I just put a set of these on my Ultra tonight. I must say, it is a process but the end result looks soooo much better than stock. I thought I'd pass on my experiences with this for anyone who may be considering them.

First, the process really isn't that bad overall but Harley's instructions aren't that great. At least I think they could advise us to take steps that would be somewhat easier. I'll try to explain.

The first thing we do is remove the tether cable that keeps the tour pak lid from over extending and disassemble the factory hinges. I must admit, I was a bit dismayed at how easy that was. I had them both apart in about a minute and a half. No big deal at all.

Next, we drill out the rivets that hold the upper and lower hinge assemblies. Again, no big deal although staying clear of the weather stripping on the tour pak lid can be a little dicey. You just need to be very careful so as not to tear up the weather strip, or your fingers with the drill bit.

Once all the factory hinge parts are off the tour pak, it's just a matter of bolting on the new ones. Here's where I think the factory instructions have things backwards. They want you to bolt the hinge to the tour pak body first and then mount the lid. It seem very reasonable except that holding the lid in proper alignment (this job definitely requires two people) is more than a little bit of a PITA. Anyway, we struggled with it for about 15 minutes and couldn't get the bolts to thread cleanly. Finally, we decided to bolt the hinge to the tour pak lid and "then" bolt it to the tour pak body.

When we tried to do this, we discovered why we were having such a hard time getting the bolts to start on the upper hinge points on the lid. There are a set of pins that engage the rivet holes along the lip of the tour pak lid. In my case, those holes were not big enough to allow the pins on the hinge to properly engage and it was holding things apart. Clearing out those holes with an 11/64 drill took care of that problem. After that, mounting the hinges on the tour pak lid was a no brainer and subsequently bolting the lower half of the hinges to the tour pak body was equally easy. "Way" easier than doing it the other way around like the instructions would have you do it. Also, the instructions say nothing about enlarging the rivet holes in the tour pak lid (the ones under that weather stripping) to allow for those pins in the new hinge.

It took a bit of thinking to get it done in spite of the marginal instructions but the process really isn't as bad as I thought it might be. Hopefully, this will help the next folks that decide to give this mod a try. It definitely improves the look of the tour pak.

All the best & Ride Safe,
Steve R.

 

they do make a huge difference. I also had to increase the hole size

 

I'm hoping the MOCO will soon come out with those and the solo tour pak mount in black to match the latches on my SG. Really don't want to buy chrome for either part.

 

You cant beat the look for the price, but its a time to insatll them.

 

Thanks for the write up. Mine are on the way from Chicago HD along with another $1200 worth of stuff. Man are they slow.

 

I, too, mounted the hinges on the lid first, then to the body.

 

This is what they look like, for the guys who have not seen them yet

 

For the price...best bang and bling

 

In installed these hinges on my tour pak and they definitely enhance the appearance of the tour pak. Great mod! I was happy to get the original rinky dink hinges off the pak.

I had three issues. I had to use a backup tool on the rivets because half of them would start spinning before I could get the rivet head drilled off. The screw holes in the tour pak had to be drilled out larger so the new screws could self tap. The assembly procedures to install the hinges did not work well and I pitched the instructions. I installed the bottom hinge screws and fitted the top to the hinges and carefully install the hinge tops screws, then torqued all screws.

 

Great write up THANKS just finished this mod by myself, took about 45 minutes and looks great.

Mark