Guys,
Thanks for all the advice. I have heard on other forums of the tether breaking even when the lid is NOT flopped open. One guy posted how he opened the lid, bent down to his saddlebag and when he looked up the tether was broken and the lid was all the way over. I think it's just a lifetime cycle for that tether which seems to fail at the worst time. And the added weight of a tourpack rack and inside lid organizer compounds the problem.
I checked and the lid IS fiberglass. Interestingly enough I have had two body shops tell me different things. One shop said that FG is good because it is easy to work with and is more durable than ABS, and another told me he could never properly fix the hinge area of an FG lid and to just buy a new ABS one. I always thought FG was better, stronger and easier to work with, but I may be wrong. I sent the stuff off to a shop for repair/paint yesterday and will see what he says.
Mark