| Author | Message | ||
     Hughlysses |
I had an interesting failure this morning. I was out tooling around checking out some new roads in the area this morning. Shortly after I headed back towards home, I stopped at a stoplight. The light turned green, I accelerated moderately from the stop when I hear a loud "BAM!" behind me and think "What the hell was that?". I look back to see my tailbox lying on the white line in the intersection. I quickly pulled over and ran back to get it. Thankfully this was a lightly trafficked road plus the guy behind me blocked traffic long enough for me to get the box so someone didn't run over it. At first I thought maybe I'd forgotten to latch it when I mounted it but it's been on the bike for 3 or 4 rides and I'm sure it would have fallen off by now if that were the case. I put it back on the bike and quickly saw that the latching mechanism wouldn't stay latched. Luckily, I had a tie-down strap in the box, so I temporarily secured it with that so I could get home. After I got here, here's what I found:  For comparison, here's an undamaged latch on one of the side bags:  You can see that a portion of the "D" shaped piece has broken off. I pretty much keep the tailbox on the bike constantly so I guess it finally fatigued and broke off. I'm sending an e-mail to Hepco-Becker to see if a replacement is still available. An exacerbating factor I noticed today was that the spring that holds the latch closed even when it's unlocked wasn't working. The plate had pulled over the riveted areas that hold it in position. I managed to get it back in place and use an inertia center punch to re-rivet the areas to hold it in position. I expect that would have kept the latch secured even if the lock hadn't held. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Oh yea, the reflector on the box got smashed when it fell off; I need to see if I can get one of those too:  This box is looking a little rough after 10 years; it might just be better to replace it if I can find another. | ||
| Tootal |
Wow, sorry to hear that Hugh! Looks like the locking mechanism is either pot metal or aluminum. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Yea, it looks like pot metal. All things considered, it sure could have fallen off in a MUCH worse place. I can just imagine riding 350 miles to Suches, GA and THEN realizing my tailbox is gone. If I can't get a replacement fairly quickly, I could rob the latch off of one of the side bags. | ||
| Froggy |
Time for a nice Outdoorsman/Junior 5000L case  | ||
| Ourdee |
+1 Froggy Good excuse for a new bag. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I may have to do that. At any rate, consider this a "heads up" for any of you with high mileage bags. | ||
| Reepicheep |
That looks like a typically German failure, which is how I feel about these Hepco bags. They make it small and out of something like that because they really sweated the math and decided that is exactly enough. Except when they are wrong, and it wasn't. I am amazed at how strong these bags are for their light weight and minimal use of material. And wish they had been made thicker the two places they broke on me anyway.  There is a place for hubris to add quality and material "just in case" you missed something... | ||
| Tootal |
Uh...whatever happened to German OVERKILL! Used to be a good thing! Reminds me of BMW automotive water pumps. Used to be nice castings, now they are cheap weldments that occasionally explode! | ||
| Hughlysses |
I wish I could figure out how to get the locking mechanism out of the latch. I wonder how hard it would be to fabricate a steel replacement for the failed pot metal part? Seems like you could take an appropriately sized bolt and make one with a few minute's work with a Dremel tool. When I find out how much a replacement latch assembly from Germany costs, I may become more enthused about this project. | ||
| Tootal |
I was thinking the same thing. If you can get it apart put up a picture, I might be able to make one out of stainless! | ||
| Hughlysses |
Well, that turned out to be much easier than expected. IIRC, I put the cylinder in the "unlocked" position, and inserted the tip of my pocketknife in the slot at the left of the lock and gently moved a tab to the right and the lock came right out.  It turns out the broken part is a part of the lock cylinder itself:    You can see where a portion of the "D" shaped part at the top broke off at the left side of the cylinder. Unfortunately, you'd have to duplicate the whole cylinder, which is a pretty intricate piece, to make a replacement part. On the plus side, it's a ~10 second job to remove the lock cylinder. If I could just find someone with a junked bag I could get the cylinder out of, I'd be set. | ||
| Tootal |
If that happens you could stick your key in their lock and file the tabs to the same height and your key should work. That's how the BMW dealer did it to a replacement bag on my old K bike. | ||
| Refurb |
I found MotoMachines to be an excellent source for Hepco Becker spare parts. Here's a link to the replacement cylinder/key page: http://www.motomachines.com/Keys-Lock-Cylinders_c_ 1.html Just order the same key number to match your set. | ||
| Hughlysses |
^ Thanks for that! Replacement ordered. | ||
| Ourdee |
Just make the missing piece then buy a couple of small drill bits. Drill and pin the piece on using epoxy. The spare drill bit is for making the pins out of. | ||
| Hughlysses |
^ Good idea, but that broken piece is ~1/16" thick; not quite enough meat to pin and epoxy. I looked further on their website; apparently the reflector is not available as a replacement part. I guess it'll get a variety of stick-on's from the auto parts store. | ||
| Ourdee |
That's thick enough if you are real good. Not worth the hassle though. The reflector wasn't much of a reflector until I took the white plastic piece out and replaced it with military grade silver reflective tape. Could weld a nylock nut in the catch and put a bolt through the lock cylinder, depending on how slow the shipping is. | ||
| Motorbike |
Hughlysses, I replaced the reflector on my tailbox a couple months ago. Ordered it from my H-D dealer, no problem. Kind of expensive though, it seems like it was $25 or so IIRC. I've replaced mine twice because the mounting bosses break off. Very brittle plastic. (Message edited by motorbike on January 19, 2017) | ||
| Hughlysses |
^ Al- thanks for that info. I checked my 2008 parts book and the bags and replacement parts are listed since the bags were standard on the XB12XT. Meanwhile, MotoMachines e-mailed me that they could provide the reflector so I just ordered it from them. | ||
| Twisteduly |
not that this what caused this, but I found with the luggage installed and unloaded excessive vibration resonating throughout them. I promptly removed the side bags, and the box usually has my daily necessities so that stays so I don't have to wear a back pack. Thanks for the heads up, something else to check pre-ride. | ||
| Etennuly |
Hugh, here is what I did with mine the day after some ijiot left the bottom latch un latched then rode across my field  The two little holes are from re installing the lens over the reflective tape. I thought it would reflect through the lens. It did not, the lens blocks it almost totally. I then later backed it into a board and broke it off a second time. I left it off to this 3M reflective tape. Much better at lighting up at night.  | ||
| Hughlysses |
Vern- that looks pretty cool; better than stock. I got my new lock today and installed it; it's an easy replacement. | ||
| Tootal |
 | ||
| Etennuly |
Hugh that is the red/silver reflective tape we use on trucks and trailers. It's main attribute, other than looking kind of cool, is that an old style flash light with weak batteries will light it up from a hundred feet. It is easy to cut to shape with a razor blade and sticks for ever to clean surfaces. |
