My wife, thankfully, is a huge fan of riding. Without her approval I don't think I ever would have drained the savings account in order to make this purchase. As the bike slowly comes together she has served the integral role as Cleaner-in-Chief, ensuring every piece that goes back on is brought to a shine and all the dirt is removed. Without her help I would have easily spent way more time on this project!
When we bought the bike it had come equipped with a standard issue HD seat. This seat mimics the style most go for, low sitting, curved and with a small extension to accommodate a passenger. I've already talked at length about the operator seat so I'll spare you the details and ask you to refer to the post "Comfort Considered" for more information. Essentially, this seat was awful. It provided almost no padding or mobility. It sat awkwardly in the frame and the passenger pad on the back was painful.
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| Looks can be deceiving: The passenger pad appears thick. |
In fact the pad was so damaging that it limited the length of the trips we could take because it was causing so much distress to my wife's back. I already planned to change the seat back to the stock Police Air Ride solo seat and knew I needed a solution to my wife's woes.
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| The truth: There is no padding. This seat was not meant to be used on this model so the black plastic damaged the paint. |
Luckily a company called Mustang was able to help. They manufacture a passenger seat that is meant to work in tandem with the solo seat, even matching the texture. The only problem is that comfort comes with a price; $200 to be exact. As we have found out, the comfort is worth the upfront investment.
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| An expensive looking pillow. |
The Process
Installing a passenger seat should be a pretty straightforward process for most people. In my case it was a bit more involved than it needed to be. The previous owner seemed to enjoy some less than stellar home engineering projects. These projects caused a bit of grief but overall did not inhibit the changes we made.
Removing the seat he installed was the first issue. The seat was not meant to go on a Road King Police model since the saddlebags have a different hinge feature. In order to fit the seat, the previous owner made some modifications to the screws and nuts that held the seat to the frame rails. Removing these took some time using a pair of vice grips but eventually we were able to free them.
The next challenge happened with the electrical and passenger seating bracket. This part is somewhat unknown because most people will never have to see this bracket. It is installed underneath the rear fender of the bike right behind the battery cradle. There are two holes in the rear fender where the two screw heads on the bracket stick through so that the passenger seat has something to grab onto. The bracket is held in place by two small plastic washers that act as a snapping-lock mechanism. These washers must be ordered from the dealer and ARE ESSENTIAL. The last thing you want is for this bracket to fall through the holes in the fender.
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| The rear fender. Note the two holes towards the front of the fender where the bracket must come through. |
The mistake we made was letting the bracket fall. While we were removing all the old brackets from the previous seat we failed to put a nut or washer on the thread sticking through the fender. When we removed the final bolt holding the old seat in place we heard the drop of doom. The bracket fell out from under the fender and into the frame. The issue is that there is almost no clearance between the fender and the tire to put the bracket up. Even when we took the weight off the rear tire, we had a hell of a time getting the bracket back under the fender. You're essentially working blindly and have to feel it using needlenose pliers. Most won't have access to the tools I did making this part more difficult.
We ended up tying some wires to each threaded post so we could use it like a fish tape and pull the wires into the holes, allowing us to grab the bracket and pull the threaded heads through. It worked! It was a slow process but it worked. As soon as we got one side through, we added a nut on the threaded bolt to hold it while we fished the other side. After getting both through we removed one side's nut and then applied the washer. You must apply the washer with force so it is wise to have the other side held. Once one is in place, repeat the process for the other side.
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| On the far left of the picture are the bracket heads and the nuts we used to hold them in place. |
Another piece you'll need to just add the passenger seat is the rear locking nut. This is another nut that fits up under the rear of the fender more towards the back. We followed the same process as the bracket, using wire and long needle nose pliers to reach as best we could. The kit you need includes all the hardware such as the lock washer. Once the thread is visible, hold in place and insert washer to lock it in. This process was tremendously easier than the other bracket.
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| The actual hardware that will hold the seat in place has been installed. We will need to unscrew this to place the seat. |
Once all the brackets were in place we were ready to mount the actual seat. The order of operations is a bit different on a police air ride setup. You must use a plastic cover that sits over the battery and covers the unsightly mess that is the electrical system. This cover goes on before the mounting nuts but after the snap washers from the previous steps. You may need to file the holes your cover to fit over the two passenger mounting bolts in the back. Slow and steady wins the race and you should find it will need little modification.
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| The cover placed and the special nuts holding the cover down. |
The passenger seat requires you purchase two Mustang branded nuts that attach to that difficult bracket. These go on top of the cover and you should not use Loc-Tite to hold them down for any reason. They need to be snug but not so much that they will crack the plastic. Once the nuts are in place you can slide the seat on using the provided brackets and then hand tighten the rear screw that holds it in place.
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| The completed look! |
"How does it feel?"
The reaction to finally placing this seat was priceless. My wife was absolutely thrilled that we finally put her seat on the bike. I was glad to see her relieved and enjoying the comfort that this new seat provided. Hopefully it will provide the cushion she needs as we clock in the miles this coming summer.
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