From what I understand reading here is that having a bag, say Rickrak on top of your tour pak can tax the hinges if you open it with the bag still on it. For me a tour pak is a convenient, quick access place to put my gear when I stop for lunch, etc. Having luggage on the pak means removing it to prevent stress on the hinges which negates the quick access. Storing stuff in the trunk also from I read can cause wear on the bloody latch which can cause issues. How do you guys deal with this, compensate, with this or am I over thinking? I may have a pattern of that.

 

IMO, if you need more space/storage, then you need to add a bag onto the top of the TP.
That being said, the extra weight of said bag can certainly tweak the hinges IF you allow the weight to bear on them.

To resolve this, I would put the non-essentials IN the TP & the quick access stuff in the bag on top.
BTW, I have upgraded (premium?) hinges and latches & I still use a tether to ensure that the TP lid stays put while riding.

I was on a group ride a couple years back and another rider's TP lid came open on the freeway... what a mess that made.

 

What he said…^^^. And if you do have to open the lid don’t open it all the way!

 

Open the lid slowly and load the tether slowly, you should be all good. Whip the dam thing open and bad things happen. i also have premium hinges and never had an issue, but always slowly. Good luck.

 

When I had my '00 UC I carried a tour pack bag bungee corded on top of my tour pack for maybe 10 (or so) years before the hinges failed.
Not a problem as I replaced the ugly OEM hinges with the fancier "Deluxe Hinges".
I rarely opened the tour pack lid with the bag on top and at the time the OEM hinges failed I had many "road miles" on that bike, including a trip up the Al-Can to Alaska.
Interestingly, a stranger "fail" (due to a design flaw) was the luggage rack that mounted the tour pack to the bike fracturing where bolt holes were "pierced" instead of being drilled that lead to the weakening of the metal.
I think I read somewhere that the weight limit for a tour pack lid is 10#, which I'm sure that I exceeded even though I load it as lightly with clothes, shoes, rain gear etc. but I don't think that caused to hinge or luggage rack failure.

Since then, I discovered a company (can't remember the name) that sold larger (chrome or black) washers that mount between the tour pack luggage rack and lid that spreads the weight on the lid and prevents paint/lid cracking and I installed them on my '13 CVU Ultra and also on my '18 Tri-Glide.

I have used the Rickrak mounting bracket along with a H-D Tour Pack bag and a metal support bracket lid support (replacing the OEM tether) on those two tour packs for 10 years without a single issue.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Where did you get the upgraded hinges, hinges, and tether?

 

Yes you're overthinking it. Just be gentle when opening and closing the lid, and don't let it hang open on the tether, open it partially and support the weight with your hand, I do it all the time.

 

You have to have some common sense here. Take the bag off the tour pack if you're going to open it. Those hinges were designed for a lid only. They're not over engineered for sure. So, that's what I did if I had a piece of luggage on the rack, and never had a broken hinge. Good luck.

 

The "deluxe hinges" were from H-D. I think they're now standard OEM's and the tour pack lid brace came from "eglidegoodies".
https://www.denniskirk.com/eglidegoo...SABEgIYu_D_BwE

 

This discussion is useful for us Freewheeler and RG3 owners. The luggage rack for these models look like it can take a substantial load but I can't imagine opening the trunk with any weight on the lid. A rack would be handy for light bulky items on occasion but I'm thinking more decorative than functional. The term "luggage rack" conjures up a more robust function than the design allows, imo.