Don't remove rear fender bolts?

[Colorado Cajun]

Originally Posted by RampageRider

I have the bolt in now and what a pain in the @ss that was, I had to grab the chrome support under the seat and pull towards the rear, while at the same time push towards the front on the rear light assemble. While doing that in a quivering crushing position had the wife put the bolt in with the socket wrench.

Now that was team work!

I have one of those wife tools too. Comes in handy when changing the oil and gear oil. I use mine to keep the bike staight when putting in the oil. I'm getting my bags and sissy bar in on Tuesday. Sounds like I will have to get the wife out the tool box again.

[RampageRider]

Originally Posted by Cruiser22

The problem was one of leverage and pressure as I can not get an allen wrench to turn without releasing pressure every 180 degrees. I cut off a 3/4 inch piece of allen wrench and loaded it into a socket allowing me to use a socket wrench...contant pressure, 1 minute later viola. Hope this helps.

I just used a hex head socket that I got from Northern Tools 5$, came as a complete set of other sizes.

Cajun: wife's are a great help when they want to go riding and your bike is holding up the show.

[DaveMc]

Has anyone ever tried to replace the bolts with studs? While I have never had my saddle bags off, it sounds like the nut is permanently attached to the fender (so there's no chance of simply reversing the bolt so the threaded end winds up inside the saddlebag). For those who have done this assembly: would it be possible to replace the bolts with studs -- that is, bolts threaded on both ends? Then you would have a threaded end inside the saddlebag, and saddlebag removal would only require removing the nuts, taking off the saddlebag, and then replacing the nuts (and perhaps some chrome end covers). Would this be do-able?

[dragbar]

Oh it'd definately be doable. The biggest concern though would be bag strength.

Without a bracket (like Ghost or EZ) on a soft bag, you'd have to put a plate or board, etc inside the bag. Without it, between the wind and weight of stuff in the bag, I'd give it less than a week to rip off.

[Jerryzuki]

Originally Posted by DaveMc

Has anyone ever tried to replace the bolts with studs? While I have never had my saddle bags off, it sounds like the nut is permanently attached to the fender (so there's no chance of simply reversing the bolt so the threaded end winds up inside the saddlebag). For those who have done this assembly: would it be possible to replace the bolts with studs -- that is, bolts threaded on both ends? Then you would have a threaded end inside the saddlebag, and saddlebag removal would only require removing the nuts, taking off the saddlebag, and then replacing the nuts (and perhaps some chrome end covers). Would this be do-able?

I’m in the middle of doing something like this to my C50T now. I have cut some M08 allthread at the right length, by trial and error. I plan on putting the backrest and bags back on using the allthread. That way I can reach the back side without being hampered by the saddlebags. Once I get everything tightened I’ll slide the bags on the studs and tighten them down.

The reason I don’t use the stud idea for the backrest is that you can’t get the brackets over the studs, especially the rear ones.

I have it naked (nothing but the drivers seat) right now with some bolts holding everything.

[DaveMc]

Jerryzuki,

That sounds like what I was trying to describe. I had imagined a setup where the backrest stays on, but that allows the saddlebags to pull straight off once the nuts were off. I'm assuming you can get allthread stock at hardware stores, etc., and in metric (do you know the thread size and pitch for those?). Please let us see some pics when you're done and let us know how it works.

[AZRyder]

One thing you might want to do when you put the saddle bags on is to buy or make the easy off saddlebag kit at moccs place. http://www.moccsplace.com/images/bagkit/easyoff.htm That way you can remove the saddlebags with a simple wing nut when you need to clean your rear wheel, check the air, drain the final gear oil. I'm going to be putting that on mine in the near future. He'll sell you all the parts for 25 bucks or you can go to the hardware store and for about 5 bucks, get everything you need to do it yourself (he tells you how)