hi, Does anyone know what the differences are between stock seats from 2000-2003 and 2004-2006? If you exchange the hardware can you get the seat from a pre-2004 to fit on a 2006 XL883? Stock seats are pretty cheap on ebay and I want to see if I can reupholster and modify one myself. Anyone have any links that deal with reupholstering motorcycle seats? HDLover
It's not the years that actually count there. It is the tank size. 2000-2003 and 2004-2006 seats will fit if both bikes have the peanut tank. If the 2004 up bike has the 4.5 gallon tank (mostly on custom models and the new lows I believe, you might want to check me on that) then the seat off a peanut tank bike will not fit. They go further up the frame than the larger tank seats do. Hope this helps.. Boabs
A guy with an i think 06 wanted my cushiony solo seat off jack, as it's like new, and i don't use it, i have a low profile seat i use anyway, he came over yanked his stock seat off, and oops, one of them has the hook part on the frame and the other has the hook part on the seat . . .if that makes sense? so the seat wouldn't 'hook' it was like trying to use 2 male or 2 female fittings on hoses *L* (sorry i'm not more technical, but that's why i still have the nearly new cushiony seat, even though both bikes have peanut tanks). Earsha
A-HA! Yes that makes sense. Does your seat have a male hook on it? It is more like a 3-4 inch metal tab on the front, or does it have the more female bracket on it? It must have the female bracket on it because on my 2006 the female bracket is on the bike frame and the metal tab is on the seat. The question is: how does the bracket fit onto the seat? Is it bolted or screwed on? I would imagine one could take the bracket off and then put the metal tab (hook) part from my type seat on to that seat and it should work. Well thanks Kat, that makes it much eaiser to visualize the difference! HDLover
if you want, tonight, i can look at it up close when i get off work, and try to get back on line tonight (we're riding out to the country, so i might not get back on line until in the morning), but if it would help, i'll be happy to . . .maybe you can fabricate it to fit?
OK-- so my 2006 has the 3.3 gallon tank, so as long as I use an older seat from a bike with the smaller tank I should have a reasonable chance of it working? I am going to give this idea some serious thought. Thanks!
You are being given incorrect information. The Sportsters had a complete frame change in 2004. Seats from bikes made before then will NOT fit your bike, tank configuration has nothing to do with it.
I have a friend who used to ride a Hugger and had a touring seat for it. I tried her seat on my bike which is an 883L and it would not fit. Besides the fact that the bolt the seat hooks into wouldn't fit, there was a gap between where the seat was and the frame of the bike.