Seat locks repair comments By bobf (Read 2,357 times)

[bobf]

Well, I think I have fixed the seat locks on my 2008 MC 54 250B with the Honda clone vertical engine.

I bought it over a year ago and shortly after unpacking and doing a basic PDI I noticed the rear lock for the seat was not working. I wrote about this and got some efforts to fix but I waited for a long time for a tear down period.

Since I bought the scoot in February and received it in March of 2011 I have only been able to put on 78 miles. First it was way too cold in Cortez Colorado. Since a year ago July I have had many problems with my health. I had shingles and the doctors had me on some rather strong medicines that were technically not be used and driving too. Strange feelings of dizziness for two months. We were also traveling to Arizona looking for a house. Last October we closed on a house in Casa Grande AZ and started our move down. We moved on December 23.

Immediately I was in the doctors office and it turned out to be sever kidney problems. Left kidney already treated and the right kidney will be taken care of this summer in August. Shortly after the left kidney fix I had my eyes checked. The left eye was cleared for surgery so that was done. Now I can see pretty well for mid and long distance. I can't get glasses for a few more weeks. And the older glasses don't work any more. So technically I am not to be driving as my license calls for glasses.

So once again I am not pushing my scoot riding for any reason. It is still registered in Colorado and not in Arizona. I can not go change my drover license to Arizona as if they ask me to do the eye test I will fail and getting the scoot registered means I have to drive it to the DMV.

Good time for fixing the failed seat latch. Which I have been doing recently. I think I have finally fixed it and have the scoot rear almost all back together. Will finish that in the next day or two. I plan to write that up, with photo's and comments. I did so many things to the side latch and rear latch but nothing seemed to help. But late yesterday evening I noticed something dragging in the side latch. Applied a bit of pressure with my screw driver persuader and the drag was gone. So this morning I sat there and closed and opened the seat many times with no problems. That is why I kept locking and unlocking the seat. Expecting a random failure, which did not happen any more. I now have the black plastics back in place, the battery installed, and the rear colored panel laying loosely over everything. Everything seems OK at this point. All lights working on the rear so I got them plugged in correctly. I need some RTV for installing the screws on the plastics so tomorrow is shopping time for the wife and I will buy some new RTV and finish the job of assembly.

It is a bit hard doing garage time and working on the scoot. No cooling for the garage. We are running in the 90's and our highs are over the 100 mark with 111 being our hottest so far. It really sucks the ambition right out of me.

So I will finish the install and then put together the comments and photo's of what I did and how it is working now.
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[Bashan]

Sorry to hear about the health problems Bobf, those shingles suck! Man, it's hotter there than it is here and I didn't think that was possible except on the surface of the sun. Actually, we've had a mild, rainy summer so far but it's far from over. I look forward to the pics and text when you complete your repairs. Thanks for posting, Rich

[bobf]

2008 MC 54 250B, Jonway 244cc, built by Shanghai JMStar

The location and repair of the lock not working problem.

As I worked on this problem for a week I tried different ways to fix what I thought was the problem.

1. First was to reinforce the cable holding fingers on the side latch assembly. After shutting and noticing that the rear latch was not catching the seat I noticed that the fingers were getting bent further toward the middle of the side latch. So I bent them back and reinstalled on the frame. That did not work but for a closing or two. Then no more latching at the back and often I had to use a long screw driver under the seat to release the side latch.

2. Next I determined to reinforce those tabs by adding some heavier steel to stop the bending. I used some spare file key lock pawls and glued them on with JB weld. One on the outside as shown and another on the inside where the cable guide is mounted. Seemed like a good idea but still the latch works sometimes and fails other times continued. That is a slow fix as each time I use JB weld it takes 24 hours till usage for maximum strength.

3. Then I noticed that the side latch was slow to respond to the turn of the key. Often not working and sometimes works on the second or third effort. Usually I had to work under the seat with a long screwdriver to release the seat.

So, again, I took the side latch assembly off and removed the spring, and both cables. Now I could freely swing the mechanical parts, but the one element was not free as I expected it to be. This I could see had been dragging on the upright part of the assembly as it was becoming scratched. I took a heavy screwdriver and put it under the part that was dragging and lift it a bit. Now that element was free to go where it needed to go. So I then sprayed graphite lube into both the side and rear latches.

4. Successful test next. I reinstalled the latch assembly with both cables now attached. I closed the seat, both side and rear latches caught. Turned the key and the seat popped up. Repeated this many times with no failures. Went to bed and restarted the testing this morning with still no failures. It seems to be fixed.

5. In the process of reinstalling all the plastic parts, the battery, the lights on the rear, and finally the outside skin. When that is completed I will be able to install the seat and trunk. Then it should all be set to go riding again. Final test will be to lock the seat and determine that the latches are working fine.

6. Finished assembly today, finally. I have had the covers on and off several times yesterday and today. I dropped a nut and could not find it with my eye's, my magnet, my wife's eyes. Had to go to Lowe's for a matching nut. Then found that a snap on speed nut was missing, back to Lowe's for some of those. Today I dropped a screw and could not find that so back to Lowe's for that. Now I have the machine together and some spare parts.

7. How the latch works. As the loop on the bottom of the seat enters the side latch it pulls the front to back cable and that allows the back latch to lock. So it is important to make sure the back loop is entering the rear latch as, or before, the side loop enters the side latch. So I found that pulling the rear part of the seat down smartly does make the latches more reliable. Much better latch today. Sometimes might miss the back latch but one more effort seems to work.

The red arrows indicate direction of the cables when locking. When the key is turned it reverses the cable action and pulls the side latch locking component toward the front to unlatch it and that then allows the spring on the rear latch enough slack for it to unlock.

This is only for the latch look see and repair. I will also post the machine tear down photo's later.

[bobf]

Jun 12, 2012 3:18:38 GMT -6 Bashan said:

Sorry to hear about the health problems Bobf, those shingles suck! Man, it's hotter there than it is here and I didn't think that was possible except on the surface of the sun. Actually, we've had a mild, rainy summer so far but it's far from over. I look forward to the pics and text when you complete your repairs. Thanks for posting, Rich

One great thing about our ultra high temps is that there is not much humidity in the air. If I go out I feel the heat and sometimes it is pretty uncomfortable. But I seldom sweat much.

When I was a pup I was in the Army at Fort Gordon for advanced basic. It never got real hot but the humidity was pretty high. When it got up to 95F the humidity was also 95% and I believe that was when they cancelled the heavy drill and double time marching. They even brought us extra water and had us in shade for lectures. That hot and humid heat is really tough for me.

We lived for several years in south Florida, between Palm Beach and Ft Lauderdale, some times tough in summer. Now that we have lived for 40 years in dry country I could never want to move back east of the Rockies.
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[89newbie]

Wow you have been having a B of a time, glad it is getting better for you but sorry you have to go through this stuff. Getting older sucks, but its better than the alternative. Mrs. N. reminds me all the time ( " Your not 16 anymore"), Alway's I'd be happy to be 60 again rofl. Seat Fix:Had the same problem on the Wildfire and was able to fix it by heating the seat part and changing the angle, using a vise so not to burn anything, (lol including fingers, as a first step. I then fiddled with the bolts holding the actual latch in place repositioning it a little further foreward to match the new seat bend contour. It has been fine since then.