Can't take the saddlebags off to clean the back wheel and other parts without it breaking the small rubber mount at the front lower brace for the bags. When you try to turn the nut off it twists the rubber until it breaks. They had to replace one when the bike was brand new even before I rode it. Is there something else that replaces these stock rubber mounts. I thought about just using a regular bolt and eliminating the rubber bushing but was concerned about the vibration maybe cracking the fender etc. Has anyone found a cure?

 

what I did when this happened to mine was to use vice grips on the back side and replaced with new ones. from Harley. This was couple yrs ago and they have been working fine since.

 

Mine is hard mounted. No rubber. Works fine, no harm no foul.

 

Tried that, It just tears the rubber and still won't come loose.

 

there is a brass insert u need to clamp onto to hold it, I found that the one time I took mine to a Harley dealer there tech put lock tite on the screws and i gotscrewed. It was a bi--h but it will break loose.

 

Thats probably what I will do if I can't find a good replacement. Harley never seems to learn about the little things.

 

Just don't use lock tite on the new ones. you will find on the new ones you put in you will need to tighten couple time so the brass will form itself to stay locked. Only giving you info on what I went thru.

 

I have the relocation kit on mine which makes them hard mounted. Being hard mounted has not hurt anything at all. Before that my rubber mount came off ok. I made sure to remove any lock-tite on the acorn nut.

 

That piece is called an 'isolator' to absorb vibration. The outside thread is not connect to the inside thread. You can use pliers to hold it steady to get it off the first time. Then don'e put it back on tight at all. The acorn nut is designed to not vibrate back off and even if it did it wouldn't hurt anything. Kind of a poor design but livable.

 

Trouble is , I used pliers and it still won't come off without ruining the rubber. They must of used a lot of lock tight at the dealer when they prepped the bike new cause it is like welded. Poor design, if they would have left enough steel exposed in the shape of a wrench to get a wrench on it, would have solved the problem.