Yes, another ammo box pannier.

[Barbarin]

Hello friends,

I bought these ammo boxes a while ago, as I wanted them for my XRV750. They are superbly made, is a great design and I love its look. I seriously doubt any other pannier will be able to take the abuse they will stand.

Anyway, I decided to mod them to irmprove its adaption to the use they will see in the future.

Let's share what I did today.

1. Weighting the components and taking measurements.



The whole thing is 9,200 Kgr, as they are now. Then we will have to add some hardware for mounting and locking.



Take a look at this, This is the weight without the lid, 6,400 kgr. This means the lid is 2,800 kgr!!! Wow, here is where we should work.

VOLUME. The internal volume is 35,5 cm * 45,7 cm *18,7 cm = 30.337, 945 cm 3. Little bit more than 30 liter.

2. Improving its useability. One of the things I was thinking about was substituting one of the closing with a hinge. But if you use a hinge you will not be able to remove the lid completely and use the it for other purposes. Finally I have decided to cut one of the lips to improve the way the lid opens when you just unlock one side. Keeping in mind my english, I think the best I can do is to post some pics.



Not modded, As you can see you can open it no more than 30º angle.



Modded. Near 45º, and room enough to handle a lot of things.



This was the lip before being cut, I removed near 7 mm. The whole box still closes firmly. I think I will try to remove one or even two more milimiters to get a + 55º angle.

3. Now, lets put the lid on a diet.



First of all remove the seal to avoid burning it while cutting the reinforcements.



Then remove this part of the lips. It has some use when the ammo box is feeding a machine gun, but not that much as a pannier.

(More to follow tomorrow...)

[Barbarin]

Chapter 2.

I keep with the diet.



Handles away! Maybe they are great when you need to move a box full of 20 mm bullets, but on the road are heavy and noisy. I will make a couple of paracord handles with tubes instead.



Here came the moment to remove the most part of the lid. A no way back moment! Keep enough area to overlap the alloy sheet and maybe to rivet it!!



The moment of Sikaflex, a PU based adhesive compound which I think is a present of gods to every "farkler". With all that area this is not going to need rivets when it gets hard.



Not bad looking right? I used a 1,5 mm sheet.



This is the result, by now, 8,100 kgr. 1,1 Kgr removed. Well, still heavy. but a 12% reduction on weight is great. And the whole lid now is not an element that in case you drop in your "unbooted" foot will smash it.

(More to follow)

[Barbarin]

Now the attachment system. Made from alloy, 3 mm sheet and 16*16*1,5 mm square tube. And of course PU glue, rivets, M5 and M8 screws.



Another view. OK, a lot of things to be finished with a better look. But right now is fully functional.



Just one knob and one M8 screw.

[Barbarin]

An the end result.

Javier

[bomber60015]

what a great report, sir!

would that we could get that glue over here in the states -- I know of nothing similar.

[the_gr8t_waldo]

that's amazing!!! the bike shows no ill effects of loading it with almost 9 tons!!! if i haden't of seen it for myself, i would of said that was impossible!

[the_gr8t_waldo]

that glue is widely available here in "the states"

[Barbarin]

http://usa.sika.com/en/system/locato...stributor.html

Here you are the distributor locator for Sika in the USA.

One of the reasons to use this kind of adhesive is because it reduces those small gaps which are responsible of the vibration induced fatigue for screws and rivets. Of course is waterproofing too.

When you use it remenber to be dressed on old clothes, because when gets on any fabric, it remains forever. There is no way to remove it. The best tip to apply it and then clean all the areas while it is not cured, is to use a lot of liquid soap and paper.

Waldo, those kg ae nothing compared to a passenger.

BTW, the rack is a GIVI.

Regards

[bomber60015]

thanks for the tip(s) on the glue, fellas -- I'd never heard of it, which means absolutley nothing, of course . . . . . .

learning is good! (time for a nap)

[NinetyNine]

Originally Posted by the_gr8t_waldo

that's amazing!!! the bike shows no ill effects of loading it with almost 9 tons!!! if i haden't of seen it for myself, i would of said that was impossible!

[dlh62c]

Originally Posted by Barbarin

I seriously doubt any other pannier will be able to take the abuse they will stand.
)

I'm sure their very robust..

Think about what's the next weakest link in the system. Is it the bikes subframe?

In a drop or crash, somethng will have to give.

daryl

[Barbarin]

Originally Posted by dlh62c

I'm sure their very robust..

Think about what's the next weakest link in the system. Is it the bikes subframe?

In a drop or crash, somethng will have to give.

daryl

Yes, I know what you mean, a mechanical fuse. Well, an ammo can is solid, but is not a rigid element. so it can absorve energy in case of impact.

[Barbarin]

To get them finished I used "nero ducati" matt black. Prime and two component paint. The paint was prepared at the shop (You must use it in less than 8 hours)





Well, you had enough cell phone crappy pictures. This weeked I'm having a two day trip, and will have the Canon reflex with me to try to get better pictures.

Regards,

Javier

[LI LT Owner]

[Barbarin]

Better pics, as promised.