I had a vision for something similar, but the plastic melted crap made me put the pieces on a shelf and move on after I spent 10 minutes with a razor blade and thought it was not worth it. The “concrete sandpaper” trick is brilliant and has inspired me to pull those pieces back out and try again. Good work!
This is a great tutorial, I seriously appreciate the effort put into explaining this, definitely makes it easier to follow and replicate on my own KLR. It is also a huge help having all the sizes listed, so I know what I would need. Gonna do this sometime within the week!
That one bolt used to release the box...should be replaced with a pin & clip....(like used for a trailer hitch) or file the threads off of the screw and drill a hole threw it to attach a pin clip with a lanyard to yank the pin out quickly when needed...so much faster than unscrewing....ur concept build is fantastic tho🫡
The best solution that I've envisioned involves drilling a keyhole slot in the front of the rack to minimize unscrewing time. Just push your fastener with an already threaded nut down into the wide keyhole and slide forward into the narrow slot to lock it in place. I like this idea better than a z bar style bracket made from cutting boards, but it achieves the same effect. For the back, use t nuts or rivet nuts or any other method to trap a nut from spinning freely and pair it with a thumb screw. It will have very strong clamping force, since it's basically screwed together. It's simple to remove, since it's just a tool-less thumbscrew unscrewing from a captive nut. Use a plywood, cutting board, or metal base plate inside the topbox to sandwich it down without risk of tearing the topbox plastic. The fasteners go through the plate, through the box, through your rack, and end with thumbscrews/thumbnuts/wingnuts.
If you have a flimsy box that overhangs past the rack, mount it to a sheet of plywood and mount the plywood to the rack. This will give it rigidity. I have a flimsy Sterilite plastic footlocker bolted to my bike in this fashion. It covers the entire passenger seat and overhangs past the rear of the rack, so the plywood was definitely necessary. It has held up to years of abuse with only a rattle can paint job to protect it. I can fit my fullface helmet, jacket, gallon of water, gloves, etc all at the same time. It's a lot of storage and convenient to use. It withstands cross-country touring and bumpy gravel roads, but it's not waterproof. Maybe use a minivan roofrack trunk or a DeWalt tool trunk if you need that. You would add weight though and I like how light the Sterilite box is.
I had a vision for something similar, but the plastic melted crap made me put the pieces on a shelf and move on after I spent 10 minutes with a razor blade and thought it was not worth it.
The “concrete sandpaper” trick is brilliant and has inspired me to pull those pieces back out and try again.
Good work!
Any updates?
This is a great tutorial, I seriously appreciate the effort put into explaining this, definitely makes it easier to follow and replicate on my own KLR. It is also a huge help having all the sizes listed, so I know what I would need.
Gonna do this sometime within the week!
That one bolt used to release the box...should be replaced with a pin & clip....(like used for a trailer hitch) or file the threads off of the screw and drill a hole threw it to attach a pin clip with a lanyard to yank the pin out quickly when needed...so much faster than unscrewing....ur concept build is fantastic tho🫡
I'm gonna give it the ol college try!
Well done mate 👍
The best solution that I've envisioned involves drilling a keyhole slot in the front of the rack to minimize unscrewing time. Just push your fastener with an already threaded nut down into the wide keyhole and slide forward into the narrow slot to lock it in place. I like this idea better than a z bar style bracket made from cutting boards, but it achieves the same effect. For the back, use t nuts or rivet nuts or any other method to trap a nut from spinning freely and pair it with a thumb screw. It will have very strong clamping force, since it's basically screwed together. It's simple to remove, since it's just a tool-less thumbscrew unscrewing from a captive nut. Use a plywood, cutting board, or metal base plate inside the topbox to sandwich it down without risk of tearing the topbox plastic. The fasteners go through the plate, through the box, through your rack, and end with thumbscrews/thumbnuts/wingnuts.
If you have a flimsy box that overhangs past the rack, mount it to a sheet of plywood and mount the plywood to the rack. This will give it rigidity. I have a flimsy Sterilite plastic footlocker bolted to my bike in this fashion. It covers the entire passenger seat and overhangs past the rear of the rack, so the plywood was definitely necessary. It has held up to years of abuse with only a rattle can paint job to protect it. I can fit my fullface helmet, jacket, gallon of water, gloves, etc all at the same time. It's a lot of storage and convenient to use. It withstands cross-country touring and bumpy gravel roads, but it's not waterproof. Maybe use a minivan roofrack trunk or a DeWalt tool trunk if you need that. You would add weight though and I like how light the Sterilite box is.