I think itd be easier to round off the corners on a carriage bolt than drill a square hole.  A slot if it must be backed up to get it tight would still take less time than trying to create a square hole.

An update on this luggage rack:

Last April, I was running errands and noticed that my trunk (mounted on the luggage rack) was starting to flop around.  I stopped in a parking lot and looked the situation over.

A weld on the luggage rack had given way:





Note:  The above picture was taken after I had removed the trunk.

Here is a closeup look at the weld that failed:





Also, I was dismayed to find that the weld's twin, on the other side of the rack, was showing signs of imminent failure:





Well, I was several miles from the barn and it was clearly unsafe to continue riding the bike in this condition.  So, I removed the trunk from the rack and bungeed said trunk to my rear seat.  Boy, was I ever glad that I had made a quick-disconnect for the trunk's wiring harness (see this thread):





That saved me from having to rip the wires in order to get the trunk off of the luggage rack.....and creating a lot more work down the road as a result.

I emailed seviersavage to ask his advice.  I wasn't looking for a refund or a freebie, just advice.  He responded and said he'd never seen such a problem develop with any of his racks.  I gave him a few suggestions for ways he might possibly beef up any luggage racks he makes in the future.  He was very pleasant.

In any event, I still had a broken luggage rack.....and my Savage is my daily driver (I don't own a cage).  I had to get creative.

Well, I found two stout little angle brackets in my spares bin.  I drilled a few holes in the luggage rack and installed the brackets.  I think this will last a while:








Bottom line:  I'm still pleased with my luggage rack!


BTW, any thoughts on my amateur "repairs?"

Boule’tard wrote on 08/10/11 at 19:56:20:


+1 Its a great first project! I love more tools  

Digger... I think your "patch" looks strong enough and on the right track for a better attachment solution.  Since you didn't mention what suggestions you had already made to the builder, here are a couple of thoughts that came to mind after looking at your latest pics...

My first thought would be to make the back "strap" bracket  longer and "l_____l" shaped with the legs 2-3" long or just long enough for a couple bolts on each side.  The legs could be bent (or welded) and profile cut to match the side rails of the rack bed.  This should essentially double the strength of that joint on both sides.

Second thought would be to just weld a peice of angle to the inside for addtional joint reinforcing or welding a couple of gusset plates on top at each back corner (also on the bottom if you can work around the side rail profile).

Just my 2 cents....    Please keep us updated on your progress, I am interested in doing something like this too!

Good Afternoon All:

Does anyone know whether the "SevierSavage's" luggage rack is still available for a LS650P Savage built in 2003?  

And if not, would anyone know of a good substitute?

Thank you for your help (I am new to this site and to the "savage").

Michael
manwinkler@yahoo.com

Okay, a few pics...

Here you can see the general design and the welds.


That disc-looking thing is a rare-earth magnet I once used with my oil filter but now use to temporarily hold tools and such.


Wow!  This came out a little oversaturated but the intent was for you to see the pad.

Savage_Rob wrote on 02/20/12 at 16:30:55:


I broke the welds this week on another of the OEM racks.  I keep staring at them thinking the way to solve the problem is to drill two holes from the side of the rack through the sissy bar.  Then I could bolt the rack to the bike from the side rather than relying on the cheap metal bending approach taken by the OEM rack.