Fixing a sticking Vario Top Box

My Vario top box has been playing up.

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265204

The mechanism sticks and thanks to Schtum for pointing me in the direction of fixes to the side panniers

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8988586

I hope the following "guide" of my attempt to fix the problem may be of use to others who have experienced a similar problem.

The problem: as the lever reaches the vertical the mechanism "seizes" and the box won't collapse.




The Fix

There are 6 phillips screws on the inside - 3 each side



which are held in place by plugs on the underside.





Once removed and the screws & plugs safely tucked away



the two halves of the box part with ease.









Don't try to undo any other screws, particular those that hold the mechanism's gears in place.



Once apart the mechanism worked surprisingly freely with no obvious problem. I was expecting a broken part or tons of road dirt but nothing obvious. So after a clean the procedure is reversed to put the box back together.



It is more of a fiddle to get the halves together

Make sure the two halves are the right way round!

The wrong way!



Line up the red plastic male rod which slides into the female lever that releases the catch to remove the box from the bike.



The bottom half of the box has a rubber seal on it's top edge.



This fits into the groove around the lower edge of the top half.



Getting the two to line up requires a little easing. There is no need for force but the rubber is quite robust and I image will take a bit of "frustration"



Once together replace the screws. The retaining plugs are slightly tapered and will only go in one way.

I think the source of the problem is the uneven nature of the groove which may have gunked up or has warped over time leading to excessive fiction which in turn causes the mechanism to seize.

Having put the box back together it is still stiffer than when new but the box now collapses and expands without the need to resort to force.

...and the tools used?

Just the screwdriver out of the OEM tool kit :ague



Total time: half hour max
Skill level: Numpty

Hope this helps

Great post. Mine haven't started doing that yet but I am sure they will get there. Lots of Silicon Spray Lube seems to work!

cheers

Have done this and followed the post that showed how to free Vario Panniers. In the end I left them at the full size as nothing seemed to work.

I've just dismantled my topbox - the pictures above were very useful, thanks.

To remove the two sections, I had to put one foot on the base of the unit while tugging at the other - stiff as hell.

Once appart, I could see that the internal gears where aligned differently on each side - one side hit the stop while the other still had a few teeth to go. Probably became this way while the previous owner tried to forced it open.

Anyway, after a lot of head scratching getting the gears aligned once more, the mechanism was operating perfectly. The only lubricant I had to hand was bearing grease so I applied that to the rubber seal. However, the crux of the problem appears to be the cases themselves - they must have warped over time as it's they're just too snug and I suspect even if I removed the rubber seal.

The conclusion is that the whole thing works but needs one person to operate the lever and the other to pull the case up. Ah well.

Time to do the same to the panniers now.

Great tutorial, thanks for that.