Loose saddle bags

VetteJim

Site Supporter
Joined
May 30, 2023
Messages
79
Location
NE Ohio
Bike
2008 ST1300
Is there any way to 'tighten up' the saddle bags? Mine are a little loose. They stay on, but I can wiggle them quite a bit. Just seems like they could be on there a little tighter.

thanks
 
RUBBER A, STOPPER
50352-428-000
Retail Price: $2.73
Your Price: $2.10

RUBBER C, STOPPER
50355-434-000
Retail Price: $4.53
Your Price: $3.49

CUSHION, SADDLEBAG
81327-MT3-000
Retail Price: $4.44
Your Price: $3.42

NUT, MOLDING SIDE
90305-SJ4-003
Retail Price: $3.88
Your Price: $3.26


The rubber stoppers listed above (first three) often get worn/torn and allow the bag to "get loose" or rattle around. Simply replacing these will correct your issues.
The last item (Nut Molding Side) are the (4) small 8mm nuts inside the lower part of the inner saddlebag.
They rest on a metal plate, that sits on a rubber washer. When they loosen up, they allow the saddlebag lid to droop somewhat, and you have to lift the lid up for it to close properly.
Simply snugging these four nuts up will Lift the lid up to the correct alignment, and allow the open/close of your lid to work much better.

These parts are shown from RonAyers.com
 
While you are at it, have a look at the lower support as playfair suggested. It may have some wear on it as a result of the panniers being loose. The plastic female part on the bottom of the pannier is not smooth, it is ribbed. The ribs can wear notches in to the male aluminium support that they mate with. I always thought that this was a poor design choice. If the female plastic part on the pannier was smooth the forces would be spread over the entire surface instead of being concentrated in a few small ribs.

RH Mount.JPG
 
It seemed on mine that the bottom plastic locator part of the bag got worn, so I cut a piece of innertube and place over the bike aluminum rounded part so it "clips" on tighter.
I did this too. Solved the problem and created another one. Every time I took the bag off the bike (to carry into a motel), the inner tube piece dropped off and I lost it. I solved this by getting bag liners. Then the panniers stayed on the bike and the rubber patch stayed in place.
 
Bag liners are great. You can pack them in your room and carry them out and put them in the panniers.

I pack mine standing up like they'll be in the bike, folding everything to make them fit while laying flat.

Mine are Bestems. I like the little compartments on back that fit into the recessed areas in the panniers.
 
Ok so here is some follow up on this. I ended up doing a few different things that really snugged them up nice. I replaced all the rubber parts per Larry which helped a little but they were still loose. I added a small metal strip to the lever at the top which pushes down and that helped a lot. But they still wiggled a little so i added a few washers under the large rubber bumper and that took care of it. Now they are nice and snug.

A81D1B84-C414-446B-9328-98EE840B2891.jpeg
330826FA-1F9A-4D31-93F7-BEED75052BA3.jpeg243D8202-4BCE-4E48-BC6B-93A8E2C7A329.jpeg2E4B85CE-8C8A-49FA-AAD7-C212F3EDEF0B.jpeg530F83F8-5A01-4A22-A90E-A53D9BFA06FE.jpeg
 
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