/seal with a polymer as the clear coat will be unprotected. ( I like the stuff from detailjuice.com he is a rider and developed MMJ for bikes, but Juice boost is great too)

I did this method on my 2015 Ram when I first bought it to remove the tailgate and door badges, no issues with marring the paint.

Here is a video of what I basically suggested, it is not me and I differ on step 3 from the video. Also I think there is some adult language if you are offended by that type of thing turn your sound down.

 

[Texan]

Agree 100% but would go with waxed dental floss tape add a little heat to the equation.

8~\o

 

[Exnavyabfc]

Great info,,,thanks to all for advice.

 

[rgc]

Use a hairdryer to heat the decal. It is a trial process to see when the decal is ready to come off. You may have to heat as you go along. If the decal is heated the glue should become soft enough to softly pull the decal off.

 

[Keystone]

Use a hairdryer to heat the decal. It is a trial process to see when the decal is ready to come off. You may have to heat as you go along. If the decal is heated the glue should become soft enough to softly pull the decal off.

:Agree: That is exactly what I did when I removed the reflectors from the rear body and fenders. Everything came off real easy.

 

[Dirtydan]

Heat gun sparingly on low setting. Worked for me on bikes, cars, trucks etc. WD or goo gone for the glue/tape.

 

[Bubba49]

Heat gun sparingly on low setting. Worked for me on bikes, cars, trucks etc. WD or goo gone for the glue/tape.

With no gas in the tank, correct? Otherwise you could be playing with fire...


Bubba

 

[Dirtydan]

Full tank, close and gas cap sealed. Never had a problem. Now if the tank was open and had very little fuel I may worry.

 

[rhino 2]

Still tank, close and gas cap sealed. Never had a problem. Now if the tank was open and had very little fuel I may worry.

:Agree: A heat gun on a low/med setting probably isn't much hotter than a tank sitting out in the sun in the summer...

 

[cptriker]

With no gas in the tank, correct? Otherwise you could be playing with fire...


Bubba

Technically gas is more explosive in a vaporous form. It's all about air/fuel ratio.

 

[BOXX3R]

I have thought about removing the tank emblems because even though I have a Tall Boy seat my knees still rub up against the back corners of the stock tank emblems and on a long ride I ended up with bruising on the inside of my knees. While I was at a Harley dealership the other day they were unloading a new shipment of bikes, and one of them was a Fat Boy. I liked the emblems, and they sit farther forward on the tank so my knees would not hit them. I checked how much they were, and from Harley they are about $70.00 each. When I got home I went on to ebay and found these for $69.95 for the pair and these are chrome where the new Fat Boy emblems are a satin finish. I liked the chrome and the price much better so I ordered them.

They came today so I set about removing the stock emblems using fishing line and Goof-Off plus Goo be Gone. The emblems came off fairly quickly, but the foam adhesive took a bit of coaxing using Goof-Off and a plastic spatula and a whole lot of elbow grease. I tried dental floss but it broke very quickly.

Now my knees are about 1" behind the rear of this new Fat Boy emblem

 

[hedgie57]

Service manual says monfiliment fishing line or waxed dental floss

 

[BOXX3R]

The stock emblems are much beefier and thicker, plus the adhesive backing covers the entire backside of the emblem.

I was worried that the more extreme curvature of this Fat Boy emblem might not fit this tank, as we have a 6 gallon tank and the Fat Boys only have a 5 gallon tank. But it fit and conformed to the tank just fine once I found the sweet spot.

 

[BOXX3R]

Now my knees no longer hit the emblems when I am hugging the tank in the twisties ThumbUp

 

[vito]

Did a search and got nothing. Want to remove emblem from tank on 2015 Free. Have heard it can be done with fishing line, but that there may be a couple small [COLOR=green !important][FONT=inherit !important][COLOR=green !important][FONT=inherit !important]holes[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] under it? Anyone done this and have info on holes or not? Thanks

Yup! There is a 1/4 inch wide slot that runs vertically from the top to the bottom of the tank so you can see how much gas you really have.

Of course I'm BS ing you. Harleys and others used to have blind holes to affix the emblems but that costs $$$ and so they have been sticking them on with two-sided sticky tape for years. I haven't pulled the emblems off my Free yet but I pulled them off my 2015 TK. No holes or observation slots.

 

[BOXX3R]

I like the look of these new badges even more once out in the sunlight

 

[Ed Hobgood]

All good idea's...I would think unless the paint on the tank is 100 years old, you'd be hard pressed to hurt it with light fishing line.....But for me, a little heat with a hair dryer works wonders. The emblems are basically held on by two sided tape. Thick rubbery tape, but still tape. I have used Goo Be Gone most of the time to remove the excess glue on the tank. A citrus based product will not harm the paint either {But I still wipe pretty quick} Easy Peezy....jc

I've used this method several times and it will not hurt the paint. When using the heat just use a little common since and not burn your fingers.

 

[Exnavyabfc]

Dang I procrastinate

Got around to removing the tank emblems today. Getting graphics next week I think.

 

[FleshWound]

Did a search and got nothing. Want to remove emblem from tank on 2015 Free. Have heard it can be done with fishing line, but that there may be a couple small holes under it? Anyone done this and have info on holes or not? Thanks

Removed all the emblems from my Silverado and several from my FW using 3M Adhesive Remover. Spray at top of emblem and allow to run down into tape and soak about 5 minutes. Us a PLASTIC auto trim removal tool to pry up the emblem a little and spray more 3M. Repeat until emblem comes of and clean up with the 3M.