Hi Randy;
Welcome to one of the many synchronicities that appear in my life. I was just at my dealer today and bought a square no-name travel trunk which has a pad for the passenger to lean back on. It's held in place by a nylon strap with plastic snap buckles and I think it is actually for an ATV, but it's now going on my '08. They didn't have any instructions or packing, and it looked like it was missing another strap so I got it for $19 bucks off, which made it a really good deal. All the way home I was thinking of how to get it securely mounted, and there was your question when I walked in. What? Of course I check my KLR family first thing on arrival! Doesn't everyone?
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I have it in place now using the strap and that will be OK for a little while. Here's what I've been thinking: I removed the two recessed vertical bolts at the back of the rack which hold the plastic part of the rack onto the metal frame. I held the box in place while I used a drill bit in my fingers to mark where I should drill. I thought to go down to my local hardware store and get a piece of stainless steel flat stock and some longer bolts, drill the box and flat stock, place the flat stock inside the box and bolt it down.
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OK, then I got thinking that those bolts aren't very big and if some weight got slinging around up there, there may be enough torque to snap them. Not likely, as I am a Clark Kent-type rider, but not impossible, either. Besides, having lost a few things on freeways, I'm really anal about locking things down. So how 'bout this? I'll shape a couple pieces of wood to fit inside the hoops of the hand holds of the rack. I could fasten them in place by screws from inside the box, two for each piece of wood, (with more flat stock for reinforcement? Fender washers?) and that would fix that.
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Then I got to thinkin', shucks... Why not forget about the two recessed bolts, use (carriage?) bolts going from inside through the wooden pieces, flat stock on the underside of the rack going from port to starboard, and use wing nuts underneath so that I could remove so the whole thing in a couple of minutes if I wanted it to? Nah, I think that despite the slightly higher wind drag, I would rather have it permanently mounted so that no one can walk off with it. Besides, I almost always have something under my cargo net now when I'm going anywhere, so it will be in almost continuous use. It's still an option, though.
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I think that, one way or the other, I will use the wooden pieces idea, but probably just using screws to hold the wood on, with flat stock or big fender washers on the inside to reduce the effects of vibration on the plastic. And the recessed bolts as mentioned above. We shall see what we shall see.
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Hasta;
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Lash
----- Original Message ----
From: Randy
To:
DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 1:19:33 PM
Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Mounting the JC Whitney tail trunk on 06 KLR650
Greetings;
A while ago I purchased the large Matte Black Travel Trunk from JCW.
The supplied universal mounting plate/hardware doesn't appear to be
compatible with the stock KLR rack. Any suggestions as to mounting the
plate to the KLR rack?
Thanks!
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