Pannier Help

[RedNigel]

I'm ready to give up on my latches. The rear latch on my left side wont lock anymore. I like the latches Brillot put on his bike, but I am scared to just dive into the job without some direction.
Is there anyone who would be willing to write up a tutorial on how to go about the job?
I have good tools and some mechanical background but I am not a fabricator or the modifying type. I don't know how to get started
I would rather duct tape the lid shut than pay a Honda tech to repair it

 

[NewTo700V]

I'm assuming you're just talking about draw latches? There shouldn't be a tutorial needed, you're just bolting on the latch on one side, and the keeper on the other. One side being the black plastic luggage carcass on the bike, the other side being the lid.

Make yourself a paper template of the lock bottom, so you can transfer the mounting holes to where you want to drill. The template should be the full latch drawn shut as to incorporate both halves. Obviously the lids need to be closed when you're laying down the template. Drill carefully, and don't over tighten. Maybe consider nylon washers for the bolt heads if the locks don't come with them. Metal washers can dig into plastic. Another idea might be to put in a thin strip of metal as a backer plate for the two keeper bolts. That would help spread out the load.

Search ebay for "soutcho v7". That's a popular option and there's cheap clones. Keyed or not, your choice. This PDF should give enough insight of what to do. https://www.southco.com/static/Literature/v7.en.pdf

 

[RedNigel]

Bolts might work on the lid itself but the inboard part is too thick to just drill holes and use bolts. Rivets might be the ticket and I am not a rivet man

Thoughts?

 

[seagrass]

I did the brillot latch conversion on my NT and I am fairly certain brillot has a post with most of the required info needed.

It was a bit tricky getting the small backing plates into place in the fixed part of the saddle bags BUT it is possible to do without pulling everything apart.

The only thing I have recently noticed is that the fixed part of the saddlebag now has cracks from where I riveted the latches to the saddlebag. The lids do not have these cracks. I suspect the cracks have been caused from the riveting process applying too much pressure on the saddlebag plastic.

I chose to use stainless steel pop rivets (not the normal aluminium type) and I suspect this has resulted in more pressure than the saddlebag plastic can withstand.

If you do this job I suggest you use aluminium rivets as there is a certain amount of “give” in them.

By the way I only fitted two latches (one on each side) and this seems to be more than enough to hold the lids closed.

Seagrass

 

[jtprettyman]

I did the brillot latch conversion on my NT and I am fairly certain brillot has a post with most of the required info needed.

It was a bit tricky getting the small backing plates into place in the fixed part of the saddle bags BUT it is possible to do without pulling everything apart.

The only thing I have recently noticed is that the fixed part of the saddlebag now has cracks from where I riveted the latches to the saddlebag. The lids do not have these cracks. I suspect the cracks have been caused from the riveting process applying too much pressure on the saddlebag plastic.

I chose to use stainless steel pop rivets (not the normal aluminium type) and I suspect this has resulted in more pressure than the saddlebag plastic can withstand.

If you do this job I suggest you use aluminium rivets as there is a certain amount of “give” in them.

By the way I only fitted two latches (one on each side) and this seems to be more than enough to hold the lids closed.

Seagrass

I also did a set of these latches on mine, but used aluminum pop rivets for all (6) holes - still cracked at the black plastic. Only one side of mine has cracked so far, plan to dissect this weekend to see how far this has gone and how it can be reinforced. No access to the backside of the inner saddle bag while mounted to use a backing plate, may have to disassemble the whole thing and add the plates.

 

[RedNigel]

I have decided I'm just going to drill and install some "bungie buddies" a simple cleat I can put on the lid itself and bungie to the hand hold or something

my front latch on the left lid still works but the back latch stopped, so the added bungie in the rear will pull it to and hold it

 

[Macka]

What seagrass says is interesting about the cracks in the fixed panels. I did not use rivets, just tiny screws into the plastic with a dob of thread locker on each. There are no plates behind the plastic to receive the screws. After some months I did find a tiny hairline crack on the LHS and some months later, one on the RHS. The cracks are almost invisible and have not changed so I have not done anything about them. I plan to just wait and see if they develop any further. If, for any other reason, I need to remove the inner cases in the future I will do something about it, but only if.

Macka

 

[Phil Tarman]

My left side latches quit working when I was at the dealer's last week getting tires. I managed to get them latched. Then I had trouble both unlatching and latching them again day before yesterday when I FINALLY got around to installing my new Zumo XT. I ended up spraying all of the latches very liberally with WD-40's Silicone Lube. Now they all work fine. I've still got the external latches in waiting!

 

[mikesim]

Damned latches! Yesterday while getting Traveller ready for Spearfish I noticed that the left side hasp plastic mounting bosses were beginning to crack . The right side did that a year or so ago and I "reinforced" them with JB Weld and so far, so good. I reprised my previous fix on the left side and once again they seem to be OK again. I have latches to put on but just can't get enough "ambition" to take off the pannier housings to engineer a backing plate to permanently fix the problem. I hope they hold out long enough for the Spearfish trip.

 

[Warren]

Take some duck tape with you just in case. I rode around for almost a year with duct tape holding my left lid closed.

 

[coaster]

I used screws, threadlocker and backing plate, no problems.

 

[mikesim]

I used screws, threadlocker and backing plate, no problems.

Did you remove the pannier housings for access or were you able to sneak the backing plate in without removing the housings?

Mike