The plastic backs of my factory bags have cracked around the screw holes and the after loading them for camping the cracks are spreading downward.

Can anyone recommend the proper glue to glue them back together? I'm thinking I'll use some metal and screws to reinforce the repair as well.

The backs are HPDE plastic which I've had a very hard time trying to glue in the past. Nothing seems to stick, including JB weld or expoxy, as the HPDE is so flexible and slick (even sanding it before trying to glue it).

Thanks in advance guys!

p.s. I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this question, but, from experience I know the EVO guys have the right answers!!

Edit thanks to Tony_N see answer in post 39.

 

No glue is going to give you a lasting repair. I believe that is ABS. I have seen (Harbor Freight or Eastwood) an ABS welding kit that would do the job. In the meantime, drill small holes at the terminus of the cracks to stop them from going any further. I'm not familiar with those bags, but there should have been large washers at the mounting holes to prevent this from happening.

 

If it's not visible drill the holes as recommended to stop the cracks at both ends. You can drill and use zip ties to stitch it back together if you can't see it. Another option after drilling would be to sand and use plastic epoxy and a small piece of plastic over the sealed area as reinforcement. There's a lot of options. I JB welded my pool pump which is plastic 2 years ago. It was a large crack on the handle port. It's held fine and it vibrates all summer and is under pressure. The key is roughing the surface where your epoxy will go.

 

go with one of those fiberglass patch kits


Bob
1997 Heritage

 

They work well on fiberglass, but not ABS.

 

If it really is abs plastic, I have had good luck doing a repair just like I would with fiberglass. (I had an old hard sided pop up camper that was mostly abs). If done right the repairs will hold and last. I had good luck with fiberglass mesh tape and the abs glue you can get at like home depot and such. For extra strength, or larger repairs, I would use a fiberglass repair kit and it also bonded well to the abs. I think a combination of plastic welding and abs glue/fiberglass repair kit would be the way to go. Just my own past experiences, YMMV

http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Plastic...ith_ABS_cement

http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/goo...repair.461515/

 

I have been using Plast-Aid ( http://www.plast-aid.com/ ), it has worked well for me on motorcycle plastic.

 

Fiberglass is fine for ABS. Ask my hacked up tour pack. My best friend is a well respected and very experienced body man up in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He repairs bag mounting holes by drilling the ends of the cracks and then glassing a big fender washer into the inside of the bag and repairing the backside of the bag before painting. Then uses something similar to this kit to secure them.

 

This looks interesting, have you ever tried it on the type of plastic the back of the bags are?

Does anyone know what kind of plastic the bag backs are made it? They seem like HDPE to me but I don't know. It's pretty slick and it's somewhat flexible so I worry that fiberglass won't stick to it and the wrong epoxy might dissolve it.

Thanks for the advice guys, please keep it coming.

 

I have only used it on Japanese bikes, side covers, fairings and the front end of a van with a split in the plastic. My own experience with fiberglass on plastic is that the fiberglass dries so hard that the plastic around it starts to break.