Fixin' a crack...

[samc]

So, one saddle bag on my new-to-me R65LS has two cracks. One was patched with epoxy and looks pretty good, the other with what appears to be JB Weld, which is wonderful stuff, but it looks like a young child did it. The crack itself gapes about 1/16" on the visible surface. I seem to recall fixing a crack in the bag on my previous oilhead (yes, I'm regressing) with ABS cement. at least, that's what I think.

What're the old bags made of, what's an effective patch? I'm thinking of just filling the gap with more JB and a little satin black paint, and cleaning up the inside, but that still seems pretty sloppy.

Ideas, suggestions, experience, critique.......?

[montmil]

... I'm thinking of just filling the gap with more JB and a little satin black paint, and cleaning up the inside, but that still seems pretty sloppy...

Good ol' JB Weld - a Texas product by the way - can be sanded, shaped, drilled, tapped, painted, etc. It's also useful as ButtCrackDapSpacklePutty!

If it was moi, I'd go with your JB idea. After curing - or perhaps while it's still "putty-like, trowel in a bit of matching texture. Get artsy on this deal. Whittle a popsicle stick into an artisans tool and rehab the bag. Paint it rattle can style and, if the finish is too shiny, knock off some gloss with a fine-grade ScotchBrite pad. Who's gonna know?   [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]

Some coarse emery cloth will smooth off the interior if it bugs you.

[nhmaf]

If it were me, I'd go with some epoxy and maybe a bit of fiberglass cloth if it were a large/long crack.
While some would gladly jump in a lifeboat made entirely of JBWeld, I think that I'll only use it on metal
applications that aren't super-critical.  But, that's me..

I know that the later cases were made of ABS and ABS cement would work well on them, not sure about the earlier
ones, and the ABS cement works best when the surfaces can be brought together.

[MrRiden]

SAMC,
This came up not too long ago. A fix was suggested that werked for me. details here:
http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-technical-articles/repairing-abs-bags.htm
rich

[BigJohn]

I purchased an older set of Krausers off eBay and now I'm trying to repair the cracks.  The left one has a piece about 3" by 3" broken loose from the bottom rear that is the worst. So far I've tried the following (in this order):
    From HD- PVC/ABS generic cement. It puts down a layer of clear thin film that does not penetrate the plastic and when dry cracks right off.
    Next was the specific ABS cement from Ace H/W. Thick black fluid which I painted on and waited a day to test. The solvent evaporated away leaving a black (ABS?) coating on the cracked areas which easily lifted up as it did not penetrate the plastic at all.
    Now I moved on to a plastic cement from a hobby store as the label says it's for ABS.  Worked very similar to the first PVC/ABS stuff from HD. Lays down a film but doesn't touch the base plastic in any way. Peels right off with the edge of a knife.
    Last was IPS Weld-on #16. Recommended for ABS and contains methylene chloride, an ABS solvent. It has a syrupy consistency, but again, no penetration into the base plastic.
    At wits end and out of my $30 budget for repairs to these bags, my next ploy is to pop rivit an aluminum plate over the very bad area and mask off the non-plastic parts and spray the inner halves of both bags with a can of spray-on truck bed liner coating. If this stuff turns out like the pickup beds it should be very tough and lasting and not look too bad!  I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any.  Save your money and don't buy any of the recommended repair cements!  I had thought about a plastic welder, but a cheap one (from H-F) is $30 and there's no guarantee it would work, so I'm off to Ace H/W after work for some pop rivits and small washers to go on the inside to re-enforce the rivits.
Hope this saves someone some time and money!

[samc]

it turned out to be ABS as I had hoped; the big crack is still no beauty contest winner, since it bulges a bit and is about 2" long, but I have to look for it, it doesn't scream "look here!". I might rout out the JB Weld and do a do-over on it. The other two small cracks are about invisible. Goo-ed them together with ABS cement from Home Desperate and voila!

[MrRiden]

Big John Sir,
I'm intrigued by your "truck bed liner" fix for otherwise unusable cases. I've been marveling lately at how nice some of the new trucks fresh from the dealer look. It seems that they now spray the coating over the paint at the top rim of the bed and it looks quite good! You may well have come up with a plan to recycle cases that were trash. Wondering what it would cost to professionally spray the OUTSIDE of said cases. I'd love to see the results! I'd be wary of the coating changing the dimensions at the points where the cases mount to the brackets. Photos please!
rich
who is now searching ebay for junk cases!

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I will have a set of WELL USED touring bags for sale at some point (when I get my new ones).

There is a fellow in my state that rides a /5.  He took the gas tank, split it down the middle, added a section, and then finished it all off with bed liner (on the outside...).  Kind of interesting.

[mikethebike]

I'm fixing a crack where the rain gets in,
To keep my mind from wanderin,
..............................
Sorry!  

[BigJohn]

Just this past weekend I cleaned up my old cases and scuffed the inner half outer surfaces with 100 grit sandpaper and scotchbrite. I wiped them down with PVC cleaner (MEK and other nasty stuff) and masked off the otherwise OK looking lids and aluminum parts. I then sprayed them with aerosol truck bed liner. This stuff is about $10 a can at Advanced or Auto Zone and came out OK after several coats, but it's not REAL truck bed liner. The genuine liner apparently is a flexible plasticy two part system that comes in a quart can and costs $50 from the same vendors. Too much for me at this time. The spray stuff dries pretty hard but you can still scratch it with your fingernail unlike the real liner. Get two cans if you have some cracks that need filling.  One can gave both bags two good coats, but probably four would be better. My  left bag actually had an entire chunk hanging off the bottom rear so I took an aluminum patch and pop-rivited it on. The spray on liner won't make the patch invisible, but it will hide it a little and maybe with a sticker or reflector or two no one will notice!  I finished it off by bolting on two new seat belt style buckle blades (from Bob's BMW, $13 each.) Then applying Mothers "Back To Black" onto the lids to make them shiny and new looking.  For a few days I'll run a bungee from handle to handle so the bags at least won't come off entirely, but I'm going to pop-rivit a small eyelet to the top rear of each lid that will be attached to the top rear of each side of the frames to hold the bags AND the lids on at the same time AND not look terribly cheesey!  I'll try to take some pix. Now, If anyone has some old keys, S324 and S342, laying around they'd like to sell, things would be really good!

[montmil]

... I'll try to take some pix.

Try harder, LargeJohn. Show off your rehab work.  [smiley=thumbup.gif]

[rl900]

Now, If anyone has some old keys, S324 and S342, laying around they'd like to sell, things would be really good!

Try this site - http://www.motorcyclekeys.com/blanks5.html

They claim to have the S324 keys, maybe an S342.  Otherwise email Michael Krauser in Germany.  He will mail you a couple keys for about $30. -http:// http://www.michael-krauser.de/english/contact.html

Ron L

[mikethebike]

These guys have them under their "Keys" section:-
http://www.towersecurity.co.uk/
Very helpful - sorry about the £/$ exchange rate though!  At least you're paying more bucks for your gas these days!
Mike (GB)

[BigJohn]

Here are the bags attached!  (At least I hope it is!)  They came out, well, not too bad.  They look good in the pix, but could be better close up.  As I didn't pay much for them I can't complain.

[BigJohn]

And another!