78 Honda CB400a Trunk Brackets

[Jesse R.]

Ok, so I have a 78 Honda CB400a.

On Saturday I picked up the Vetter saddle bags and Trunk. After some pounding, bending, and upgrading OEM bolts on the Honda, I made them fit. Even though they are a little tight on the turn signals. Which I've already made peace with the need of having to relocate them...

Now, The trunk itself literally sits on the rear of the seat. Hence I cant remove my seat. I was wondering if anyone knows If I could find a taller Front and rear bracket set for the trunk? That way I can remove my seat to be able to work on the bike's electrical without having to remove the trunk EVERY TIME I need to get into the seat.

Any help is greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

the pics are to show how the trunk is set up.


The red circle is the bolt for the OEM grab bar. The red lines is the bracket to hold the trunk. The yellow is the OEM grab bar, and the blue bolt is a 10mm bolt. Heavy Duty grade with a HD locking nut.

It was the only way it would fit without major modification.

 

[Scott-E]

The saddlebag brackets include turn signal mounts. The bags are recessed to accommodate them. They look pretty good mounted to them as well. When I salvaged my saddlebags from a junked bike the brackets still had the turn signals attached. I cleaned them up, painted them, and reused them on my bike.

 

[rob.lafady]

My trunk has a slotted mounting bracket on it that mounts to the rear rack, I had to move it rearward to get it off my seat on my Goldwing.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

 

[brianinpa]

Have you given any thought to changing the trunk rack completely? Something like this...


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Luggage-Rac...ash=item210ca1a056:g:7-gAAOSwJblW~a12&vxp=mtr

I used this style on my 1200 Gold Wing and when I bought my 1100, one of these was already installed on it. They are universal...

 

[Jesse R.]

I'm going to have to check into the brackets. I haven't been able to see any of those brackets for the turn signals.

 

[roncar]

Just my observations but it is your bike.

First, the lower cross piece, that wraps around the tire, appears to be too close to the tire. All installations I've seen, it wraps around outside of the fender. This leads me to believe the saddle bag mounts are mounted too far forward.

1. If you moved the upper mounting bracket, circled blue, to the oem grab bar mount, circled red, and went to the other end of the slot,
2. and mount the front rack (trunk) bar (circled red) to the bag mount bracket provided for it
that would move the whole assembly back a couple of inches.

Probably make the turn signals impossible to stay in their oem position though. That's why Vetter moved them to the mount itself. I have limited experience, but probably most bikes have to relocate the rear turn signals to mount the bags.

This mount has that support bracket in a different spot and would move the trunk even further back. You can also see how the turn signals mount.

 

[Jesse R.]

If i move the assembly back even an inch, then i would have to fabricate different mounts all together.
The

Sorry, phone went AWOL.
Id have to fab. Different mounting options. If i move it back even an inch, the piece of the bracket i circled in red has no mounting points. I had to remove the pass. Pegs and relocate them a few inches forward so that those bars would clear them.

As for the tuen signals, i dont knowbwhy i didnt think about using them as bolts instead of buying separate ones lol.

Thanks for the pic. It clarified alot for me.

 

[Jesse R.]

I didnt want to remove the OEM grab bar. So the bags sit a little too far apart. I wasnt able to use the saddle bag bracket to hold the trunk bracket. All this can be resolved if i remove the OEM grab bar. Then Id have to either weld, or drill a hole into the rear of the frame a few inches forward from the OEM bolt hole for the grab bar. That way everything would be sitting closer together and id probably be able to clear the seat

 

[roncar]

Well welding is not in my skill set. If it was I'd consider cutting mounts off and fabricating a mounts for my specific application. The upper attachment mount for the Goldwing is very different. More like a flat tab and would bring the sides a lot closer together than the mount on your bracket.

And the front of the rack has a bracket the attaches to the grab bar.

A man much smarter than I said, "Everything affects everything." Change one thing and 3 are screwed up.

I prefer to modify the accessory vs the bike and am a more bend to fit and paint to match kinda guy.