Can you pull up against the seat while trying to unscrew it?

 

that was a good idea - thanks . but too late .. lost my temper and already drilled it out.

I've got a thumbscrew to go back in it anyway

 

Hello all

I’m having the same issue and the seat bolt spins/stuck.
I’m looking at drilling, please can you give me. Few pointers?

Rear wheel out?
What do you rest the bike on - block of wood?
Drilling what size did you start with?
I guess the head falls off at a certain size?

Any idea what the bolt details (DxL) are so I can look for a thumb screw?

Thanks

 

@Bluesky20 it'd be easier to do with the rear wheel out, however others might be able to say if it can be done without wheel removal.

I see you are in the UK but your profile gives no indication as to where. I'm in the central belt of Scotland (not too far from Glasgow). The job would be easier to do if you have a rear paddock stand, if you don't have one and are near-ish you are welcome to borrow mine. I notice you are new to the forum. Welcome! Once you get this issue over with and have some time on your hands, can I ask that you pop over to the New Members Introductions section and say hi properly? We are a friendly bunch and like to say hello.

 

Thanks for the tips, will look around for a paddock stand.
Based down in the South unfortunately!
Great forum

 

What’s with the seat bolt?!

Is it just my opinion or is the seat release solution; the crappy difficult to reach and use bolt just plain lazy by BMW?
After using it a few times to access the tool kit, fuse box or battery area it’s now broken I think. The bolt is just rotating and I can feel something click and rotate in the seat. The bolt won’t undo any more.
Has anyone experienced this, discussed it with BMW as a quality/warranty issue and has anyone found a good alternative?
I tried to undo it this time so I could replace the bolt with a finger screw cheap Chinese option from Amazon, similar to a few I’ve seen around here.
So what’s your view, experience and conclusion? I have the feeling I have an awkward conversation with BMW ahead so would value any precedent set elsewhere.
Thanks in advance.
P.S. 100+ miles on twistes and mountains today as part of my advanced rider course. God I love this bike.

 

Common problem and a poor design - had same problem and got BMW to replace the seat on my Scrambler under warranty.

It is easy to cross thread the bolt in the captive nut and to also overtighten it.

Trick is to only ever start off putting the bolt in by hand to ensure you do not cross tread it and never over tighten it. Also when removing be careful to turn it the correct way to start with

 

Also a drop of oil or anti-seize compound on the threads will go a long way ... while I had the seat off I also super glued the fixed nut in the underside of the seat. Best recommendation I heard... is to hand thread each time to avoid cross threading. 👍 Good One. ......Blitz

 

IMHO the entire two piece seat design is a triumph of bean counting over engineering. Its a cost saving exercise at best. Aside from being a faff to remove and replace I've noticed that the front section of the seat on my bike floats around. Now the bike isn't new, it's covered almost 30,000 kms but the amount of movement is very noticeable.
Because I bought the bike as a repairable write off and I'm still in the process of repairing it I've yet to ride it on the road in anger but I thought the seat needed sorting before I did.
As others have pointed out, there is some fore/aft adjustment on the front mounting bracket which bolts to the frame which helped to tighten the front of the seat but the back of the seat pad still had a lot of sideways movement. On inspection I found that there was a lot of wear inside the plastic lugs that locate the seat. I cut some tags from steel sheet, approx .3mm thick, and glued them onto the seat base where there was obvious wear. I'm happy with progress so far, while the seat isn't rock solid it isn't slopping around either and the plan is to add to the shims until the seat is tight.

 

I thought mine was stuck, but thankfully wasn't. The tool that comes with the key set just didn't allow me to get enough torque.

 

I did something stupid- seat bolt

It was late in the day and as I was putting the seat back on the bike and securing it with the OEM bolt, I feared that I had cross-threaded it so I backed it up and threaded the bolt on the seat while off the bike (see pic) - I was not paying attention and over tightened the bold- now the whole thing spins and can't get the bolt off. Boy, do I feel stupid. Any suggestions? I'm thinking of using a drill to spin out the whole bolt and embedded nut and retrofit a solution. It's a crap design and I knew about it (second rninet- this one is on my new urban GS) Any suggestions welcomed.

 

Is the threaded insert spinning in the seat? Try a good quality epoxy on the insert. You may have to drill 3 or 4 small holes around the outer diameter of the insert for the epoxy to adhere too. Let the epoxy cure. It would be a permament fix.

 

ohh I like that approach. I'll give that a shot. many thanks.

 

You could apply the same basic concept as above by simply drilling a small hole from the side, through the plastic and into the insert, stopping before you it the bolt. Then slide a pin in the hole and you should prevent spinning while you back it out.

 

finally got to it. A 3 mm drill did the trick- Drilled the bottom of the captive but from the side all the way and got the bolt out. Then threaded safety wire through the new hole and this keeps it from spinning. Its an absolute $hit design from BMW. shame on them. I wonder if anyone will make a retro kit to improve the design. Cheers everyone for your ideas.

 

Looks like I’m the latest victim of this poor design. Thankfully for me, it happened while the seat was off the bike and I have a spare rear seat cover. However, until this is fixed, I cannot go riding with my significant other.

I know this is an old post but I hope someone who has been through this will see this and can help.

In my case the thumb screw is in and I cannot screw it out because, what I assume is a captive nut, is spinning on its own within the plastic casing. I have tried using vice grips on the thumb screw (as you can see) and pushing down hard on the seat, but I can’t get the captive nut to hold enough to get the screw out.

Would anyone know if it is possible to access the captive nut from the other side by first peeling back the seat upholstery?

Another option, mentioned in this post, is to drill into the side of the plastic that contains the captive nut to hit the nut and therefore poke the nut enough to hold it in place. If that is an option, where should I drill the hole. The plastic column is just about 30mm from top to bottom but where, in that space, is the actual captive nut located?

Or, is there another option that I should be considering?

Desperately looking for a solution!

 

Spinning Seat Bolt - Solved

This is for anyone who searched for the resolution to a spinning/stripped seat bolt and came up short.

I purchased my Turban a week ago and wanted to remove the seat to fit a Quadlock charger. Upon trying to remove the seat bolt I found that it must've been overtightened at some point so was spinning but not undoing.

Most search results were for new bikes that were returned to the garage under warranty for a seat replacement. Or drilling the bolt out.Having bought my bike used warrenty wasn't an option and I had no intention of buying a new seat.

What I found was that if you undo the four bolts under the seat to drop the rear mudguard, it exposes enough of the seat bolt to allow you to get a pair of grips onto the captive nut. With the grips on you can undo the bolt with a torx key.

I've since ordered a toolless seat removal option to get around this ridiculous design.

Hope this helps you random Google user.

 

Good result if frustrating. Can I ask what alternative you’ve chosen? I might do something similar….

 

I can't vouch for it as it hasn't arrived yet but I ordered this from Ebay.

Ebay link

theres are a few options out there if you search for R Nine T toolless seat removal.

 

I can;t remember where I bought mine but it looks exactly like yours.
Has worked flawlessly for several years.

 

Those style toolless ones are the go. I have one for years and it works all the time.

 

Amazon

Motorcycle Rear Passenger Seat Bolt Removal Tool - Less Quick Release for B.M.W R9T R Nine T NineT /5 RnineT Pure Racer Scrambler Urban G/S 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 (Black), Complete Seats - Amazon Canada

Motorcycle Rear Passenger Seat Bolt Removal Tool - Less Quick Release for B.M.W R9T R Nine T NineT /5 RnineT Pure Racer Scrambler Urban G/S 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 (Black) in Complete Seats.

www.amazon.ca

Ali

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005817106171.html

Walmart

Verify Your Identity

 

I have the same. works perfectly…

 

Me I would possibly attack it with a Dremel and cut the top portion maybe 5mm of the plastic housing away to hopefully reveal the offending captive spinning nut. You may then get it to simply pull out as an assembly. I would then replace with a suitable length of perhaps copper pipe or metal tubed spacer and weld it in situ. There are loads of well proven adhesives and liquid weld options out there. Fit a suitable penny washer and insert a rivnut in the end and all that remains is finding a replacement bolt to nail the seat on. But that’s just me and I have the technical acumen and all the equipment in my garage to sort it. The alternative is of course a replacement seat but from where I’m sat you don’t have much to lose by cutting it! Good luck!