Loose Seat - slides side to side

[BigD_83]

I replaced the broken seat latch on my 650GD and hoped the broken one was the cause of some looseness I was experiencing. Not to be. It is still moving side to side. The seat pan is in decent shape, and it looks like all of the parts are either there or some facsimile in place of missing OEM parts. For example, there are rectangular rubber cushions near the front where one has been replaced by some rubber/vinyl hose. The seat attachment feels firm enough by the tank, but the rear is all over the place.

Three questions:

1. Does anyone have any pictures posted of the bottom of a stock seat pan from an 83 650G?

2. How "solid" should the seat be on these bikes?

3. Any suggestions for shoring it up? I envision attaching something to the bottom of the seat pan that drops down to rest next to the inside of the frame.

A caveat...I currently have no access to welding equipment

Thanks in advance

[dr_fosg8]

Mine used to do that too. All you need to do is replace all the rubber cushions under the pan. They were still available from Suzuki for my 1100.

[BigD_83]

Woohoo! I Finally solved the loose seat issue.

I replaced the one rubber cushion that was missing and it didn't solve anything, so I sat down and had a good think about it.

I rationalized that perhaps I wasn't getting enough weight on the cushions, so I lowered the seat lock on the rear frame. Marginal improvement, at least it shifted around less, but it still wasn't good. I changed the position of the striker bar on the seat to get more length between the nose of the seat and the striker bar. Again, a marginal improvement.

So, yet another think.

I took the seat off and looked hard at the striker arrangement, and realized the sides of the frame supporting the striker bar on the seat are meant to hold the seat tighter to the seat lock latch on the frame. Close examination of the striker bar revealed what I thought to be rivets were actually remnants of a thick rubber piece mounted to the side plates. I wrapped the side plates with some PVC tape, pinched them together, and Voila! Mission accomplished...no side to side or front to back motion of the seat, even with no rider sitting on the seat.

I'm not going to leave the PVC tape in place. The seat is a very low priority, but I now feel much more solid in the saddle.