Seat recovering

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Seat recovering

Postby Brent » Sat May 26, 2018 11:55 am

Just to let everyone know. I met up with Heather's Leathers at the Oley Meet this year. I told them I'd be sending the seat pan from my 1962 Scat project. I sent along what was left of the original covering and padding and asked them to match it as best they could. It took them only about a week to turn it around for me. The results pleased me VERY much!
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Re: Seat recovering

Postby CJY » Sun May 27, 2018 12:20 pm

That looks outstanding! Did they refinish the pan and remake the cover out of leather? Mind telling us how much work of that quality set you back?
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Re: Seat recovering

Postby Brent » Sun May 27, 2018 1:17 pm

I sent them a stripped and prepared pan. I don't know if they gave me a 'Show discount' or not but my cost was $15.00 to ship the pan, $185 for the work, and $15 to ship it back to me. All leather, padding, and riveting is brand new. I would check with them regarding pricing for any work you might want to have them do for you. Personally, after seeing the quality of what I received, I would have been more than happy to pay even more.... but don't tell them that :D We have many excellent vendors associated with this site and I'll never endorse one over the other but I do feel free in displaying and commenting regarding the quality of products and services I've received from the various people I've done business with for my own projects. I have yet to be disappointed.
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Re: Seat recovering

Postby CJY » Sun May 27, 2018 1:47 pm

That looks like an excellent deal for what you got.

Thinking about great work, I have been remiss in a well deserved shout out to a couple of vendors.

My brother has a 165 that the kick starter wouldn't engage on unless it was tipped over to 45*. Kick starter parts pulled and sent to Mutt. Parts back quickly, as good (or better than) new. Bike now kicks over in the 'normal' position.

Also both of us have received hand seamed mufflers from Duane. They are excellent and fit perfectly. Much nicer than the welded chinese stuff I have seen.

We are fortunate to have true craftsmen here.
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Re: Seat recovering

Postby Don G » Wed Jun 13, 2018 4:22 pm

Hi Brent;
I see in the parts catalog that a saddle for your scat is PN 52003-62 and for my Pacer is PN 52001-50. I am not sure what the physical differences are between the two. You posted a great bottom view of your pan. Per chance would you have a pic of the Pacer pan?
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Re: Seat recovering

Postby Brent » Wed Jun 13, 2018 4:28 pm

Hi Don,
I'm sorry but I don't and don't know enough to know if there's a difference. I'm sure Mutt or Duane could answer this one.... or provide a photo.
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Re: Seat recovering

Postby hennesse » Wed Jun 13, 2018 5:05 pm

I believe the BT/BTU Pacers all use the standard Hummer solo saddle. You can buy these outright (repro pan w/covering) from Heather's Leathers or J&M, maybe others. Some years (and I think that includes the Pacers) Harley used a vinyl covering instead of leather. However, the vinyl coverings crack easily. Wayne (Heathers) told me that he had a 99% cracking rate when he tried to stretch the vinyl over the pan, so he quit trying. The leather will stand up much better, and no one will fault you for using a leather seat.

My only complaint with these is that they use white thread, where I believe the originals used black thread. Over the years, sunlight bleached the black thread to white. But again, no one will fault you for that. Heck, my 1955 B has a Heather's seat.

Some (1963-1965 ?) of the Pacers used a different front mount, and different springs than the ones used on 1962-earlier. I'll have to look that up. What year is your Pacer?

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Re: Seat recovering

Postby Mutt » Wed Jun 13, 2018 5:35 pm

The Scat and Ranger use a seat that is narrower than the solo seat used from 1950 on. Getting really tough to find a pan for -62. According to the Enthusist magazine that introduces the 1955 HUMMER model, MilsCo started using a rubberized vinyl seat covering instead of leather. According to Milsco, they used this material on all the Hummer seats, unless they ran out and none was available, when Milsco got more, they used it instead of the leather. Leather was the main material used from 1950 thru 1954. But I have seen a 1950-52 seat covered in this "rubberized vinyl"
Heathers can't get REAL rubberized vinyl or Wayne would have no problems with the coverings. Not really sure where the idea came from that the rubberized vinyl covering was crap compared to leather, but I have a few of the rubberized covers that are in perfect condition and have rarely, if ever found a anywhere near perfect leather covered seat. They always cracked. Not saying that there isn't a perfect example of the leather seat somewhere, just that I haven't seen one in the last 29 plus years of restoring these bikes.
Not sure why J&M gets all there seats covered using white thread and tan rivet strip. Milsco never did ANY Hummer seat that way. Check the Pulman photos. from 1950 thru 1965. No white thread and no tan strip. But Wayne is happy to do the seats in all black, just tell him when ya send the seat in. All the swing arm models use 3" seat springs, where as the 48-62 models (except 62 Scat and Ranger) use 6" seat springs. All swing arm models 62-65 use the seat bracket that stands up in the air.
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Re: Seat recovering

Postby Don G » Wed Jun 13, 2018 8:08 pm

Thanks Guys for the reply
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Re: Seat recovering

Postby Brent » Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:50 pm

FYI. My '62 Scat had >4K miles on it and then sat in a garage....out of the sunlight. Heather's called me to ask if I wanted white or black thread.. The original seat covering had black thread. I opted for black.
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