Moving the passenger seat back

[JimK]

Has anyone moved the passenger seat back? If so how did it go? What did you have to do?

[Mr Jensee]

Please explain. There is an adjustment under the trunk to move it back a couple inches. A trunk extender from Marvellas can be added to extend it further. If you mean the rear seat itself look just above the left rear shock by the handrail and you will see a wire loop looking lever that will allow the passenger seat to slide a couple inches forward or back depending on the position it is in. Of course this only works with the STOCK seat.

[JimK]

I have the trunk back all the way and the passenger seat back all the way. I was wondering if you can modify the passenger seat to go back futher.

[Mr Jensee]

No but as I said, you can buy a pair of trunk extenders, quality stuff in heavy steel that will allow the trunk to go back about 3 inches more. Once installed you will not be able to see them since they mount under the trunk and attach directly to the trunk mount.

[JimK]

With the passenger seat and the trunk all the way back I have about a three inch gap between the front of the trunk and the back of the passenger seat. If I could move the seat back to the trunk it would give me about three inches more that I could move back on the riders seat. I was wondering if anyone has done this.

[Mr Jensee]

I'm afraid that if the rear seat were moved farther back then the part of that seat that serves as the back support for the front section would look awkward when it leaves a gap behind the front section. You might check with those who have replaced the entire seat with a single section aftermarket seat how they like it. I assume from your previous posts that you are having a tough time fitting yourself comfortably in the stock saddle. It may be time to look into a custom seat.

[Rich in New Jersey]

I'm 6ft 3" and needed more room. The back rest part of the rear seat seemed to be pushing me forward all the time. I thought about cutting some of the foam out of it. I was able to move the rear seat back 3/4" by drilling new holes in the plastic seat base. You can get brass hollow threaded inserts at Lowes that screw into the new holes in the seat base and the stock bolts screw into those. I know 3/4" doesn't sound like much of a gain, but it was a noticeable improvement

[JimK]

Thanks Rich. I'll have to go over to Lowe's and check that out. Every inch helps. Did you just move the rails or did you have to move the adjuster lever too?

[mikey]

I'm 6ft 3" and needed more room. The back rest part of the rear seat seemed to be pushing me forward all the time. I thought about cutting some of the foam out of it. I was able to move the rear seat back 3/4" by drilling new holes in the plastic seat base. You can get brass hollow threaded inserts at Lowes that screw into the new holes in the seat base and the stock bolts screw into those. I know 3/4" doesn't sound like much of a gain, but it was a noticeable improvement

do you have any pic's of move

[Rich in New Jersey]

Thanks Rich. I'll have to go over to Lowe's and check that out. Every inch helps. Did you just move the rails or did you have to move the adjuster lever too?

Sorry, I've been preparing all day for the possible 24 to 30 inches of snow they're predicting for us this week. The sliding tracks are mounted to the plastic seat base with 4 bolts that screw into threaded inserts in the plastic. About all you can do is install new inserts as far from the originals as the plastic allows. Which is about 3/4 inch. I keep the trunk all the way back anyway so the seat has plenty of room to slide back. The only thing is that the seat slightly covers the rear mounting hole in its new position making it a little tougher to reinstall on the bike. I'll try to post a picture but it's very simple to do.

[JimK]

I understand totally. Thanks. Appreciate your response.
BTW I hope the snow passes you by.

[Rich in New Jersey]

I understand totally. Thanks. Appreciate your response.
BTW I hope the snow passes you by.

Thanks, we woke up to a surprise 7 inches of snow yesterday morning. This storm coming looks like a doosey.

[JimK]

I did mine a little different, the tracks that the seat run on have slots in them. I just lengthened the slots about one inch in the direction that would allow the rear seat to slide back further. I had to relocate the adjustment bracket also an inch. Seat still retains all functionality and the backrest on the rear seat is at the back edge of the front seat. Thanks again for your response Rich.

[Lucasind]

...As Mikey said.... any pictures of your work ?...........

[Lucasind]

.....So last Saturday morning,I got the heaters fired up in the shop and decided to check out this topic of discussion for myself..... After looking things over ,I decided to go to Lowes (as previously mentioned) and get a set of the brass inserts ,and dive into this project just cause I have a severe case of "cabin fever" going on here ....and never have been able to sit still anyway !

So.... off comes the passenger seat and flipped over.... After cleaning the bottom of your passenger seat,you will see that there are four faint impressions already in the plastic that (as it turns out) ,is the place your looking to install the inserts. I too am over 6 ft. ...and as said , I'll take every bit of extra space I can get ! In this picture , I highlighted two of the four impressions that are already present on the underside of the seat to make the location easier to see , and the first hole is made above the stock silver insert ,to the right :



This process is repeated four times, making the hole slightly smaller than the new insert. On the first one ,....I thought I would put some heat to the brass, and introduce it to the hole...but ,this did not work as I hoped......maybe a bit too hot cause the insert went clear thru the seat bottom
The rest of the inserts ,I just coated with a two-part epoxy and pushed them into the hole. With a soldering gun ,I fixed the first hole that I boogered up , and gave it a liberal dose of cement,and left that to harden up overnight.

The next morning out to the garage I go ...to pick up where I left off on the job. All of the inserts are
very firmly in place and I can proceed with the project.



After coming up with suitable washers and the re-use of the stock spacers.... the sliding seat rails are installed. For those of you that are getting a Utopia driver backrest...that is the black "T-bar"
that you see on the bottom side of the seat. In the next picture, you can see how much space you are gaining by doing this...as the "silver" stock inserts are clearly visible inside of the rail slots. Not really gaining alot ...but 400 - 600 mile days in the saddle ...this should sure help !

[Lucasind]

...So , lets have a look at what we gained !
Here you see the passenger seat in it's forward position, hogging up my space !




Here you see the extent of benefit of this modification :



NOT BAD ! !.......I'm liking this I installed the Marvellas travel trunk extender rails some time ago ...and here is a look at how much extra space this modification gives your passenger.
Now... you may or may not choose to tell your passenger ,that 3 inches were given....
but one inch has now been taken BACK !



And BACK goes the seat ,closing the gap :



So...anyway ,there is my write up on this modification ,and I hope this helps anyone else that is trying to gain a inch !.............................tony

[Tonyvdb]

Thanks for the great pics and description on how to do this
How do you go about removing the back seat?

[Lucasind]

....To remove the rear seat , slide it forward all the way ....that will expose the two 6mm fasteners
behind the seat. get out your 10mm wrench and remove both fasteners,then slide the seat back and up and you got it !

[Tonyvdb]

Thank you! thats something I can do in the house once its off the bike.
I assuming I have to take it off anyhow to mount the new Utopia backrest Im receiving in the next week or so.

[JimK]

...As Mikey said.... any pictures of your work ?...........

I guess this is a day late and a dollar short but here is another way to accomplish the same thing.
On the seat rails I have the 2 bolts removed the bottom 2 are still in place. I just lengthened the oval slots in the rails about an inch and moved the seat adjustment bracket the same amount. Same result different process.

Sorry I took so long to respond.