Saturday, took a ride in my truck to get a fender my dealer had for me. He handed me the package it came in and I took it home.
This looks like it ought to be a snap, should be done in a half hour or so..
I started to remove the little bolts from Olde J-3 and and when I got them out, i discovered the fender still wouldn't move. Ok, let's remove the big nuts on the inside of the forks. Oops, those are bolts and won't clear the tire. Jack up the front wheel and and try to get that off. While trying to get the Axle nut off, the whole axle is turning taking the speedo drive with it. This ain't good, Dig out the 3/8" impact gun (very worn out after 40 years of use) and see if it'll do the job. It didn't. Ok, what can I use to stop the axle from turning. The wrenches won't reach the floor and I can't find anything to prop the end of the wrench on. Let's see, maybe the BIG crescent will work. Ok it's holding the axle and voila, it will reach the floor. Continue taking the axle nut off and have to find a drift to knock it out. OK, it's out and the wheel has dropped to the floor.
Now I can get the fender nuts out. Can't move the fender, though. The gaiters are in the way, so had to shove them up out of the way and wrestle around quite a bit to get the fender mounts out, and twist the fender to get it out. I grab a plastic fender bag and remove the fender-it's a rear fender. I grab the other bag and and pull the fender bag and pull the fender out and it's another rear fender! Damn!
I ponder on what I'm going to do with the old fender, am I going to go through that battle to put it back on, or just ride it without a fender. I stack the axle through the forks an wheel to hold it on overnight and figured the jack is going to leak down (it did) and the bike is either going to be sitting on the forks or the center stand is going to fold up as it goes down and the bike will crash. It didn't.
Sunday morning, still pondering, but will probably go with no fender for awhile.
I'll be getting some new tires in a week or so, so I'll revisit the question.
Bare