'08 Touring Saddlebag Lids Will Not Open

[Bernard Vinet]

Could be. So far my brief look at the mechanism tells me it is far more complicated than the bag locks on my Harley. When the buttons are pressed down they are somehow pressing on gizmos that move two latches upward. On my lids the buttons are hard to press down, open or closed, and when pressed as far as I can the latches just move slightly. I hate to mess with it but I think I'll need to remove the plastic covers over the mechanisms to get a full picture of how it is supposed to work and maybe a little oil here and there and maybe a little filing and/or trimming of parts is in order.

Had that problem . Use WD40 to clean out the gunk around the button that you depress .Don't really know how but a lot of gunk gets into there . Once it starts moving put a good lub oil & then do the WD40 once a year . Haven't had that problem since. Of course clear everything out of the bag and put some rags to get the excess out of the bag. WD stinks.

 

[BlackSails]

I had that happen on my right side bag. I don't remember how I finally got it open but it still frequently sticks. Mine requires that the lid be pushed sideways, i.e. pressure on the side opposite the button, toward the button with knee, and a little downward pressure on the inside edge with hand. Pops it every time. It is a pain and one of these days I'll likely file the catch a bit at a time till it works smooth. Hope that's helpful.

 

[Tripps]

If you spray it out, take the bag off and do it upside down, cleaner that way and debris should fall out

 

[H2ODog477]

WTF? Bike was delivered today in 100 degree heat 5 hours ago. Now dropped to 96, yeah! After wiping off 3 weeks and 2500 miles worth of shipping dust off the bike discovered saddlebag lids will not open. The lock buttons are very hard to press down. Not sure which way to turn locks. It does not matter which way locks are turned....lids will not open. I have applied pressure by pushing down on lids, by pulling up on lids and by pressing laterally against the side of the lids. I've done everything I can think of including silicone lubricant into the locks as well as around the circumference of the locks.

Hoping others have experienced this and know how to get them open......?

Thanks!

I have an 08 as well. Right side is hard to open but has so far. I've tried to adjust to no avail. I hope you find the problem.

 

[RockOn]

Spent several hours this PM trying to find a tool to unscrew what I thought were 3 Phillips head screws to remover the plastic cover over the lid latch/lock mechanism. Good grief, a nightmare. With my wife's handbag mirror and going through every tool I have and finally figuring out I had to hold the back end of the plastic inserts with a very long needle nose pliers I was able to remove the 3 gizmos holding the plastic cover.

Long story short: I drenched, flooded, drowned and smothered the mechanism with WD 40 Silicone Lubricant. There are at least a dozen friction points involving springs, rods, brackets, latches, plungers, etc. This is the most nightmarish Rube Goldberg totally unnecessarily over engineered POS I have ever encountered. On top of that it robs the saddlebag interior of precious space. Say what you will about Harley, and I have, they sure know how to implement the KISS principle.

Only with my two huge fat thumbs was I able to press the lock button down. When I actuated the mechanism with my fingers(pulling up on the rod assembly) the lock button was smooth as glass to operate. So was the rod, latch, spring, brackets, etc. when using my fingers......but when trying to push the metal tab on the button against the opposing metal tab on the rod assembly it was absolutely frozen and would not budge without my two fat thumbs giving it holy heck. Mind blowing complexity to perform a simple task. Pictures will show brown grease which is not anywhere near the mating surfaces of the aforementioned metal actuation parts.

After letting the numerous parts soak in silicone the right side lid now opens closes, locks, unlocks as it should. I saw no gunk or dirt anywhere in the mechanism, just the 12 year old grease that had no involvement that I could detect.

Exhausted, will tackle the left side bag in a day or two. Seems to me the two critical metal mating surfaces between the rod/latch assembly and the lock button assembly need to be coated in Teflon or something super slippery, otherwise a regular application of oil, silicone, whatever will be necessary on my bag latch assemblies.

 

[RockOn]

Here are the buggers holding the cover over the latch mechanism.

 

[Ygransom]

Spent several hours this PM trying to find a tool to unscrew what I thought were 3 Phillips head screws to remover the plastic cover over the lid latch/lock mechanism. Good grief, a nightmare. With my wife's handbag mirror and going through every tool I have and finally figuring out I had to hold the back end of the plastic inserts with a very long needle nose pliers I was able to remove the 3 gizmos holding the plastic cover.

Never having worked on my latches assumed they were screws, now I see they are auto body panel retaining pins. Lots of cheap tools for removing

 

[RockOn]

Now you tell me......thanks.

 

[RockOn]

Blasted the heck out of the left side lid mechanism with silicone lube and now both lid/latch/lock assemblies are humming along nicely. Those of you who were skeptical about my theory that the frozen lids might be a temperature related problem are vindicated. It appears to me now that these mechanisms just need some periodic TLC with good old lube rejuvenation. Thanks to all for the positive thoughts send my way.

PS I'm leaving the plastic covers off the latch/lock gizmos at least for awhile until I am absolutely certain I've licked the problem. Those, "auto body panel retaining pins" are a major pain in the neck. Only because I noticed they spin around and make it impossible to remove the screw in the middle of the pin was I able to get needle nose pliers on the back of the plastic pin to prevent their spinning and then able to unwind the center screw. I need to find the tool Ygransom mentioned. Maybe it solves this problem.

 

[Ygransom]

You don't remove th he screw, just pull it up like in your photo than pry the entire retainer up. To reinstall make sure center pin up, install retainer pushing on wings, than when in push c ed enter screw in