Improving Corbin Seat Latching

I have had an increasingly annoying issue with my Corbin Gunfighter seat.

It is the seat latch. It makes the seat difficult to remove, requiring an amount of jiggling to get the bastard off. Then it doesn't always latch properly when putting the seat back on, requiring thumping and sometimes sitting hard on it to latch properly.
The problem has been getting gradually worse.

I pulled the latch mechanism apart today to see if I could figure out what was wrong.

The problem was three-fold.
1. The sliding latch hard, sharp, square edges which catch and drag on the ratchet post (Christmas tree?)
2. The surface of the ratchet post was "as machined" and not particularly smooth and had hard corners where the profile changed.
3. The underside of the large top plate was not smooth, complete with burs at holes. The latch has to slide across this.

So...
1. smoothed the sliding latch all over and ground a "ramp" with a dremel at the same angle as the ratchet post - then buff/polished it.
2. Filed the edges of the ramps on the ratchet post then sanded and buff/polished it.
3. Sanded all burs of the underside of the large plate and polished it. Also radiused the edge around the large hole as I figured the sharp edge here could damage the ratchet post. (PHOTOS BELOW)

I reassembled the seat using dry spray teflon lube and put the post back on the bike.
Result? Excellent!! The seat almost falls on and latches securely and easily. Also, no more fiddling on removal - comes off cleanly and easily every time.
Wish I had done this earlier - only about an hour's work.

Hope this helps someone else.
Cheers

robs ss said:

I have had an increasingly annoying issue with my Corbin Gunfighter seat.

It is the seat latch. It makes the seat difficult to remove, requiring an amount of jiggling to get the bastard off. Then it doesn't always latch properly when putting the seat back on, requiring thumping and sometimes sitting hard on it to latch properly.
The problem has been getting gradually worse.

I pulled the latch mechanism apart today to see if I could figure out what was wrong.

The problem was three-fold.
1. The sliding latch hard sharp, square edges which catch and drag on the ratchet post (Christmas tree?)
2. The surface of the ratchet post was "as machined" and not particularly smooth and had hard corners where the profile changed.
3. The underside of the large top plate was not smooth, complete with burs at holes. The latch has to slide across this.

So...
1. smoothed the sliding latch all over and ground a "ramp" with a dremel at the same angle as the ratchet post - then buff/polished it.
2. Filed the edges of the ramps on the ratchet post then sanded and buff/polished it.
3. Sanded all burs of the underside of the large plate and polished it. Also radiused the edge around the large hole as I figured the sharp edge here could damage the ratchet post. (PHOTOS BELOW)

I reassembled the seat using dry spray teflon lube and put the post back on the bike.
Result? Excellent!! The seat almost falls on and latches securely and easily. Also, no more fiddling on removal - comes off cleanly and easily every time.
Wish I had done this earlier - only about an hour's work.

Hope this helps someone else.
Cheers
View attachment 107653View attachment 107654

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Well done
I've had a good run with mine...I did snap a key off once...cause I turned it the wrong way with to much force...

Good effort. Frustrating when these issues arise but satisfying to solve them.

Rob,
I have the same seat and think the latch device on mine works great.Only problem I have had is that the position of the bar is critical.Just a slight bit of moving it back or forward makes a big difference.Compared to the earlier seats that were held down by the factory mounts,these are a big improvement.Glad you got yours working well.Nice job!
Mike

Way to go Baz...nothing like having it work properly after you have "fixed" it.

Nothing beats a good fettle!!

I never could figure out why Corbin made the seat latch so complicated. The early Corbin seats went on in the same manner as a stock Commando seat. The early Corbin install weighed a lot less, looked better, and was much simpler. If you want to put a stock dual seat on the bike, you have to dismantle the Corbin hardware.
Overall a dumb design, IMHO.

Stephen Hill said:

I never could figure out why Corbin made the seat latch so complicated. The early Corbin seats went on in the same manner as a stock Commando seat. The early Corbin install weighed a lot less, looked better, and was much simpler. If you want to put a stock dual seat on the bike, you have to dismantle the Corbin hardware.
Overall a dumb design, IMHO.

Click to expand...

No dismantling necessary.
Just drill a 1/2" hole in the stock seat base and then they're interchangeable.

Rob, have you drilled a hole in the stock seat and managed to fit it on the bike with the Corbin mounting system in place?
It would be nice if it worked that way.

Does the Corbin cross bar mean you can't use the stock mounts and knobs?
In which case, is the seat is only held on by the sheet metal pan?
I must be missing something.

BTW, I have a new Corbin Gunslinger in a box and never got around to mounting it, partly because of these "reservations".

Stephen Hill said:

Rob, have you drilled a hole in the stock seat and managed to fit it on the bike with the Corbin mounting system in place?
It would be nice if it worked that way.

Does the Corbin cross bar mean you can't use the stock mounts and knobs?
In which case, is the seat is only held on by the sheet metal pan?
I must be missing something.

BTW, I have a new Corbin Gunslinger in a box and never got around to mounting it, partly because of these "reservations".

Click to expand...

Do you want to sell it ?

I am finally going to put it on the bike. But I expect rear-sets need to follow.

I like my Corbin(s) a lot, but I do agree with Stephen that I wished they simply fitted as per the stock seat.

Fast Eddie said:

I like my Corbin(s) a lot, but I do agree with Stephen that I wished they simply fitted as per the stock seat.

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I agree with you on that but I think the locking mechanism is very nice. The crossbar gets in the way sometimes but the seat fits perfectly and easy on and off.

I don’t even have a key for the ignition, so it sucks having one for the bleedin’ seat !!

Stephen Hill said:

Rob, have you drilled a hole in the stock seat and managed to fit it on the bike with the Corbin mounting system in place?
It would be nice if it worked that way.

Does the Corbin cross bar mean you can't use the stock mounts and knobs?
In which case, is the seat is only held on by the sheet metal pan?
I must be missing something.

BTW, I have a new Corbin Gunslinger in a box and never got around to mounting it, partly because of these "reservations".

Click to expand...

Sorry for the late response
Yes - with hole drilled (carefully in the correct place) I can pull the Corbin seat off and immediately fit the OEM dual seat.
The cross-bar does not interfere with the stock seat at all.
I leave the seat attachment knobs and washers on the bike at all times.

No - the hole is simply to give somewhere for the spike to go. The Stock seat is held in place by the stock knobs.
Cheers

Thanks Rob. Good to know.

A push button option should be reasonably easy to produce i would think... instead of key lock.

It’s a larcenous bunch in the US. Corbin had to add a lock to their seats to keep them in place. If you want one that mounts like the stock seat try to find a first generation gunfighter.