Lining up the bolt holes when fitting the rear carrier

Mike Sands

Supercharged
Joined
Sep 18, 2009
Messages
242
Location
County Durham England
Ride
roadster 2012
I've had the carrier on and off several times, but this time I cannot get the two chunky bolts to line up with the captive nuts on the rear fender framework. Is there a special order that you have to tighten stuff up. TBH I think if I tried to leave the carrier off now, I'd still have a problem. The front captive nuts have to line up so precisely with the holes through the subframe, I can't see how to do it.
Any tips would be welcome
Mike
 
Sounds like the fender has shifted a bit. Try jostling the fender by hand a little to see if it will align.
 
Tried everything Atomsplitter - including a ratchet strap to try and lift the fender (and its associated bracket). It sort of worked but to put the original fat bolt through, the holes have to be absolutely in line and I just couldn;t do it on both sides at the same time. I've settled for threading the next size thinner bolt through and used washers and a nyloc nut behind the original captive nut. It's not ideal as that fat bolt is taking a lot of the load of the rider on the seat, but I'm mid weight and never carry a pillion so it should be OK for now. Might get the dealer to take a look.
Mike
 
Are you talking about removing/installing the rear rack and having to line up the bolts that go through the frame rails into the captive fender nuts inside the rear fender??
If so, what I've done to make the job easier is take one of the front bolts, thread a nut down on it, grind a point onto the bolt and then remove the nut to straighten out the threads. It doesn't have to be ground down to needle point or anything like that.
Then put the other three bolts in loosely first, then thread the pointed one in last. Tighten them all down slowly and evenly.
Grinding that tip onto one of the bolts allows it to align the fender as needed.
I can't see any reason you can't do it to more than one of the bolts if you want.
 
Tried everything Atomsplitter - including a ratchet strap to try and lift the fender (and its associated bracket). It sort of worked but to put the original fat bolt through, the holes have to be absolutely in line and I just couldn;t do it on both sides at the same time. I've settled for threading the next size thinner bolt through and used washers and a nyloc nut behind the original captive nut. It's not ideal as that fat bolt is taking a lot of the load of the rider on the seat, but I'm mid weight and never carry a pillion so it should be OK for now. Might get the dealer to take a look.
Mike

I installed mine about 10 years ago and have never had it off, so I'd recommend what RocketEd advised, you won't have to use excessive force. Good luck.
 
Yes RocketEd that's exactly the problem - a great idea, so I will try that - and hope I haven't wrecked the threads in the captive bolt.
Thanks
Mike
 
I've had the carrier on and off several times, but this time I cannot get the two chunky bolts to line up with the captive nuts on the rear fender framework. Is there a special order that you have to tighten stuff up. TBH I think if I tried to leave the carrier off now, I'd still have a problem. The front captive nuts have to line up so precisely with the holes through the subframe, I can't see how to do it.
Any tips would be welcome
Mike

The exact thing happened to me 3 days ago. I needed to put my rear seat, sissy bar and rack on for a trip. It took me 4 hours to accomplish an hour job. The holes on the rear fender would not line up. Be patient, move the fender up and down, it will take but you have to work for it. It's frustrating. I have to go through it again when I get back from my trip and remove the rear seat and place my Rivco rack back on. Glad to see I wasn't the only one that had trouble. I thought it was all me. It was only 90% me.
 
I was going through the same thing every time I went from solo seat/no sissy bar to adding all that so I could mount my trunk for multi-day rides. That's what led me to try the pointed bolt thing.
I found it interesting when chasing down my wiring issue to find that Triumph does the same thing to mount the battery box to the lower rear fender extender. Evidently you can buy bolts brand new that have a "locater tip" for want of a better descriptive term.
 
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