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Building my own detacheable tour-pak rack

6K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  stripclub 
#1 ·
I have started building my own detacheable tour pak rack. I know...why you ask? 1: $180 for a new one through HD is riduculous in my opinion, 2: even if I bought one from HD I would still modify it.
One of the things I don't like about tour paks is how high they sit up. Yes I know that you can get a chopped pak or razor and it will be slimmer, but you lose some of your load capacity that way. So I wanted a shorter tour pak rack regardless.

So I talked to the guys in the machine shop at work and they are helping me with it. So far so good, it will sit about 1/2" off the fender which is what I wanted and it will have a little beefier support on the under side.
I have gotten the sides and the plates made and will be drilling the holes for the detacheable hard ware (got off Ebay for $25). It fits up to the attachment points perfectly ( I even got the plastic bushing dock pieces).

Hopefully I will have pics of the completed rack by the end of the week posted on here. I just wanted see if anyone else has tried or done this before.
 
#2 ·
Picks will be cool as Im sure its going to look very cool and needless to say a One-Of-a-kind .

My only concern would be putting on the tourpak and the 1/2" clearance off the fender.

Trying to align the docking points while holding up that heavy pak is going to be a mother. . Make sure you have a buddy with you each time you put it on...
 
#3 ·
Thats actually a great idea man. They do sit up high and it does take away ailil something from the bike. I bought the detachable TP mount awhile ago along with a cheap ass ebay trunk. Im probably gonna buy the yaffe chopped pak and mount it but getting lower to the bike would be pretty bad ass.
 
#5 ·
I think his goal is to lower the height of the bracket to make it sit closer to the fender. Had i known about this one though i wouldve jumped on it instead of buying the HD one for twice the money
 
#7 ·
I guess if ya got the time "go for it", however, having said that, if it fails off, the loss of a $ 1,500 tour pak is yours. Good luck.
 
#9 ·
I believe that it will be stought enough to support the weight of the tour pak, I am putting two cross members on the underside for this purpose. I am putting a 1/4" rubber sheet inbetween the pack and the rack though as a vibration dampener so as not to cause anyproblems with the pack.
I have tested another tour pack sitting on top of it today and it leaves clearance to open the saddle bags if I am careful and don't just fling them up and open, but I usually don't do that anyways.
Please keep the opinions and suggestions coming cause I may have missed something.
As a few have said, its not so much a matter of cost as I want it lower. If I would have bought a HD rack I would have chopped and re-welded it back to lower it anyways. Plus it will be saving me a few dollars as I am making this for about $80 in expenses, not bad I don't think.
That one for $99 looks like a great deal for someone though.
 
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