Ah! I gotcha. After having owned a set of Crossbones saddle bags and seeing how those mount, I have determined that just about any saddle bag can be mounted to my Crossbones without the need to do any modifications to the bike itself. The Bones bags come with what are called hangers. Two metal plates that bolt to the stock fender holes. These plates then have a hole pattern to which you bolt the bags to. This to me is effective for three main reasons. The first is since you mount the bags to the plates and not to the fender holes, the bags can have any bolt pattern and you just drill that pattern into the hanger. Secondly, because it is a metal plate it can be of any size to fit the dimensions of the rear of the bag and they offer great support without the need of lower support bars that connect to your frame such as on the Heritage Softail Classic and The Deluxe Saddle bags. The plate gives the bags a solid base. Finally, because you don't modify anything on the motorcycle, you can run without bags at any time and not worry abut having to cover up extra holes or connections that you had to use to make non-compliant bags work.

Go to H-D website and look up the Crossbones bags. When you find them open the instructions PDF so you can get an idea of what I am talking about.

 

Did anyone else have a problem getting the hole on the top of the Cross Bones frame cover to line up with the Fat Boy rear fender? The screw hole on the fender is about an inch lower than the frame cover hole.

 

True, you have to drill a new hole, one with a little notch to fit the clip where the bolt goes in. I first drilled a little hole for the notch and then the bigger one.

 

Yes. This is something I never clarified on my original post. The seat pan does not sit perfectly flush. There is a number of ways you can handle this. One is like Rakthi states which is to drill a new hole for it. I didn't find it necessary to have to bolt it down since as far as it staying put, that is going to be handled by the seat itself. What I did was grind off a bit of the ECM mounting plate so that the pan will sit flush. Then I just plugged the hole in the plastic seat pan so it doesn't look like a bolt is missing. Because the seat pan will set directly on the fender, I used foam tape between it and the fender to keep it from wearing through the paint.

 

Ok, I feel better now. I thought I had screwed something up. Guess I'll have to come up with some kind of solution for my cover. I have an OEM fender bib for the Fat Boy fender that I want to use and it's going to be tricky with the Cross Bones frame cover.

 

Yup I have that fender bib too ... i was just going to cut a notch where the bolt goes on the Xbones cover and slide it under there, it would fit in the gap between the cover and the fender, can't move left or right and held in place with the bolt at the other end. The cover would cover the holes in the bib. Never got around to doing it ... Still sitting here in the bookcase waiting for me to tackle it ... one of these days ...

 

Great pics, gitting my fender painted now. Thanks for the info!!

 

Hey guys, I finished my rear fender conversion this passed weekend and it looks great! It took me a little longer because I used a`46 Harley replica tail light I found on Ebay. Problem...new light socket had only two wires (red & black) not three as I mentioned in an earlier post,factory has three(black, orange/w & red/y) Did`nt want to ask H/D because you know how they are! I decided I needed to reuse the tail light circuit board assm. I had to gut the new tail light and use the Harley factory tail light socket assm. in the `46 housing with a lite mod to the socket bracket inside the housing, it fit like factory when I was done. I bought a 4"x2.5" black plastic box from Radio Shack (They call it a "project Inclosier") to house the circuit board, It came with two lids a plastic one and a metal one,the lids attach on with four screws,I cut the correct sized holes in the plastic lid to pass the plugs though.I attached the box to the bottom right side of the fender below the brace with outdoor velcro and a small amount of windshield urithane sealer (I am an autoglass installer by trade for the last 25 years), I exstended my harnesses 10", wrapped them and neatly ran the harnesses down under the brace and plugged them into the box and then sealed around the plugs with windsheild butyl seal (soft dum-dum) I then took the metal lid and bent it in the vise and used it as a stone gaurd over top the plastic lid and wires. Plenty of clearence to the tire,two of the guys I ride with said it looked factory (the one guy is super picky!) so that made me feel good! As for the ECM I did like SKEEZ and notched out the lower seat brace so the plug is`nt stressed. At the top of the ECM plate instead of grinding it away I bent mine just a little at the bolt hole to match the contour of the fat boy fender and used the original seat pan flat head screw to hold it down...NOW FOR THE SEAT PAN...HERE`S HOW TO GET RID OF THAT GAP PAN TO FENDER AND YOU MAY NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH A BIB, this will work with both xbones & F/B fenders.Go to your local Auto glass shop and ask for "FLEXTRIM UNIVERSAL MOLDING" This windshield molding is self sticking and comes in 75'foot bulk rolls PART# FTU0830-75. Get about 3'feet or if they dont have it ask for PART#WFS D1226 fits late 90`s to early 2000`s Dodge Caravan windshield.I put this molding on upside down around the part of the seat pan that touches the fender(I mean gapped at the fender), Like SKEEZ no need to drill out the fender to bolt down the seat pan it sits on there snug,now just ask your glass shop for a cowl plug,snip off the end and glue it in the hole with just a dab of black silicone. It looks like it rolled of the line at York,PA. it looks that good!!! 2010 Crossbones in Black Ice Denim with 01` heritage front fender ,03 springer heritage bags`10 fat boy rear fender,Vance and Hines Big Radius flat black pipes...DONE!!! Thanks to everyone for the advise. Doug in Maryland. (potata potata potata potata)

 

WHERE'S THE BLOODY PICTURES, MATE?!!?

 

Ummm, yeah. Pretty mean to make such a post with no pictures

And Rakthi, every time I see a picture of your bike I get utterly perplexed as to why in the hell Harley didn't install those fenders from the factory. Its truly baffling.