Custom Saddle Bag Support Brackets

[Tonckawa]

I basically made a couple of support brackets just like a lot of people I have seen do it. I first went to Home Depot and bought a couple of 1/2" steel tubes ($6 and change each) and a propane blow torch ($12.95). I took some very stiff wire and shaped it to the area where the bags were going to be hanging.



I then marked a tube where I would be bending it. I marked it with a sharpie and then used a whole punch to put small holes to mark cause the heat would melt away the sharpie marking. I first heated the end to bang flat for the hole to drill to mount to the bike. Then I heated each area where to bend and bent it to the shape of my wire template.






Of course I took the tubeing over to the bike and measured up there are well. Once I had it all in the right shape I wanted and two flattened ends, I heated up each area again RED HOT and then dropped it in a big bucket of water for fast cooling which hardens the steel. I buffed out entire tube with a wire brush on my drill press. Grinded the flat ends and any rough areas. Drilled holes on flat ends where necessary. Primed with blackish grey primer then 2 coats of glossy black.



Now the hard part. I also bought 3" long, 5/16" machine bolts with washer and nuts. I took one bolt out at a time from the bike and replaced it with the 3" bolt. I used a gripper tool to get behind the fender and work it through the hole.



Of course the bolts were too long so I tightened them all down, cut off about 1/4", filed it smooth and then put the cap nut from the original bolt on the end so the saddle bags would not get scratched.



My wife even helped out by measuring the bags so they fit right and stayed off the exhaust pipe.



and after it was all said and done, bags are mounted and works and looks great.

[jonathan180iq]

Very nice work Tonckawa-man. This will be the thread that I link from here on out regarding homemade saddlebags brackets.


Very Nice!

[VTXorcist]

Aha, here's where the saddlebag bracket thread is! I'm making my own set of these with a little bit of a different tweak. I'm using 1/4" steel rods instead of 1/2" tubes (I didn't realize how easy they'd bend when I heated them, so I went thin). Then, instead of banging the ends flat, I used a 1/4" 20-thread die to thread the ends of the rods, then I used 1/4-20 coupling nuts and eye bolts. I'll post pictures once I finish up tonight or tomorrow.

Wish I had found this thread before I started. I would've gone for the bigger steel tubes and flattened the ends. Much cleaner look than my solution.

[bonehead]

C'mon guys. Suzuki is going to go out of business if we don't spend the 75.00 for their brackets(like I did). Pisser is, I weld and fabricate too. Never even thought about making my own, thus the handle"BONEHEAD".

[VTXorcist]

Well, update on the homemade brackets. They turned out great, in my opinion, with one serious flaw. The eyebolts I used are too thick. The stock bolt in the fender isn't long enough for the nuts to go back on with the saddlebag brackets under them. An additional potential problem I see is that the eyebolt pushes into the indent for the nut, so the bolt coming off the eye digs into the fender rail.

I'm thinking of two different solutions. Either one requires me to put a washer over that groove so the eyebolt sits flat on the fender rail. First, I'm going to look for some sort of "capped" nut that will fit into the eye of the bolt but with an end piece that will keep the eyebolt from sliding off it.

If that fails, I guess I need to find some longer bolts for the fender rail. I'm trying to avoid that because it will be a much bigger pain to take the saddlebag brackets off if I need to go under the fender and swap out the fender rail bolts as well.

If I can find a nut that works, I'll let you know. If not, and you're thinking of making your own saddlebag brackets, I recommend Tonckawa's method; it will actually fit on the bike!

[VTXorcist]

I may have found the answer: the aptly-named sex bolt (http://www.boltdepot.com/Sex-bolts-and- ... crews.aspx). Tres sexy!

I'm going to stop by Lowe's and grab some tonight. I'll post whether or not it works, along with pictures of the whole process, soon!

UPDATE:
Ok, the sex bolt that fits the bolt on the bike (M8x1.25) is too large to fit through the eyebolt.

I'm still adamantly opposed to replacing the stock bolt in the bike except as a last resort, though, so my next attempt will be to find an L bracket that I can bolt to the coupling nuts, then to the fender. That'll be a tonight thing.

[VTXorcist]

Ok, I gave up on the stock bolts. I couldn't find 8mm well nuts (sex bolts, barrel nuts, etc) that fit through the eye bolt hole. So, I got some corner brackets and drilled them out with a cobalt bit to 8mm, but even as flat as they were, they wouldn't fit over the rear bolts (the depression in the fender is the only reason the stock nut fits on there).

So, I finally did what Toncka told us to do in the first place: replaced the bolts. It was easy to find ones that were just a bit longer (about half an inch). It took a little arm contortionism to get them back through the fender from the inside, but it was doable. So, long story short, I went back to the eyebolts (with fender washers between them and the fender rail), which worked like a charm with the longer bolts.

If I had done it in the first place, I could've saved myself several days and dollars worth of effort and materials.

Some pics...

[bonehead]

Look good!

[Water Warrior 2]

Looks very good. Just a hint if you didn't discover it yourself. When trying to install the right side bolts it is easiest to reach over the tire from the left side. Reverse the procedure for the left side. There is more room for your entire hand that way and a lot less profanity.

[mrlmd1]

Also if it hasn't been said on this thread before, to access or change those bolts. raise the shocks up to the highest level, it'll give you a little more clearance between tire and fender for your hand and fingers to move around.