Bummer ... pannier add-on latch broke. What to do to reinforce and reaffix?

[basketcase]

Soooo ... the photos pretty much 'splain the dilemma.

Both panniers have clasp type latches added. Clamp and lockset on the outboard side (i.e., on the bag lid), and the small clip/hook on the inboard side (black plastic).

The right side piece where the hook is mounted broke out, leaving a rather obvious hole. From what I can see, the area underneath and behind the hole is narrow, but it still looks assessable for installing a backing plate for reinforcement.

So my question is, what does the brain trust suggest as a backplate for doing the fix?

Back when I first got the bike I read up on this as part of filling my general reservoir of NT7 knowledge. I think thin metal is not feasible at this point. The rivets are already installed, so I'll have to work around the nubs to affect a repair.

I'm thinking some type of modeling plastic or PVC, but I wanted to query the brain trust before gluing in something that would immediately prove to be a mistake.

Thanks in advance,

Rick (scratching his head and wondering if he already asked about this?)

 

[mikesim]

It appears to me that the pop rivets possibly caused the stress to the already weakened plastic that caused the failure. I think it would be OK to use the pop rivets again but you must make sure that you carefully select the "grip range" of the rivet so that you don't overstress the substrates that they are clamping. If you have done this, then I would use small machine screws with a fender washer and a nylock hex nut. You can then torque the hex nut "just enough" to secure the assembly without overstressing the plastic. As far as the backing, I would recommend a thin aluminum plate expoxied to the underside of the pannier housing. The aluminum plate should be flexible enough to allow you to shape it to the curvature of the pannier housing. You may need to carefully remove some of the inner housing to give you access to the underside of the outer housing. Once you are satisfied that the repair was successful, you can epoxy a patch panel to the inner housing. This repair could be performed in situ but I suspect would be much easier with the housing off the bike. Hope this helps! I hope others chime in with some alternative (read better) repair methods.

Mike

 

[junglejim]

I pretty much agree Mike.

But my version (from seeing only pictures) might be to first epoxy some backer material and then reinstall the broken out piece together with the latch with blind rivets as Mike suggests. You’d have to grind or file the existing rivets out first. I’d do some experimenting with various plastic to see what bonds to the Honda plastic that broke. Clean surfaces with acetone or similar first. You could heat and form Kydex to the inside if you can get it to bond.

Good luck