Put on the "Buckle" style hinges this weekend. The installation was straightforward, and I had the wife help me when I drilled and attached the lid. (I didn't want to disconnect the internal light wiring) Took me about an hour.
These hinges are really worth the money, time and effort. The way they are designed, they transfer the weight of the lid to the lower part of the hinge, which I think will keep the tour pack from breaking down the road of time.
With all of the money we spend on these things, this hinge kit is probably one of the better things you will buy. It's function and looks are 1st class. You guys with the Ultra's should be pissed they don't come as standard equipment.

 

I must admit , the new hinges do look much better than the stock hinges.
And yes , as a new Ultra owner , I felt a bit bummed that it didn't come that way.....
I thought it might be a hard sell when I mentioned them to my wife , but after she saw the difference , she agreed they should come that way.
Actually we got them kinda for free , because of the Harley VISA card we have , we had earned some points (dollars) on the card , so we turned the points into "Chrome Bucks" which we used to order them from the dealer.
Two Chrome buck slips ($25.00 each), and we had free hinges.
I also noticed when doing the hinges , the stock hinges have no security , as they use opposed phillips screws for pivot pins.
Two phillips screwdrivers , and you're in the pack with no key needed.
A very worthwhile mod for sure.
Mick

 

What year is your bike? I have an'09 and the hinges seem fairly well built. I took the tour pak lid off to install the luggage rack, and when I put them back together I used a little white grease on the hinge pins. But the hardware seems to work fine and really, the edge seal around the lid carrries most of the load of whatever you put on the lid. If you over pack (like we did on a run to Laughlin) the hinges are in tension, holding everything together.

 

Structurally the stock hinges are bullet proof. They're on hundreds of thousands of bikes with millions of miles collectively, and you don't hear of any hinge failures these days.
Visually though - it's got to be one of the ugliest pieces Harley puts on a their bikes!
When I got my Ultra I couldn't believe it was on a $23,000 motorcycle.
Eventually I got used to it because there weren't any alternatives.
I now have the new ones on my bike and couldn't be happier.
BIIIIIG difference!
And the bike seems quite a bit quicker now too!!!

 

I don't think the issue is that the stock hinges don't work. The issue is they look like crap. Now that I've got the new version on mine, I easily see the difference on those bikes that haven't upgraded yet. Went to the dealer Saturday, they had their monthly HOG meeting. There had to be 20 or so Ultras in the lot, and I noticed most of them have the ugly stock hinges.

The new ones are beefier, and just looks so much better.

 

I guess I am still honeymooning with the new bike, and honestly, my "harley eye" isn't that well tuned yet. I still get confused on a few of the models but finally remember which is which between a Road Glide and a Street Glide.

But with the potential for better performance, I'll check out the hinges on a few Ultras.

 

The new hinges look dramatically better. I never gave the old ones a second look until I had the opportunity to compare them to the new ones.
Also, the point about being able to undo the old hinges with nothing more than two torx drivers makes the new ones a home run. For about $50 it's one of the cheapest mods you'll make and you get good looks and security too.

 

As we all already know, HD purposely puts some sub par parts on our bikes, so they can sell us better ones. What a great marketing company, wouldn't you say. Having said that, I have to go get these hinges.

 

What changed in '06 so that these can't be used on an older tour pack? Anybody know?

 

Plus one on the wife helping !! I bought the hinges the same day I bought the bike. Had them on within the first week. Looks and works great !!!