Triumphrat

jvswan · 11-24-2012, 11:02 AM

Hi all, I spent about 4 hours yesterday installing the factory rack on my ST. What a pain in the butt! The welds on the sub-frame wouldn't allow the rear mounting bracket to go in, so I had to grind down the bracket to get it to fit. Then there were issues with the factory side bag racks. What a mess.

Anyway, after much grinding of metal, knuckles and teeth, I got it on there. BUT, with the rack mounted securely, it pinches the cable on the seat latch such that I can't get it to open or close properly, and the seat won't stay latched because it won't close all the way.

What have y'all done? Is there some other way to route the latch cable? Should I shim up the latch mechanism, so that I get an extra couple of MM under it? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

CharlieS · 11-24-2012, 12:17 PM

Pics would be helpful. I can't tell what you have going on there. I will say that the 955 Sprint subframes can leave a lot to be desired. The original on my 02 has the 2nd from last cross member at the rear welded on crooked. Another subframe that I have that I bought and found to be bent, has the cross member placed straight and square. I guess that's a bit of the stuff that gives this bike character?
I never had any problem with the latch because of installing the rear luggage rack. But I never procured and installed the reinforcements either.

jvswan · 11-24-2012, 01:13 PM

Well, I added a washer under each bolt for the latch, and I added three to the rear mounting bolts on the rack. That seems to have given the cable just barely enough clearance. It does close, perhaps not as far as I'd like, but enough that if I give my seat a good thump, it latches securely. Hopefully it doesn't add too much pressure to the system. I'd hate for my seat to come off unexpectedly!

SS313 · 11-24-2012, 04:35 PM

I can't help you with the bracket issue but my seat takes a good thump to get it to latch correctly. If it does come loose on you you won't go flying off. It just kind of moves forward and backward like a car seat that hasn't been locked in.

CharlieS · 11-24-2012, 04:46 PM

Mine takes a thump to get on, and a thump to get off, too. Once it's latched, I can't see it coming undone. Some of the tbirds and tbs's have the same latch, and one guy had his cable come off, or something, and he had to fish under the seat or take the fender off in order to work the latch to release his seat. I think you'll be ok. Guys with the newer sprints without latches used to comment on the difficulty of their seat screw, and would just leave them out.

jvswan · 11-24-2012, 11:59 PM

Good info, thanks guys. I'm happy to have the rack on. I'm going to chew on this issue a bit. Perhaps later I'll modify the top mounting bracket to allow more space for the cable to run straight. Might add another layer of washers under the latch, to raise it up a bit more. In the mean time, she's tight and straight, so I'm ready to hop on and hit the road again!

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