Dusty Boots Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Nearly all GL1500 (and other Wing owners) I know who have a Trunk Rack, have cracks in their lids, (or will have cracks in their lids) due to overloading the rack, or by using the rack to open/close their lids. It is disheartening when it happens, being a fairly expensive and time consuming job to try and fix/ and or cover up these cracks. This past summer, after 4 yrs and 75,000mi, I developed a crack in my lid, despite having installed a set of rack risers, with the wider base to help distribute the load over a larger footprint. I had the rack loaded with a soft sided cooler with 2 x 2L and 1 x 1.5l bottles of frozen water in it and hit a bad bump, cracking my lid. This happened about mid way through this summer's 22,000mi tour I tried repairing the crack and all mounting points underneath my rack using some 1/4" thick ABS and ABS cement. It didn't hold up very well, as the crack enlarged over the next 5,000mi. As you can see in the photo below, it didn't crack at the mounting hole, but at the edge of the base, due to repeated 'flexing' of the lid under weight. (~ 15lbs) I recently visited a friend of mine while on tour this summer and he has had plans for producing a kit to help prevent that occurring. My visit was the 'Inertia' he needed to get this product into production. The 1/4" thick ABS panels are heat molded to an exact fit of the inside of the 1500 lid and the smooth side that attaches to the underside of your lid is covered with VHB 3M adhesive tape, which sticks tenaciously and is unaffected by weather/temps. Actual installation is quick and easy. You of course have to remove your trunk rack and re-drill the mounting holes through the panels, from the top and then reattach your rack once the panels are installed. This is what they look like after they were installed on my trunk lid. As you can see - very clean looking. The add a lot of support/rigidity to the trunk lid, underneath the rack. Since they were installed, I've travelled another 7,500mi with no further cracking appearing, despite loading the rack up with 20+lbs of 'gear' in my trunk rack bag. I think it fair to say that Rudy's Trunk Rack Reinforcement panels are doing their job! His Trunk Lid Reinforcement Kits come complete, with instructions/illustrations and unlimited customer support, for the price of $39.95. (plus $8 shipping to Canada) Rather cheap insurance in my books! He's trying to get hold of an old trunk lid from a 1800, so he can produce the panels for them, as well. Rudy has some other unique products available for Goldwings, which I'll start another thread on, but you can view them here, at his Web Store page. - http://rudysproducts.com/index_store.html Dusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireden Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Good info Ken and thanks for passing it along, I have been following Rudy's info for a couple of years since joining the North American Goldwing Forum, He is a wealth of knowledge for sure. just may have to invest in a kit for the trunk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankirv Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 Hey that was a very interesting post. I just installed a much cheaper after market trunk on my nomad and intentionally wanted this one so i can carry a small cooler on the top rack. I was worried about weight and now you have convinced me that i should take the precaution to strengthen the plastic lid my chrome rack is installed on. Thanks for sharing your post, i just need to figure out a way to strengthen my lid! frank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 Hey that was a very interesting post. I just installed a much cheaper after market trunk on my nomad and intentionally wanted this one so i can carry a small cooler on the top rack. I was worried about weight and now you have convinced me that i should take the precaution to strengthen the plastic lid my chrome rack is installed on. Thanks for sharing your post, i just need to figure out a way to strengthen my lid! frank. Do you have a Rhino liner spray in box liner dealer near you, that stuff will take the force of a TNT explosion if you can believe the ads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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