Drill from the outside, bag mounted and firmly in place. Use 3/8" bit, and 5/16"pins. This is how I did it a year and a half ago. A little angle is fine. Center on the rubber pad mount, and have at it-easy to do, and the slightly smaller diameter pin makes for easy install/removal.
Most any hardware store, go to a marine supply store for stainless, though standards are zinc plated and rust resistant. Length is most often determined by diameter, or original purpose if application is unique, 3" is all thats needed.
Where's Fred H. to rant & rave about how terminally flawed the design of the saddlebag attachment system is and how Yamaha ought to have designed it better and maybe you could grind something or other to make it work better because clearly it's a problem with the bike, not the rider. It must be the anchor points or something. You can half-mount (1) the bags and they just sit there and look like they're attached and then they fall off when you least expect it.
In this picture, what's catching the loop on the RHS? I see the LHS is going through the pin's head (G).Most any hardware store, go to a marine supply store for stainless, though standards are zinc plated and rust resistant. Length is most often determined by diameter, or original purpose if application is unique, 3" is all thats needed.
Maybe, maybe not. You might check if your latching system is loose. Install the bag and close the latch properly. Now try to lift the bag straight up (one corner will do ie the back corner). Look to see if the rear hook comes off its slot. If it does, chances are that your latch is also moving up, allowing the movement and resulting in a bag that's not secure.
On mine, I used 1/4 x 2" pins and drilled 1/4" holes. It's a little harder to line up, but it doesn't move or rattle, as the rubber holds the pins snugly.
+1 on 1/4 x 2" pins and 1/4" drill bit. $4.10 for both pins at hardware store and couple minutes of work. I like Radman only use this on long trips with loaded bags. :yahoo:
For the little time and money it takes to do this, it is well worth it for peace of mind. With the security pins in place. there could be a nuclear disaster followed up by an earthquake and a tsunami. Civilization as we know it would be destroyed.......but your bags will still be attached! B)I thought about doing that/this last year after reading the nop bag left behind, however.
The bags just do not fall off of mine!
Ihave pulled and tugged and the only time it moved enough to come off was if it was not latched on correctly.
