Mustang Saddle

newsad01.jpg - 0.0 K

          Here's a quick shot of the new Mustang saddle, in position but not yet mounted. It's a two-piece, with separate mountings for the saddle and the pillion pad (which is really more like a small saddle than a pad).

          Thanks to a friend, I got hold of the OEM hinge and lock and pin. No problem attaching them to the seat; the threading Mustang did was good. I ran into a little problem aligning the seat, though; had to use the "bigger hammer" on it to get it where I wanted it.

          The pillion pad has a three-point mounting system. In the rear, it uses the tang and bolt through the rear fender that you can find in the CCI catalogue (and other places  —  most parts dealers carry it), along with two slots in the front of the pad that will require drilling the fender. Update:After removing the old seat, I discovered that the fender was already drilled for the OEM pillion pad strap/mount. So no new holes are necessary.

          The pad slips on to the two front bolts from the rear, and then the tang and locking nut in the rear hold it in position. Could be better designed, but it's not bad; it could be much worse. I think a pair of small strips of neoprene, secured with weatherstrip adhesive to the underside of the pillion pad, would improve the fit of the pad over the mounting bolts. Again, I'll let you know what I come up with for this.

          Update: After fiddling around with various bolts I had on hand, it's obvious that I'm going to need 3/8" long, very wide-headed bolts  —  with very thin heads. I think a set of appliance leveling bolts, cut down to the the right length, might be just right. Trying various washers, or bolting flanges, really isn't the way to go. Gotta do it right the first time. Another nuisance here is that the pressure has to be spread over a wide area because the seat base is fairly thin plastic. I'd like it a lot better if it was thicker, or if Mustang had molded in a couple of steel strips.

          Further Update: Well, I got a red face. As it turns out, the seat base is really not plastic at all; instead, it's a very thin gauge of steel. It's so light, and so bendable, I thought at first that it had to be plastic. Mustang, I apologize.


W3C Wilbur Checked! Back to About the '84 FXR
Or Back to Doc's Harley Pages
Page design/maintenance by "Doc" ('84 FXR)
All materials © Doctor PC; all rights reserved.
Not associated with Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Co., Inc.