Seat latch adjustment By bobf (Read 2,008 times)

[bobf]

MC 54 250 244cc Honda clone

This question has been asked more than once but I have not been able to find any answers. I did use search.

Seat latch adjustments. I noticed on my scoot that the seat does latch on the side but not at the back. I looked at it but don't even see what part of the latch I need to fiddle with. I turn the key with the seat up but nothing is moving so I have no clue.

If this is another of those remove the covers situations that is OK. I can hold the information till my next tear down session. Which I suppose I will need to do to aim the headlights, redo fluids, whatever.

So back to the seat latch adjustments. If anyone has had to fix the rear latch I would like a bit of information please.
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[sunlproblems]

i did mine by moveing the cable around i had a 150 that i would open the seat by pulling on the cable from under the plastic on my 250 i zipped tied my cable to make the seat open easier some one aid on here you can move them up or down by adding or removeing shims from the bracket hope this helps you out

[bobf]

Thanks for the input. The latch bars are on the seat and the latches are on the frame with the plastics in between. So to me it must be a covers off situation if redirecting the cables, or even seeing if the cables are attached. Maybe washers under the seat latching bars would help. Will take a look at that possibility.
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[bobf]

Spent some time looking at the seat latches. I noticed the seat clamping hooks are molded in so nothing to adjust there. Used a flashlight and looked down into the latch areas. The side latch shows a spring stretching and some metal parts moving when I turn the key in the lock. The rear latch does not move. I can see the cable and an end container lead on the cable but it does not move at all when I turn the key in the lock. So I assume at this point that the cable is broken or maybe just disconnected from the lock itself.

Certainly a covers off operation just to see the problem and then to determine what to do. So I will leave it be until I get my move to Arizona completed. Then I will remove the trunk, the deck, the side cover, just to see what must be wrong. At least it won't be freezing down there. Up here I don't have a heated garage and the wife won't let me bring it into the living room.
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[royldoc]

It does sound like the cable may be broke. The cable comes from the key and might have a y in it rather than two separate cables. One of the ends might have a separate adjuster. On my magnum there is an adjuster at the key and another at one of the latches. The latch with the adjuster was to tight.

Roy

[grocerygetter]

Sept 18, 2011 17:27:22 GMT -6 bobf said:

Spent some time looking at the seat latches. I noticed the seat clamping hooks are molded in so nothing to adjust there. Used a flashlight and looked down into the latch areas. The side latch shows a spring stretching and some metal parts moving when I turn the key in the lock. The rear latch does not move. I can see the cable and an end container lead on the cable but it does not move at all when I turn the key in the lock. So I assume at this point that the cable is broken or maybe just disconnected from the lock itself.

Certainly a covers off operation just to see the problem and then to determine what to do. So I will leave it be until I get my move to Arizona completed. Then I will remove the trunk, the deck, the side cover, just to see what must be wrong. At least it won't be freezing down there. Up here I don't have a heated garage and the wife won't let me bring it into the living room.
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I'll post some pics tomorrow night.
I took shots of mine apart the other day because people have been asking.

[bobf]

Thanks for the inputs. Seems to be an agreement that the cables are the problem. I just won't know what I have until I get to the tear down. Another month or two away.

Rocketa shows 2 cables in their part list, one long one and one a bit shorter. The long one looks to have a setup for a Y connection and the shorter one is just one length.

I am sure those photo's will give me a clue to what might be happening on my scoot.
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[grocerygetter]

Long one goes to the latch at the back of the seat, short one goes from the key tumbler to the latch mechanism nearest to the key.

I don't believe there is any type of a y-connector.

It is a bear to get at. Unless someone has gone from underneath, I had to remove the trunk, then the whole back panel around the seat bucket, easier to have a friend help hold that back panel because you then need to pull the key tumbler retaining clip out and work the cable out of the tumbler and then the tumbler out of the body panel - all while holding the whole rear body panel far enough up to be able to access the area.

The tumbler and retainer plate have a mathcing groove and notch for orientation.
However you'll need to rotate partially to get the tiny piece of return spring thru the notch first before being able to fully slide the tumbler out.
You'll see what I mean when you get there - the tumbler doesn't just slide out after you remove the retaining clip.

The long cable has an adjustment nut about mid way on it to align the closing action between the front and rear latch.
I had to adjust that nut to get my rear latch to grab.

I don't believe you will have a broken rear cable, just out of adjustment.
The weak link in the system is the plastic hook on the tumbler where the main cable attaches.
If your side / fron latch is working, then the rear is likely not broken, there are no plastic peices in the rear cable attachment.

Hopefully the pictures I took will help. I'll try to get them up tonigh, but you might as well plan other maintenance while your in there - don't go to this trouble just to get the rear to latch.

[bobf]

Thanks for all that info. But a question or two from me now.

1. Did you have to remove the key lock in order to remove the panel?

2. If it is just a adjustment of the cable do you need to take the side panel off or can you block it with a 2X4 to hold it open while doing the adjustment?

I really won't even try to work on it till we are finally located in Arizona. Which may be when ever the banks get around to it. I must move to lower altitude for my lungs. So in April we bid on a house and two weeks later we found out we were outbid by $60K. Then a backup on another party became useless as that deal went to the prior contract. Then on June 15 we put a contract on another house and we are still waiting for the bank to give us permission to buy the house. Amazing, 3 months for the lender to say yes or no, and we still wait.

For a few years I was a licensed Realtor and I have never seen anything so messed up as that in Arizona. One big problem is the government, as they created this mess and they continue to mess with it rather than let it find bottom and start a real recovery. Of course the government blames it on the banks but the government, through Freddie and Fannie, told them to lend with no justifications.

Lots of good deals available but be patient as so many are lender owned, short sales, bankruptcies in action. Very sad for the ones losing their homes. Extending their misery by the government meddling is no help either.

You are right about the time to tear down. If I do that I will likely do other things like flush and fill the radiator again, lube change, maybe take out the gas tank and see what I might find in it. Hose checks and changes, PDI things I short cutted in March of this spring. Pretty cold and windy so I could only take a couple hours a day when the garage had warmed a bit. So a tear down will likely be a lot more than just adjust the lock cables. But if that could be done with just removing the upper body screws and blocking the panel out so I could work on it, that might be something I could try first.

I will watch for your photo's.
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[grocerygetter]

Long cable going to rear latch

I'm not sure if you could pry the rear panel open without breaking it.

Attachments:

[grocerygetter]

have to rotate the tumbler to get the spring out of the bracket.

Attachments:

[grocerygetter]

Sept 19, 2011 14:14:07 GMT -6 bobf said:

Thanks for all that info. But a question or two from me now.

1. Did you have to remove the key lock in order to remove the panel?

2. If it is just a adjustment of the cable do you need to take the side panel off or can you block it with a 2X4 to hold it open while doing the adjustment?

You are right about the time to tear down. If I do that I will likely do other things like flush and fill the radiator again, lube change, maybe take out the gas tank and see what I might find in it. Hose checks and changes, PDI things I short cutted in March of this spring. Pretty cold and windy so I could only take a couple hours a day when the garage had warmed a bit. So a tear down will likely be a lot more than just adjust the lock cables. But if that could be done with just removing the upper body screws and blocking the panel out so I could work on it, that might be something I could try first.

I will watch for your photo's.
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1. Yes

2. Not sure about adjustment without removing the panel - maybe someone here has done this? I'll have to look tomorrow and see if it can be accessed from underneath

[bobf]

Once again, thanks for the information. From underneath looks to be a difficult thing to do. Especially for me. If I spend some time on my back working up I may never be able to get up again.

What product do you use to be able to tag your photo's as you do. I just did a couple of pamphlets (booklets) with OpenOffice but did not have that capability that I know of there. I have various graphics applications but they are all quite old. Maybe it is time to consider an upgrade.
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[grocerygetter]

No fancy software - just dragging the picture into Paint and using the tools there.
I take them at full res so they're about 3 or 4 mb in size; I open them in MS Office Picture Manager to compress - mainly because its faster than the Canon or Photoshop types of software.

[krotch]

To get to the back lock you have to remove the screws that attach the back body to the side fairings. Then you remove what i believe is 6 screws 4 up front and 2 in the back. you have to remove the passenger grab plate that holds on the trunk, but you can leave the trunk attached to the plate. the grab plate is mounted with three 11mm or 12mm bolts i can't remember,2 at the side and 1 at the back of the seat. if you unplug the rear lights then you can lift off the back panel and lean it to the left side of the scooter without removing the key tumbler from the panel. The back locking plate attaches right by the rear grab plate bolt and i believe it uses two 10mm bolts. All in all it takes about 15 to 30 minutes to remove, and about the same to put back together. I've done it about 5 time now for different reasons (PDI, magneto replacement, Wiring checks, the like) It's not difficult at all, just a bit time consuming.