Aligning the Grab Rail.

[Carl]

I hope someone can help me with this problem. 

I had to change out the rear tire and service the final drive.  Reassembly was going ok until it was time to install the saddlebags.

I cannot get the front hole in the grab rail to line up with the hole in the frame.  Wheel up, wheel down; shock on, shock off; rear bolt in, rear bolt out, and every combination in between. 

I've got 2 Valk's and have done this service several times.  Never with this problem.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out wht I did wrong.

Any ideas?

[Chrisj CMA]

Put the rear bolts in. Get a second person to lift the rear of the fender until the front holes line up. Almost impossible by yourself, very easy with two sets of hands

[hubcapsc]

The bolts you already got in probably
shouldn't be tightened until all the bolts
are in...

-Mike

[John Schmidt]

You need to change out those bolts so you never have to remove them to drop the saddlebags. It's known as the "quick drop" system and easy to do. You end up with bolts that only need an outer nut removed to allow removal of the bags & their mounting frame. The bolts are never removed.

[RonW]

The fender is sandwiched between the frame and the grab rail. Are you able to stick a phillips screwdriver through the triple layer to verify everything's aligned. Or isn't. I mentioned a phillips screwdriver because it has a round shaft but a wooden dowel is safer for the internal threads in the frame.

[Carl]

Thanks for all the feedback.  I ended up pulling the grab rails off.  Re-tapped the holes in the fender.  Ran some 80 mm hex heads from the inside - quick drop mod (front only).  Next time I'll tackle the rear..  Once I got that lined up I was able to muscle everything back together.  I tend to work late, so getting a second pair of hands is impossible.  I kind of look like I'm playing Twister - knees, feet, hands, elbows and nose.  Whatever it takes. Again, thanks.

[0leman]

Carl, glad to hear you go her back together.

Not sure which model you have, I have a I/S model.  I have never taken the bag rails off to pull the back tire off.  Just the saddle bags.  I can raise or lower the back tire to remove the axel without taking anything else off  Do some research on this site on how to remove the back tire.  It is somewhat of a pain getting the drive shaft back in to the U-Joint, but the rest is not that hard.  Of course one should follow the proper procedure in tightening the rear end up.

[Jess from VA]

This is what I have been trying to figure out the whole thread.

Assuming grab rails mean fender struts, why are fender struts taken off to service rear end or change tire?

You can only grab the fender struts on a standard; the interstate and tourer fender struts are pretty un-grabable with the bags on there.

[RonW]

They might have been removing the saddlebag support brackets. It's mounted with the guard rail bolts.

[pancho]

I recognize that picture RonW,, the orange pointer is unmistakable.

[RonW]

Yes, that's a pinwall photo (orange pointer), in Post 8.

I use to remove the saddlebags and the mounting brackets to work on the rear wheel, until I found out the hassle aligning the guard rail bolts.

Some members suggested grab the rear fender (at the arrow below) and wiggle, lift, etc, to align the guard rail bolts. I tried it and it does work. Same as Chrisj CMA suggested in the post above.

[Jess from VA]

They might have been removing the saddlebag support brackets.

OK, I get it.

Those don't need removed.  Just the bags, though after pulling the shocks, there is a bit of up and down working around the brackets.  Just like the pipes don't need removed (as in the manual).

[Mooskee]

Here is a link to a fender bolt mod I put together. It allows removal of saddlebags without removal of fender. I think this link will work.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QXUL_BzGhXcKPFXa3kXApnQApj8YK1T5/view?usp=sharing

[Skinhead]

I never remove those to change tires.  Saddle bags only.  Brackets, bag guards, and trailer hitch all stay on they bike.