Broken grab-bar lock, ideas for fix and a duffel attachment?

RC · 08-08-2018, 07:45 AM

2018 seems to be the year that everything is falling apart. My custom rear box has been rattling a lot recently. I pulled it off today to inspect and found the vertical bolt that secures the grab-bar has broken, or rather came loose. Apparently the long nut is press-fit into a plate, which seems like a very poor way to secure something that could endure a lot of bounce and lifting. Its not the end of the world, nothing is falling off, but it rattles and makes it hard to lift the bike up when it goes down.

So I'm a bit stumped on how to fix it. There is a black metal plate that the long nut was pressed into, below that is possibly another plate (silver) that has a screw-sized hole, but I'm pretty sure its not threaded nor meant to support force. Thus far the only idea I have is to remove the plastic taillight assembly and do a lite weld, but the metal plate appears pretty thin so anything more than a tack would probably weaken the plate itself.

Actually, I want to try to strap a duffel on the back and do away with the box. I'm pretty sure that the next leg of my journey (Central Asia) will rattle the box to death. So if anybody has a good method to strap a big duffel across in the wide direction, let me know. I could easily fit it length-wise, but I prefer wide to accommodate my tent/pad/cover just in front.

Also, apologies for the enormous photos, if anybody knows the code to resize an image in this form, please pass it on. Traditional html resizing doesn't seem to work.

08-08-2018, 07:45 AM	#1
RC Join Date: Apr 2017 Location: EurAsia Posts: 46	Broken grab-bar lock, ideas for fix and a duffel attachment? 2018 seems to be the year that everything is falling apart. My custom rear box has been rattling a lot recently. I pulled it off today to inspect and found the vertical bolt that secures the grab-bar has broken, or rather came loose. Apparently the long nut is press-fit into a plate, which seems like a very poor way to secure something that could endure a lot of bounce and lifting. Its not the end of the world, nothing is falling off, but it rattles and makes it hard to lift the bike up when it goes down. So I'm a bit stumped on how to fix it. There is a black metal plate that the long nut was pressed into, below that is possibly another plate (silver) that has a screw-sized hole, but I'm pretty sure its not threaded nor meant to support force. Thus far the only idea I have is to remove the plastic taillight assembly and do a lite weld, but the metal plate appears pretty thin so anything more than a tack would probably weaken the plate itself. Actually, I want to try to strap a duffel on the back and do away with the box. I'm pretty sure that the next leg of my journey (Central Asia) will rattle the box to death. So if anybody has a good method to strap a big duffel across in the wide direction, let me know. I could easily fit it length-wise, but I prefer wide to accommodate my tent/pad/cover just in front. Also, apologies for the enormous photos, if anybody knows the code to resize an image in this form, please pass it on. Traditional html resizing doesn't seem to work.
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