Had to remove a bag today. Just pulled the two fender bolts and the two on the bottom of the bag that run through the rubber mount (#9 below).

While reinstalling the bag, I noticed how secure it was before I even got to the bottom bolts. In fact, the bag felt as sturdy as ever even though it wasn't contacting the sagging bracket.

The more I looked at the design, the less essential the brackets appeared to be. Especially considering the maximum capacity of a bag is 7 lbs. Just wondering if anyone is running their Deluxe's OEM bags sans brackets.

 

I had HD leather bags on my 16 Deluxe with nothing besides the fender bolts. Not sure if you are talking about external brackets that go with after market bags. pics would help. I've since switched to hard bags, but I can show pics with old set up.

 

Thanks Daddio. Yeah they are #2 and #6 in that parts schematic. I'll attach an actual pic of one.

 

Okay, here I'm pointing to the one on the left-sidebag (#6 in the schematic).

 

Yea, I didn't have any external brackets. Only held on with bolts. My bags are/were a little different from yours, but they held on fine. No slip or sag.