[bigseadaddy]

I know this has been a topic of discussion in various threads.
(Diamond if you need to move this I understand) But I wanted to show you my two in one fix for an unsightly area on our XC and XR.

Most of us scratch our head and wonder why Victory went with a design idea that allows dirt and water up under our seat.

Will this was a 3 hour Sunday morning project. Most of the time was watching paint dry! :crzy: I should have done this another day as I was not willing to wait until the paint cured.


The first pic is of the bike when I first took off the fender. Man is it dirty under there!!!

What I did was I took some scrap sheet metal I had laying around and cut it down to 8.5" wide and 13" long. I only had a 13" sheet and did not want to cut any way from my stock as I have a project I was working on.

If you do this I would recommend going a little longer more like 16" if you can and you will be able to mount the sheet metal in the two lower bolt holes and still have enough sheet metal to seal the seat gap hole. I did not and I do not think that I will go back and fix it either. I was still able to mount using five bolts, this is plenty for such a small and light piece of sheet metal. Not that big of a deal but whatever....

See the 4th picture I was pointing out the two lower holes.

On the second picture is the patch. One hole on the left hand side will not be used as you will need to push the light assembly plug back into this hole. (This is the pic I was pointing out the hole on the sheet metal that I cut out larger for this)

You will need to cut out recess at the top of the sheet metal. The frame is a little closer under the seat area.

You will want to slightly (SLIGHTLY) crease the sheet metal. Do not do a deep crease as you want the sheet metal to spring against the top of the frame under the seat hole. This will allow it to keep more dirt and water out. I actually straighted mine out more after the second picture was taken.

Once you line every thing up and drill your holes you may want to hit the sheet metal with some Self etching primer and some paint. Make sure you have time to wait for it to cure LOL

Slide the sheet metal under the frame and bolt it on. Just to be sure I hit my bolts with some blue loc-tite. The top bolt will be the hardest but you want this so the top of that sheet metal is rest very snugly against the seat hole.

Once every thing is done remount your finder, push the light assembly plug back into its hole and remount your bags. Now you have a fix for your rear frame hole as well as your seat hole.

I hope I explained all this right.... common sense really!!!

The finished pic I had to touch up some paint so that is the reason for the shiny spot. Super bowl prep was about to start and I was not about to work on the bike after a few drinks... done that before not pretty!!!! My bike was down all last week and I plan to ride this week!!!!

cheers

 

[bigseadaddy]

Here is a finished picture of the seat hole and before when you could see the tire....

 

[bryman]

Nicely done - great idea!

 

[dirtdobber]

That's a good clean job, the best I have seen yet.
Like my CO always says, Outstanding

 

[CrossRoads]

Very nice solution. It's the most elegant I've seen. Well documented. Thank you! thumb up

 

[BBob]

The mothership should do a recall and do this to all XC/XR's.

Nicely done!

 

[diamondrmp]

Nice job and beautiful clean workmanship!thumb up

 

[bigseadaddy]

Thanks for the kind words.

I did not state this but the average person can pick up the sheet metal needed from Lowes or Home Depot. The whole project if you do not have fasteners, primer, paint and sheet metal may run you $30.00. Not bad but Victory should have done this to start with!

I was going to get elaborate and weld up a box that bolts under the frame but when my 13 year old son held it up under the frame he stated that we did not need it. Looking at it, is was so simple I could not justify doing it other then letting my son have a crack at it with the MIG. I was getting pissed off due to the primer taking so long to dry and the paint then my son looks at me as says "Dad no one is going to see it and its going to be beat by dirt, why are you worried about the paint finish. Just keep it from rusting and lets go."

I can get bogged down in the details were he still sees the simplicity at times. The young buck surprises me on how fast he is maturing!

Just wanted to donate some info to a great forum!

Good luck!