Highway Pegs for T-Rex Engine Guards

[Fred W]

Got a set of T-Rex Racing brand front engine guards and rear luggage guards for my 2014 this past winter. I really like the more complete coverage and protection these guards allow. But, they required me to remove my Motorcycle Larry Highway pegs because the front engine guards interfered with their location.

I searched around for a clamp-on type of highways pegs, but most that you find are for the cruiser crowd and only work with 1" diameter or bigger tubing. The T-Rex guards are made from 7/8" tubing. A local FJR owner / friend gifted me a set of inexpensive (free to him) universal fit clamp-on pegs to see if I could get them to work. They are the same as these: FleaBay Link

I tried building up the tubing diameter with rubber etc and then clamping the pegs on, but they would just spin on the bar regardless of how tight I adjusted the clamp. And I did not want to drill, mar or otherwise mutilate the crash bars as I want them to be strong when (not if) I need them to do their job of protecting my bike in a tip over.

I decided to take off the fancy Delrin "slider" from the guards (shown below) and see if I could attach pegs there.

After you remove the slider mount you are left with a 10mm x 1.50mm pitch hole in the guard. The footpegs have a 10mm x 1.0mm pitch hole in the mounting end. So I re-tapped the fine pitched hole in each peg mount with a 1.5mm pitch tap and screwed a short length of 1.5mm pitch threaded rod into it, then threaded that into hole in the Engine Guards.

I used two of the cone shaped clamping washers that came with the pegs as shims / spacers and iteratively filed the smaller end of the washer thickness down until the engaged threads were tight with the pegs at the right angles. Red loctite to hold them for posterity

Other than them being sparkly chromomium, I think they look pretty damn good, and will undoubtedly work well as a slider if pressed into that service. The location is a bit higher than where most highway pegs are located on FJRs, but they feel pretty great to me (I have pretty long legs). I might have to splurge and get some black pegs if these work out like I think they will.

When folded, the pegs hit the stops just before they contact the tubing of the engine guard. Nice.

It's almost like they wanted us to screw some highway pegs into those engine guards...

 

[Tanker]

Very nice Fred.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Very Good Stuff. That almost makes me want to trade out my T-Rex sliders for a set of engine guards.

With my pathetic skill set that may be a good idea anyway.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

Nice! Are you going to black them out?

 

[Fred W]

I was thinking of just buying a set of them in black: eBay Link

I guess I could just scuff them up good and shoot them black with a rattle can but I suspect the paint would not stay put for long.

 

[Fred W]

Oh what the heck... why not?

I scratched up the chrome with sandpaper before shooting with flat black, but I don't think the rattle can paint will hold up long. It does gives me an idea on how the powder coated black ones will look. Nice.

One thing that I should mention for those truly anal retentive among us that are considering this mod. The slider mount bosses that T-Rex welds onto their guards are not precisely angled, perfectly square, nor equal on my two bars. So, with the footpegs deployed there is a slight difference in the angle of the pegs to the horizon from side to side. It will not affect how they work, but is not perfect in appearance. When folded up they look equal and perfectly fine. which is where I intend to keep them except when actually in use.

 

[Panman]

Fred, how are the for position? They look a bit high to me compared to where the MCL pegs would sit.

 

[Fred W]

They are quite a bit higher, but they feel "right" to me. They put my thigh at about parallel to the road.

The only possible down side is it is a bit further to move your foot back to the rear brake, but that is really true of any Highway Peg.

One nice thing about them being up that high, no way in hell I'd be dragging the immovable part of those pegs on the road first

Also, FYI... I sent a message to the eBay seller of the black pegs that I linked to and they are painted, NOT powder coated. Probably not worth buying those.

 

[08FJR4ME]

Now what about Josie?

Someone aught to talk with T-Rex about adding another tapped hole location for this application. I think if I were to ever order a set I would ask them if they could do it for me. If they didn't I guess I would do it myself.

Dave

 

[Fred W]

I guess a passenger could move their feet up to the drivers pegs to stretch out, though it might be a bit of a problem when it was time for the driver to regain access to the controls there. Josie has short legs and doesn't get too cramped up. Come to think of it, at 4'12" I don't think she could even reach the driver's pegs.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

NICE!! The new bike is really looking good!

Can we get one more shot with your feet on the regular pegs and hiway pegs folded up?

 

[Big Sky]

Fred, it looks like the rubber inserts come out, judging from your shot of the backside. Could then the metal parts you have simply be powder coated?

 

[Fred W]

Yes, the rubber inserts do pull out. And I did remove them once already to spray paint them this morning. They had a little bit of glue in addition to the locking blobs of rubber holding them from the back side. FWIW they do not look all that bad with the rubber insert removed either. There are three round holes of differing sizes that the rubber locking blobs would protrude through. I just used a few dabs of silicone sealant to replace that glue.

Sure, you could have the pegs and their mounting parts sandblasted and then powder coated black. I'm going to wait and see how I like this location for a while, and then see what other types of pegs I can find to put in that same location.

I'm also wondering how well just spraying the footpegs with something more tenacious, like Rhino Liner, undercoating, or something similar would work. Might be too thick in the area that pivots

 

[Blind Squirrel]

Here is a link to some Ilium hiway pegs for BMWs. There might be something in there that would clamp to the bars if the ones you have don't work out for you.

*CAUTION* Ilium products are muy $$$! The link below is not for the feint of heart (or wallet)!

https://www.iliumworks.com/HIGHWAY_PEGS.cfm

 

[Fred W]

Problem with the clamp on pegs is the T-Rex bars are all at the wrong angles except way up high near where I have mine installed on the threaded bosses. I actually found those same pegs referenced in a thread somewhere online. I have no desire for > $300 set of highway pegs.

 

[08FJR4ME]

Here is a link to some Ilium hiway pegs for BMWs. There might be something in there that would clamp to the bars if the ones you have don't work out for you.
*CAUTION* Ilium products are muy $$$! The link below is not for the feint of heart (or wallet)!

https://www.iliumworks.com/HIGHWAY_PEGS.cfm

WOW, maybe I should be making BMW parts instead!

Dave

 

[Fred W]

Took the day off yesterday and finally put a few miles on the bike with these pegs, some of it on the slab.

And the verdict is...

Faggetaboudit. They are much too high. Bah!

I had wanted this location to work, both for me, and also it would be so easy for others to replicate. But while the pegs felt fine sitting in the driveway with a pair of jeans and boat shoes on, with all my riding gear it was much too high to be comfortable. They will be coming off today and the fancy sliders going back on. At least I didn't do anything irreversible to the bars, and the gifted pegs were free.

Sorry for setting up any false hopes. I should have checked it out on a ride before reporting on it. Now to resume the search for a highway peg solution that clamps on or... something.

 

[Warpdrv]

Fred - this is still do-able.... just get a nice clamp for Your Size Bars....

Similar to this....

https://www.amazon.com/Drag-Specialties-Three-Piece-Frame-Clamp/dp/B0081HN8PS?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

And for Pegs I went with these

https://www.amazon.com/Rivco-Products-Anti-Vibration-Highway-Pegs/dp/B005U80V6K/ref=pd_sim_263_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41Zvt-SQr7L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=1BVSXQW54CK2RSJFNZM6

Reasonable cost - and moveable to where you find the best in comfort.....

They grip just fine, and have never moved on me in 10K miles.

Heres a pic on them on my 15, with the Canyon Cages.

https://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d109/Warpdrv/2015%20FJR/PJF_6228_zps85bd5928.jpg

 

[Fred W]

The problem with the T-Rex cages is none of the tubes in that area are horizontal or vertical, except the very bottom bar. They are all at some weird angle. And I don't want to put anything on the bottom most bar if it's mount will ground out before the regular driver's foot pegs touch down. Not that I'm an aggressive rider, but when something does touch down I want to to be something that folds.

I have seen those 3 piece clamps, and will go with those if I can find a good place to mount them.