I was out for a ride yesterday and made a stop. Went to lock the hard bags on my Ultra and one of them wouldn't lock. The key would rotate full circle. So I moved what was in that bag and put it in the other one. Later when I got home I found the parts laying on the garage floor. Nut, cam lock and spring. Pretty lucky they decided to fall off where they did. However upon my attempt to replace them, I realized the thread on the lock stud, where the spring, cam lock and nut go, is stripped. The design of this thing is a$$anine. They put a fine thread on this stud which will strip much more easily than if they had used a coarse thread, but no matter. I put the nut back on as best I could and lock-tighted it in place.

My question is, does anybody know of any aftermarket fix. Harley wants $50 bucks for a replacement lockset and I don't think I want to put a new, poorly designed part back on.

 

mine did exactly the same thing, only in the hill country on a ride. I put it back together, used red loctite and it's never come off again. that was almost 2 years ago.

 

I have similar locks on my camper's storage compartments. I have also had one of those locks fall to bits. Luckily all the bits fell inside the compartment and I was able to reassemble the lock, with locktite, and it has worked flawlessly for two years now. If you have all the parts, just oil the lock so it works smoothly and reassamble the lock into the lid. Locktite the backnut so it stays on. Should only take a couple minutes.

 

Was it the left side? I replaced (under warranty) two of them on the left side, the right is fine.

One more thing, the left side is messed up again, it does not go all the way around but turns to the right (unlock) way to far, same problem as before.

You guys were absolutely right. I just checked mine and the nut was loose. I found if you get it too tight it won't work at all so it has to be on there loosely, that means there is nothing to keep it from vibrating off. A drop of red loctite, then adjust it to the proper tightness and hope for the best.

 

Yes it is the left side, and the problem is that the stud is stripped to the point where the nut will not fully tighten, leaving the cam lock a little farther up on the stud, which, even though I did locktite it, it allows more play in the latch when attempting to open it while in the locked position. I will try it for awhile and, if it doesn't come loose, will learn to live with it.