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General Category >> The Cafe >> Hard Saddle Bags, now with pictures!!!!
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Message started by GridMonkey on 09/09/13 at 21:09:46

Title: Hard Saddle Bags, now with pictures!!!!
Post by GridMonkey on 09/09/13 at 21:09:46

Hey all, So i was poking around and saw some ammo tin type hard bags so i thought i would make my own.

I got some 50cal M2A1 ammo tins off ebay, stripped them down to raw steal....never doing that again... even with a power disc and liquid stripper it took forever. They had been enamel dip painted, so if you want to do this, check into getting them differently.

Then i went to a hardware store and got 4x 8-in Zinc Mending Braces 8 1/4x20 1.5" taper head machine screws and 8 1/4 20 wingnuts and washers.

Next i went to Widgetco online and bought 8 #4 rubber stoppers with 2 holes. ( i also bought 2 #7s with 1 hole for the seat life mod) I went with the 2 hole stoppers as the mending braces have offset holes and the stoppers lined up one center with the bolt through one hole.

http://gridmonkey.jigsy.com/files/images/DSC00231.jpg

Next it was a matter of finding out how to mount the braces. I ended up placing 1 strap under the acorn nut on the front top bolt on the rear fender rails. The other rail i ended up attaching to the snap screw on the sissy bar, i will be drilling and tapping that for a slightly more solid mount. please ignore the tape at the moment, i need to worry out the holes in the bars again after the paint.

http://gridmonkey.jigsy.com/files/images/DSC00226.jpg

After that i threaded the screws through the strap and the stopper, the stopper hole is just smaller than the screw so it threads on tightly. I taped a piece of paper to the side of one of the ammo cans and rubbed some grit from my tail pipe on the ends of the screws to leave a mark on the paper when i pressed the box/paper onto the ends of the screws.

Getting the position right i pushed and made 4 black marks on the paper then piloted the marks with a 1/8" bit. Then i placed the ammo boxes on each other and used a pencil to transfer the marks to the other ammo can and its piece of paper. I did place it on the bolts with exhaust grit just to double check placement and they lined up nicely.

After pre-drilling i drilled 1/4" holes and worried them out just a bit as i wanted a bit of slop in the holes, just a bit. Cleaned up the burrs and test fit. Washers and wing nuts and I could stand on them straddling the seat. Started up the bike and rev'd it a number of times listening for rattle as the front of the box has a wire handle i thought might bounce around. The rubber stoppers made great vibration insulators and they stayed quite. Test ride of 50ish miles and the wing nuts stayed nice and tight.

Paint.. Stripped/ sanded 60 grit, Matte nickle base 3 coats, 200 grit sand between coats, some painters tape to design, 2 layers of high temp bbq paint, mostly because i love it's matte black look over plain matte black paint...and i had some.. 200 grit between coats again. Un taped it, 400 grit sand, 3 layers of clear matte then 3 layers of gloss. 400 grit between each.

For all my meticulous work I'm a bad painter so there are some eh spots and some of my lines aren't perfect, but I'm quite happy with them. I haven't put them on the bike as I'm getting new tires/brakes being put on this week so i thought i would wait till that happened.

Mounts on cans

http://gridmonkey.jigsy.com/files/images/DSC00242.jpg
http://gridmonkey.jigsy.com/files/images/DSC00243.jpg

holding them in place, the rubber stoppers hold the cans just outside the shocks

http://gridmonkey.jigsy.com/files/images/DSC00238.jpg
http://gridmonkey.jigsy.com/files/images/DSC00239_1.jpg

more pictures can be found at http://gridmonkey.jigsy.com/Motorcycle

Please forgive the condition of my bike, it has to stay in a semi crumbling concrete outdoor parking garage.... oh and forgive my girlfriends rebel in the background of a few pics too :)

Thanks.