Fitting Tool Tube for F800GS

My tool tube setup: was pretty easy to mount with just a few pieces of 'mending brackets' from Ace Hardware.





With tool tube bag:

Mine here

if yer making one out of pvc and have to fab some brackets.... make them out of steel not aluminum the vibration broke my 1/8th thick al. stock....just saying

That's no good:
your Camel Tank needs to in that exact spot.

This also happened to me

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=465084

But adding the bags really improves the usefulness.

Done.

Here's the one I made for my bike. Fitted on Hepco Becker racks. Locking, waterproof and pressure relief valve. Opens easily when going from 16,000 feet to sea level.

Nice! Rex - you would happen to have a pic of the tool tube take apart do you? I'd like to see the individual pieces you used in hopes I can replicate it where I am

Sorry, I didn't take pics of it when I was putting together.

Basicly it consists of a 4" piece of pipe with cap glued on one end and the screw cap glued on the other.

Getting lid ready for cable - The square piece on the screw cap is hollow on the back side which would let moisture in when a hole is drilled through it to accommodate the cable. So, I drilled the hole through the cap for the cable. I got a piece of plastic tube with an inside diameter of the cable and stuck the tube inside the hollow connecting the two holes through the sides of the square part. Then pressed some plumbers putty in that whole hollow area, filling the square part up. Dries hard as a rock. The plastic tube makes sure there is a clear run for the cable and the cable won't chafe the dried putty. The result is waterproof.

Cable for lock - then took my lid down to one of the wire rope outfits here, picked out a good quality stainless steel cable and they pressed on a stopper on one end and a loop on the other end. The whole idea of this cable is to make it just long enough that when the lid is turned tight, the end of the cable will reach near to one of the cross members of my rack and I can lock it on there. Once locked on, it is impossible (save destruction) to turn the lid off.

Since the tube was now completely water and air tight, I was concerned about being able to unscrew it if I had a significant change in altitude and air pressure. I have Cariboo bags that are based on Pelican Cases which have a waterproof pressure relief valve that looked like it would be perfect. So, I called Pelican and asked them if they would sell me one of their waterproof pressure relief valves they use on their Pelican cases. The guy said sure, they would classify it as a warranty claim and send it right out no charge. I then told him I was leaving in a couple of days and he also ate the cost of super fast 2 day mail. Hey Pelican . . .

You will have to figure out how to attach it to your racks . . . I assume they are something different than my Hepco Beckers. I basically secured a piece of 1 1/4" steel strap to my racks (running parallel to the tube) and then strapped the tube on with 5 large stainless steel hose clamps. My theory is that that I had the screw heads pointing different directions (mostly towards the bag) making a very long, difficult and tedious job for some ladrón to be able to steal the whole thing.

So, with that tube I did a trip to South America and a small trip to Mexico. I went through altitude changes from sea level to 16,000 feet. Never a problem opening it when I needed it. My bike was usually parked in secured parking overnight but not always. I did notice once that it looked like someone tried to loosen one of the bands but obviously gave up. Very happy with it.

One thing you want to be really carefull about is making sure you have enough room between the bottom of the tool tube and the chain when you shock is fully compressed. I cut it really close as I notice a bit of scuff on the chain guard where it was rubbed a couple of times by the tube. Not wearing through and not enough for me to worry about.

Well, that's a lot of bla bla bla. If you need clarification or more pics of what is there let me know.

Tons of great info Rex!... thanks for detailing the process. I had seen (and made) similar with PVC, but I like the added cable lock is a good idea (much safer than a hose clamp) and pressure valve is a nice touch. Your set-up works a lot better than a few drilled holes and is much more waterproof! I have been trying to figure out a way to keep tools on my bike at all times, but living in central america, safety is an issue, so I have been looking for a discreet way to store it. I am going to give this a try. Hopefully I can find all the needed parts. Cheers.

Just thought I'd share what I made for a tool tube for my 2013 F800 GS. I currently have Touratech Zega Pro cases and wanted to fill the "void" on the ride side of the bike without interfering with the installation/removal of the side case or anything else for that matter. I'm not a professional fabricator, and did not have access to fancy tools for bending/shaping, but I had some spare aluminum in my shop and decided to make some templates out of cardboard. I bent the aluminum by hand and with a rubber mallet and drilled holes with a small drill press. I ended up making the whole bracket out of three separate pieces, fastened together with bolts and I had my friend who's a welder put a few tacks in it for me. I made the tube out of 4" ABS pipe. The bracket attaches between the Touratech bracket at the back and the two threaded holes in the bike's sub frame that were left vacant after I removed BMW's "Vario Case" brackets. No drilling or cutting into the bike was necessary. Overall it came out very nice, I painted it and the bracket all flat black, it's water tight and very sturdy. It has plenty of room for tools, spare parts, chain lube, rags, etc.. Here's a link to the slide show! Enjoy and feel free to ask me anything regarding what you see, as I was not able to put captions on each photo explaining what I did.

-Dan

http://s1369.photobucket.com/user/heavydutydan/slideshow/BMW Tool Tube Project

End caps for straight PVC tool tubes. Also come in OC colour.

Not cheap, but look nice and functional. 100mm and 150mm sizes. Lockable.

http://www.krsaustralia.com.au/products/bazooka-end-caps

It's nice to see some of these old threads come back to the surface. Good job guys.

Everyone that mounted a tube on the right rear. Where are you going to mount your Camel Tank?

No need here

One or the other. I put my tube in because the Camel Tanks weren't developed yet and I wanted a little more space for the "necessary" shit we all think we need to carry with us.

Were I to do it again, I'd seriously think about the Camel Tank and put the tools somewhere else.

That is very nice. I'm going to see about getting one of those.

I mounted one of those plastic tool tubes to the side of the frame of my old DR-Z400 and filled it up with tools and eventually one plastic mounting tab snapped completely off and the other had cracked and was hanging by a thread when a fellow rider pointed it out to me and I ripped it clean off by hand on the spot and threw it in my top case.

So if I were to use one again in the future I would NOT mount it in a sideways position where it could wobble up and down on bumpy trails but only in a position where it sat flatly on its mounting tabs as shown in the pic below (or upside down in the same way) or in a vertical position like it was meant to hold a drink. That or I'd only use it for storing much lighter things than metal tools. Or just use a tool tube without those plastic tabs and mount it with a study metal bracket.