You know its going to be a good trip when it starts off the night before with a trip to harbor freight to pick up a tap/die set.

I knew one of the luggage rack screw holes was a bit iffy after accidentally sending too long of a bolt into the hole and tightening it too much last year.  Well I was in the process of putting thread lock on the screws on the back and found that what was left of the threads came out with one of the screws.

So off to Harbor Freight to get a tap to take a 7mm bolt to the 9mm of an extra bolt I had kicking around. 

I tapped it, drilled out the mounting plate hole, and with a washer and a lock washer… bingo.  Ready to ride again.

This is a key bolt as it takes quite a bit of the luggage weight on it.