Hey everyone. My wife and I are taking off in about a week on a 4000 mile trip on our 2008 Ultra. I have a Dakota T-bag I will be attaching to the luggage rack that weighs about 32 lbs. I am an experienced driver but never this far. Have any of you traveled with bags on the luggage rack and if so any trouble with the weight? Any other advice for a trip this long would be of help to see if I forgot anything. Thanks!

 

With that wgt on the back the slow speed steering will feel squirrelly, sloppy and not wanting to turn.

4000 miles in a week, two up, is kind of ambitious.

Stay safe and have fun.

Bwana

 

Thanks for that bwana1. 4000 in a week would be nuts. I am actually taking two and a half weeks through the Western National Parks. Thanks again!

 

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I thought that I read a warning label on my tour pack rack that stated your are not to exceed 10 lbs of weight on the tour pack lid.

That said, I have carried more than 10 lbs on the rack myself on my 2000 Ultra and the tour pack lid has never cracked.

However......
In 2000, there as a problem with the luggage rack which supports the tour pack and many had to be replaced due to the racks breaking at the mounting points for the tour pack.
THere was also a "kit" that you could get that re-inforced the luggage rack.
I had to replace two luggage racks within the first three years after buying my Ultra.
Yours being much newer than mine may never suffer this problem.

Also, I had to replace both latches on my tour pack, more than likely due to the pins on both hinges developing "play" in them and allowing the tour pack lid to "bounce" a bit, for many years.

H-D still uses the cheaper style hinges even though they sell a much higher grade hinge (looks much nicer too) as an optional replacement.

In defense of H-D, I think the trip up the Al-Can Highway in 2000 may have played some part in the first luggage rack breaking, even though I made it back to Iowa before the damage became evident.

 

When we go on a trip that long fully loaded it does take about a day to get use to how the bike handles with the added weight. I do put a bag on top of the tour pack and have found out on the 4 and 5K trips a few tips that may help you out.

We put all our heavy leathers and rain gear in the side bags along with the tools trying to pack the heavy items low on the bike. Then we pack our clothes in the tour pack, use large freezer bags and compress the clothes by sitting on the bags and then seal them up, same as using a vacuum bag just cheaper. We never open the tour pack lid with the bag attached to the luggage rack when fully loaded, worry about the weight on the hinges and cracking the fiberglass. So all the stuff we need to get to while on the road goes in the luggage attached to the tour pack lid, gloves, hats, sun screen, maps, camera, water, etc. its all light weight stuff. It works for us, enjoy the trip.

 

I probly had about 25-35 lbs. on the rack before.Handling was not all that bad.
You have to be careful when opening the lid with all that stuff on it.
When fully opened it will place a lot of stress on the hinge side of the bottom half of the pack.

 

Hey 2amguy. I know what you mean about the warning on the tourpak. On the 2008 it says 25 lbs. I just installed a new airwing luggage rack recently so hope all goes well.

 

To pdzani!
Thanks for the tip on the freezer bags. I agree on distributing the weight lower. Do you pump up the back air shock a little more with 2 up and that extra weight?

 

08 Racks have the same design flaw as the 2000's, it was 09 when HD finally fixed the rack that holds the Tour-Pak on the bike.

In any case, to the OP, 32lbs is more than it is rated for, but I have had FAR more on top of my TP and never had a handling issue.

That said, opening the TP with weight on it puts a lot of stress on the hinges and the hinge mounts. For that reason I would put as much light stuff in the bag up top as possible...that way you will not have to be overly careful opening up the TP lid each time. Put the heavy stuff forward and bottom of the saddlebags.

Depending on where all you are going, make sure you have the right gear.

Wife and I just got back from a 9200 mile trip and we rode in 100+ degree temps and we rode thru snow and got snowed on in 30 degree temps.

We were able to enjoy the entire trip because we had the right gear for the weather.

In all the 9200 miles it only rained twice, but both times it was cold and we made use of the rain suits we had with us and were able to ride warm and dry.

Other advice...stay flexible on your schedule. You may find places you want to spend more time than originally planned.

Have fun!

 

I have carried much more than ten pounds on my tour pack. I figured that the 10 pounds was just the rating of hinges when the lid was open. I am often wrong, but never in doubt.