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Ammo Boxes
Has anyone used metal ammo boxes for panniers? If so how did they work? I know they are water proof and durable, but not made for motorbikes.BTW I'm not looking to travel the world, just 2-3 week trips at most. If I make it to Europe next year(pray for me) I will rent a bike.
------------------ John |
I haven't used them myself on a bike, but i briefly met someone who does while passing through Egypt. He was very happy with them. He said the only problem is that they weren't as water / dust proof as they were supposed to be, but maybe that was because he ones he had where pretty banged up. I've used them personally in my Jeep and they did the Job fine. They don't look as slick as alu boxes but they don't cost as much either.
------------------ A.B. OasisPhoto.com – Images from the Magical Sahara. ShortWheelbase.com – Jeep preparations. |
Try Merimite food containers instead. Made of aluminum and weigh less. Email me for pictures.
John |
60 mm mortar cans as panniers
I use army surplus 60mm mortar ammo cans. They look like tall 50 caliber cans, and are narrow enough not to be too hard to mount. The lids are removable, and watertight. I made a rack out of half inch square tubing, and mounted the left side on a hinged platform to allow me to move it out of the way so I can open the hinged seat on my old gs. They cost about 25$, are light sheet steel, strong , and when you remove the folding handle on top of the lid you have two welded loops that work beautifylly as tie downs. Cheap enough to sacrifice when the bike falls over, and cushions the fall.Don't asl me how I know...
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I used 7.62mm SAA boxes as external stowage on the sidecar. Good points is that they are cheap and strong. The bad bit is that they aren't waterproof, they are heavy and weren't designed to be used long term. Mine are now used as storage in the garage as they rust and the hinges start to fail through vibration. Unless you are really on a budget I'd say to look at the various aluminium boxes that are about. Even if you only get one ally box for your camera etc. and go with soft luggage for the rest, I think you'll be happier.
Andy |
1 Attachment(s)
Small ammo boxes for tools with the words painted out to avoid unwanted attention.
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mortar boxes
I concur with one of the above replies, 60mm mortar ammo boxes are pretty good sized but have to disagree with another by saying they ARE designed for long term use due to the fact that ammunition is often banged about and stored in shitty areas, being ex military I know! Although they do rust and are unforgiving when need to be beaten back to shape after a spill. If you want budget boxes then they're pretty good but you have to have some pretty good mounts and supporting brackets as they will fail in time without! They will make locals in some war torn countries look twice at your kit as even if they're painted over they are still recognisable from a distance!
Have fun with them! |
save money?
Sorry, but just as a follow through on my last reply. The cost and availability on decent panniers, ie, MM's or TT's when they are busted to the availability of replacement ammo boxes could outweight the cost of aluminium boxes 3 to 4 times over!
I, in the meantime went for Touratechs (TT's) and they were a ball ache to fit the frames and had GERMAN instructions! TT never replied when I asked for ENGLISH instructions! Deustch buggers! Sorted it finally with the help from my girlfriend who embarrassed me loads!! Actually she should be the one replying to this!! Just as a thought! |
I used an old amo box as a pannier, it was silly heavy so I drilled lots of holes in it first, it held up well but for the next trip we made up alu panniers which worked just as well and were much lighter.
Im sure MM are ace but they also cost a mint too. So try out some cheaper alternatives there has been lots of threads on various cheaper options including some plastic cases. |
The 20mm ammo cans are 20 pounds think the TT are 12.
here is someones mounting of ammo cans V-Strom Forum - Ammo Can Pannier Project some cheap boxes KLR650.com - Aluminum Boxes Some good homemade ones V-Strom Forum - Homemade Panniers......Finally Done! a nice alternative to them all (bit pricey) www.cariboucases.com - World's Toughest Motorcycle Luggage uses pelican boxes |
Ammo can mounting tips
One of the reasons I chose 60 mm cans is that they are relatively narrow and tall. This means the thin gauge sheet metal they are made of is not being stressed too much because they are supported directly underneth with a half inch square tube base, instead of being cantilevered, if I can call it that. They are sitting vertical, with no leverage away from the bike, which would eventually tear through the metal.Because they are narrow, the weight sits close to the bike. No worries about cornering clearance, or the huge wide set up needed for the 20mm boxes. I bolt them through the sides and into the frame using one eighth inch by one inch aluminum strips which are epoxied in place inside the box, again to strengthen the thin sheet steel so it can't tear through. The bolt holes are sealed with marine silicone, and rubber washers cut from old inner tube. Never any trouble this way. I run the bolts through rubber bushings made of half inch sections of old fuel hose between the outside of the box and the frame, and this cuts vibration a bit and cushions the side of the box from the frame, which also adds to its strength. Torquing the bolts compresses the rubber a bit, which keeps the bolts from unwinding themselves like bolts do. I tie the two sides together with a horseshoe shaped piece of square tube around the back of the bike,which allows a mud flap mount in conjunction with the license plate frame.Very strong and light, and no welding needed. An advantage if repairs are needed after a fall.
The other advantage is being narrow, they tuck in the airflow of the bike. I don't even get bugs on the front of the boxes, and no whistling at speed.:mchappy: The half inch square tube frame bolts under the passenger foot peg, and this extension makes a good base for mounting spare fuel cans, outside and on the front of the pannier, so things don't stink of fuel or require unloading the pannier to top up the tank. |
Hi 78Suz,
do you have photos of your setup? |
I have one which is not enough big at home and it is made from steel and far heavy.
If you can find a large enough one, it will be heavy. You would not want to use it as you can have some other stıff inside that panniers instead of its own weight itself :thumbup1: Anyhow, if the money is important subject for this case... :offtopic:Give it a try... And please share the result with us. |
Blasted UK ammo boxes are the wrong dimensions, either not deep enough 50mm, too skinny 30mm or side loading not top loading...
Considering buying 4 of these NATO stackable boxes then cutting the bottoms out of two and welding them ontop of a box to give me a 17L x 8W x 14H Pannier, lockable and waterproof. Strong Green Ammo boxes from Surplus and Outdoors / Jerry Cans, Ammo Boxes Going to try to make a plan but these deffinetly fit into my ideaology of what I am looking for price wise. I still really like the idea of the Pelicases and will be getting one as a top box for the camera gear. Thanks for the tips. G |
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If I felt I needed the instructions, and then had to get my girlfriend to bail me out I would probably keep it under my hat! lol I have seen some great panniers made out of jerry cans - look like jerry cans from a distance, look like shit up close, just what you want for overlanding! |
Amo cans
I have used two 50 mm amo cans on a trip to Alaska taking the Dalton Highway all the way to Prudhoe bay and the Dempster highway all the way to Inuvik so with 2000 miles of gravel with the top of the world highway in between I think I can say the boxes are waterproof and hold up. I silver soldered flat stainless steel plates to the side of them and then tig welded 1/2 inch iron pipe for the frames. This was on a honda XR650L . I never crashed but did tip them over a couple times. I think I paid $15 each for the cans and just used scrap for the rest. I used the ones with romoveable lids which have a rubber gasket in them so I find it hard to believe that they would ever leak. I wanted something that I could lock which I just welded a paddalock hasp on them. I could not see spending $600 to $1000 to carry $25 worth of cloths. My tools are worth mnore than anything I carry for cloths and lots of times I just take my oldest and throw it away on the road. I now have a BMW gs 1200 with the new boxes from BMW and they have not held up to the 7 crashes I have had in South America. They are not easy to fix at all and finding someone to weld aluminum that thin is next to impossible down here. The aluminum boxes bend out of shape pretty easy and then they are not waterproof any longer. They also have plastic parts that the rubber seal goes in and one crash and it seems to break the plastic. They are a nice system to take on and off each day and I love the one key lock system of BMW but for $1200 it should be. The back box on the BMW had a lock fail and the box fell off going down the road. BMW did replace the box no charge which I doubt if the Army will ever do with to amo boxes. :)
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ammo boxes
I have a pair of boxes, the same as those that Photographicsafaris is looking at (I use them in the garage for jacking the car up, so they are strong), and they weigh 5Kg each, so that'd be nearly 10Kg for 2 boxes welded together. Seems like alot of weight for emty boxes.
They came to me as top boxes on the rack of an ex army MT500 Armstrong. These bikes have pretty hefty rear rack and pannier frames, but even so, the difference that removing these boxes made was enormous. Having had ABS and ally boxes (TT) on other bikes, I now prefer soft Andystrapz bags that fit the MT's pannier racks really well, and these frames should protect the bags pretty well in the event of a prang. |
http://www.xrv.org.uk/photopost/data...icture_012.jpg
I made my own racks and bought a pair of ammo boxes off ebay,total cost was £9 for the 16mm mild steel tube and £12 for the boxes,I allready own the pipe bender and a welder so it was just a few hours work.been using them for 3 years now with no problems.:thumbup1::thumbup1: All the other pictures are on the XRV site under pannier racks. |
I really like the Mermite chow cans, but they are a bit more work to modify into something usable. Far more likely to be associated with warm scrambled eggs than ammunition, at least that's what I've been getting from casual observers here stateside. I'm not sure of the actual capacity, but they're quite cavernous. Only had them mounted for a few months but so far they've done a splendid job.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3009/...c2ec1c01_o.jpg |
Me and my mate are using ex British military ammo boxes, not only are they waterproof but I also found to my disgust, as I was trying to weld them to the crash bars and pannier frames, that they were galvanised :( I hate welding galv, it always ends up with me being ill the next day. Anyway, they have a waterproof seal in the lid and will now only rust where I welded them.
Can't seem to get the images to load, so if you want to see pics you'll have to go to Flickr: Team REMIT's Photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamremit/2608285810/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamremit/2571380144/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamremit/2672125282/ |
Probably stating the obvious here, but the Terra Circa expedition (Amazon.co.uk: Terra Circa: DVD) went London to New York with a £5 surplus british army steel ammo box fixed to the back of each bike
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Metal cases have gone up in price, I brought my military surplus ones for £5.90 each.
Sprayed them blue and am in the process of figuring out how best to attach them to the bike. One thing I can say is that the ones I have are very deffinetly not waterproof. However they are very strong and you can fit 20 litres of Heineken 5l cans in each one! Really happy with my solution, My clothes go into a Waterproof bag inside the panniers, and if necessary I can fit a 20liter jerry can inside each one (obviously with very little else in there). http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...0&id=710542615 Dont know if you can see this but a link to the photos of the panniers propped against the bike, my first rack was not suitable so am now making another version. If anyone wants pictures mailed to them for size etc, I would be happy to mail through, just pm me. Cheers G |
I just picked up a pair of like new 20mm Ammo Cans for $25.00 USD. I plan on making my own racks to save money and to make sure they are strong enough as these cans are a little heavy. I'm hoping they last to Prudhoe Bay and back to Kentucky. These are going on a DL650 Suzuki, I will get some pictures up as I start building the racks when the weather cools off a little.
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Here is what I came up with so far for less than $50.00 after everything is bought. I had the square tubing on hand from another project.
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/IMG_0183.jpg http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/IMG_0186.jpg http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/IMG_0187.jpg http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/IMG_0188.jpg |
How about Pelican cases. I just finished this install on my V-Strom:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...l/DSCF0795.jpg I used the SW-Motech racks and got the Pelican 1550's for about $96 USD on sale from an on-line vendor. Not as cheap as surplus ammo cans, but I think they look a heck of a lot better. -Cabel |
Here are a few pictures after I got them painted and the tool tube put on.
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/IMG_0008.jpg http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/IMG_0162.jpg http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...6/IMG_0161.jpg |
Ammo box panniers...life savers?
I deliberated for a long time over whether I could justify the expense of ally (TT) or ABS (Peli) panniers for my Royal Enfield Bullet...but finally decided to go the 'Pooratech' route and use army surplus ammo boxes.
A pair of 40mm boxes (like the ones on the XRV site) set me back about £20 including postage from a UK mainland supplier; plus £10 for a tin of smooth silver 'Hammerite'; £5 worth of button-head allen bolts; and £0 for flat steel strap 'salvaged' from work... The end result is sturdy; stylish; and waterproof - with the added bonus that they saved my life (or at least my right leg) when I messed up a tight left hand bend at about 40mph last weekend, and ended up on the hitting a low stone wall on the right i.e. 'wrong' side of the road. :oops2: The wall took out the headlamp; throttle cable; footrest; gear lever; bent an indicator...and scuffed the paint on the pannier - but the pannier protected my leg and all I got was a sore knee. I honestly think I would have lost my knee and/or lower leg if it had felt the full weight of the bike and wall. Unbelievably, I stayed on the bike, although I didn't get far without the missing throttle cable! I have sourced the parts I need to repair the bike (aren't online auction sites wonderful?) but I'm going to leave the 'battle scars' on the pannier as a reminder... Jo |
Show us some photos,those are my panniers on the xrv site and there still going strong.:clap::biggrin3:
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Ironheadziggy76 they look pretty good mate, im looking at doing the same myself, any pointers? how have they held up?
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This is the way to go, they are cheap, strong, lightweight, and big. (just make sure you cut them the right way, shown here Mermite Cans Mounted to KLR650 - YouTube) |
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