CRF's Only Forums

Hi All,

First time on this forum! I normally have a dutch 'allroadmaniacs forum' to get a good answer to my questions. So never been to this forum. After reading here for about 1,5 hours I now know I should have started reading this forum when I bought my CRF450X!!! What a world of informatie, and perfect 'how to..' manuals!!!

I bought my CRF450X (from 2009) 2 years ago. It has a full Rally Trim (large tank on back, navigation tower, large tank front etc etc), and last year I did my first rally (Albanie Rally). Had a really good run, finished all the stages and ended up somewhere in the back of the midfield... But I also had some 'ground work', and now during winter I'm fixing up my CRF450X again.. To be ready when the springtime arrives.

So hope you can help me out. One of the bolting points of my seat has broken (see picture) as a result of one of my incidents. Any Ideas on how I can fix this? Or is there anybody out there who had the same problem before?

I'm also open to purchasing a second hand seat, but I can't find any on the web..... All help is greatly appreciated!!! Cheers from Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Hello and welcome.
I believe that what you are stating as the problem is that the metal mount that attaches to the seat has broken from the seat base.
That's a tough one to fix, But fixable. I would make a small 2"x2" metal plate 1/16" thick. That plate needs to cover over wider than the entire area that the original rivets held the bracket. I would either weld or rivet the seat bracket to the plate and then drill new holes and rivet the plate with the bracket to the seat base. If you use rivets have the flat smooth side on the underside of the plate you are using so it mounts flat to the seat base. Aluminum rivets recommended.
Not sure what much else you can do - glues or epoxies will not hold it.
Give it a try and see how that does. I repaired a Honda CR seat base like that once and it worked excellent.

I agree with Neil , go to Home Depot (or wherever) and get a 1/16" steel in the Hardware bins .....Remove the post by taking some dykes and cutting thru the rivet as close to the base as you can , otherwise use a dremel or small grinder , do not get it too hot (which is why I suggested the dykes) , then simply push the remaining rivet part into the foam and out of the way ,

You can bend the new piece in the Vice (hopefully you have , or have access to a vice) and you can use a socket to get the rounded bends by placing it in the vice and the metal up against it (the socket laying longways so the part up against the metal is rounded) , use a brass (preferably) hammer and move it accordingly to get the bends in the desired locations (use the broken one as a guide) , then drill the holes for Rivets and the bolt hole , you can reuse the rivet holes if you did not compromise them during removal , (also you can add at least 1 in between the 2 regular locations if you do not use a flanged rivet , preferably in between them and/or in another location to affirm it will hold) , grind or file down the bolt side to taper the end like the original and you are done (do this before fitting it to the seat base) ..... If the rivet locations were compromised then do as Neil said and put them in a different location on the mount , so you have a solid attachment location..... ,

My personal opinion on the Rivets would be to get the ones with Washers (they sell them that way) or the larger flanged head , as you install them from the foam side of the seat pan (you will need to remove the staples from the rear of the cover and lift the foam , or just remove the entire cover and foam to make it easier to work with) *measure how long of Rivets you need , go longer rather than shorter so they hold* , when installing the rivets , place the washer on the foam side of the seat base so it has something solid to suck down to instead of the seat base by itself (or use the larger flanged ones instead) , and it will keep it from compromising the seat base , a cheap electric stapler will reattach the cover , if not Harbor Freight has very cheap Upholstery Air Staplers , you can reattach it , and if you have no use for it again , then just return it and tell them it did not work for your application ... , I guess you could do the same with a Electric one if need be ....

The only other option would be to go on EBay and buy another seat (Used) , as long as the base is good , that is all that matters , as the cover and foam can be swapped from your current one ..... by using a stapler and a flat thin screwdriver to remove the old staples

Hi @Jimdirt and Bakc2-2!!

Thanks for you very extensive proposal!!! At my own place I do not have a Vice (Had to look that one up through Google Translate ) But a friend of mine has.. So.. will start with it in the coming days... And I will display the result here once finished!!

I'm also looking into the option of a second hand seat from Ebay.. Found one in Canada, but shipping costs might be a bit to high for me...


Cheers... Doekele (DeDuke)

Keep us informed on your progress

Hi All,

Thanks for your advices! It has resulted in a home-made-piece, doing the job perfectly! Here the first result. Still needed some work to be done , but that all turned out pretty good! It is not as thick as the original, but it will do...

So problem solved!!!! Thanks!

Looks like you got it. Back in business as they say.

Yep .... Looks great , good job ........ !!