How to adjust driver's backrest bracket?
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Tourer
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 403
Likes: 44
From: Montana
How to adjust driver's backrest bracket?
Hi all,
Put a Sundowner Classic seat on my 99 RKC and when I insert backrest its angled to far forward and too close. My bike has a metal bracket under seat that has nuts and several settings. My question before I loosen those nuts are those studs bolted to fender. In other words will I need to take rear tire and wheel off to access them or are they held in place? Nothing in my manual about the backrest and I don't want to loosen those bolts without knowing. Backrest is HD part # 52474-01 adjustable
Thanks in advance.............goldie
Put a Sundowner Classic seat on my 99 RKC and when I insert backrest its angled to far forward and too close. My bike has a metal bracket under seat that has nuts and several settings. My question before I loosen those nuts are those studs bolted to fender. In other words will I need to take rear tire and wheel off to access them or are they held in place? Nothing in my manual about the backrest and I don't want to loosen those bolts without knowing. Backrest is HD part # 52474-01 adjustable
Thanks in advance.............goldie
Tourer
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 263
Likes: 13
From: Beautiful CNY
No. Rear tire stays right where it is. Those studs are held captive by a couple plastic washer things. Just use care on the front ones by the battery box because they could fall down and be difficult to find. Other than that it's four nuts and bolts. Easy stuff.
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 14,744
Likes: 402
From: Phoenix '53, '88, '09 Big Twins
and then..
the angle of the backrest itself is adjusted with an allen wrench through the eyelet hole in the back of the backrest ( 5/16" ?)...
if the backrest is sloppy on the mount, there are nuts that tension the nylon bushings.
Mike
the angle of the backrest itself is adjusted with an allen wrench through the eyelet hole in the back of the backrest ( 5/16" ?)...
if the backrest is sloppy on the mount, there are nuts that tension the nylon bushings.
Mike
Road Master
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 780
Likes: 4
From: Utah
Did you install or did the dealer do so? I don't know about the Sundowner seat, but the dealer added a backrest to my stock RGU seat and I had the same issues on the ride home. Once home I got to checking and found a cable adjustment on mine on the left side of the gas tank sort of tucked up under the tank. Not very obvious. You just pull the cable forward, lean back on the back rest until it's where you want it and let go. Like I said, I have no idea if your seat is the same, but might want to check for an adjustment cable before you start bolting and unbolting things if the dealer installed it for you. Good luck.
Last edited by usraptor; Jun 1, 2014 at 11:00 AM.
Road Captain
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 594
Likes: 5
From: Akron, Ohio
I have a Sun Downer and a driver back rest too. If I move the bracket back on any of the other settings, the seat doesn't go back on the bike. Mine feels too far forward as well and I have backed out the allen bolt as far as it will go. I decided to just not use my driver back rest.
Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 145
Likes: 2
I have a Sun Downer and a driver back rest too. If I move the bracket back on any of the other settings, the seat doesn't go back on the bike. Mine feels too far forward as well and I have backed out the allen bolt as far as it will go. I decided to just not use my driver back rest.
I will follow this thread to see if someone has a good solution for this.
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Tourer
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 455
Likes: 35
From: SW Ohio
I'm going to attempt to breathe new life to this thread! I wonder if the OP ever found a solution to this. I'm having the same 'fitment' issues as he. I'm way too close to the tank with backrest in place so I got to thinking about moving the bracket but had the same concerns about whether the bolts were 'fixed' in place or would they fall out and require dropping the rear wheel to reinstall. Then, reading through this thread I see that there may be an issue reinstalling the seat in re-positioning the bracket. So, please share your solution if you have been in a similar fix! Thanks for your replies...
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Road Master
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 846
Likes: 13
From: Out there!
Unbolt the bracket underneath the seat and move it back one notch - install seat, check how that it. They are just nuts and bolts - above the frame and underneath, a little fiddly but nothing that cannot be sorted with a spanner and a socket
Road Captain
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 714
Likes: 126
From: Westchester cty. NY
Is anyone using this adjust on the fly mounting bracket?
https://www.harley-davidson.com/stor...01-5259609a--1
https://www.harley-davidson.com/stor...01-5259609a--1