I was about to give the bike a bath and went to remove my saddlebags and I couldn't get the pins through the bag...The ends of three of the four pins had mushroomed...I don't know where the breaking point on these pins are but with the exception of two trips my left bag has my raingear in it and I carry a small insulated lunch bag in the right...I could have gone to the stealership and replaced the pins but I went to Lowes and got some u-bolts and mounted the bags in a much stonger way...the trade off is the need for a 1/2" socket to remove the bags..so what once took 30 seconds now takes three minutes...and the bonus is my bags can't be popped off from behind now...

 

Yeah, I carry spare pins in the saddlebag, in case one of 'em breaks on the road.

 

I replaced my pins before a ride to Savannah. Two were worn,
so now I have two spares in the bags.

 

i replaced mine with allen screws and clip bolts as well. For me, with the saddlebag liners, and wall organizer, plus the washer, the pins were just too tight, and i keep breaking them. This way i just need an allen wrench and i know they will never break, nor will someone be able to pop the pins off from behind.

 

Take the time to adjust the mounting hardware so the pins won't wear out.
Your bags probably aren't even either.
Not a bad idea to replace a pin with a bolt as suggested above. I like the one with the thumb screw and u nut.

 

I had one mushroom too, I was pleasantly surprised to find the dealer didn't charge some outrageous price for a replacement, I was expecting something crazy like $14.95 for a pin.

I did just do the U-Bolt/thumb screw swap this past weekend, much more sturdy and secure, definitely worth the $5 at Ace Hardware! Screw replacing the pin and do the U-Bolt swap, you won't regret it.

 

I don't understand the use of the U-bolt. The original pin is only passing through a single hole. How do you adapt the U-bolt when you have just a single hole?

 

I check the "rubbers" on the bag bottom a lot, and I've adjusted the brackets half a dozen times. I take my bags off always when I wash the bike. The brackets need fine tuning occasionally, I loosen them, put in the pins and retighten.... or you'll stress the pin ends.... obviously as some have found out. Force the ****** and they'll reach their limits and deform or break.

 

Anyone have any pics of u bolt install?

 

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