Black Bomber Seat Latch

[Troy]

After posting questions on my build thread and not making much progress there I stumbled upon this most excellent forum thread elsewhere on the internet with a dialogue that took place between many of our esteemed members here and others. Admins, feel free to make adjustment as you see fit but this is the best collection of information I've found on what seems to be a fairly common problem for Bomber owners. Personally I have ordered some hardware from a couple of Canadian suppliers and I will update with my personal progress once it arrives.

WANTED: CB450K0 "seat spring" part 77203-283-010

[teebo]

Wow. What a great instructional post. In multiple ways.

I was able to find the spring. But it wasn’t $20 anymore. $30 + shipping and I haven’t seen any popup again. The McMaster-Carr find is great. I’ve also purchased other items from them.

I got all the remaining seat parts from Clauss Studios along with several other rubber parts.

Now if I had a lathe. I’ve been looking for #8 since August. Have seen a single one.


‘69 CB350
‘68 CB450K0

[Troy]

This whole thing had me a little perplexed until I found that thread from the other site. Now it makes a lot more sense to me. I actually don't think this is terribly precise assembly of parts so I'm hoping that something functional can be cobbled together. Now that I know to search for a conical compression spring there are lots of options available. McMaster Carr's shipping costs to Canada made it a bit too expensive so I started looking for options on this side of the border. Grainger has a pretty similar spring and I've ordered a few.
https://www.grainger.ca/en/product/C...X0-/p/WWG1NDR5

I might be naive but part #8 doesn't scare me terribly. I think any nut that will fit inside the small end of the spring with a washer will do. I've ordered some metric t-nuts. I will flatten out the prongs and then it should be simple enough to shorten the shaft as needed to make the right fit.
https://canadabolts.ca/collections/m...=7386316701743

I suspect this might work nicely too
https://www.mcmaster.com/metric-nuts...ase-weld-nuts/

Once everything arrives and I figure out how best to make it work together I can always refine things by having a friend with a lathe make something a little more precise if needed. It will be a week or so until I have the time to get to it.

My plan is to update this thread with pictures of my own once I make further progress.

Teebo, there is a complete latch assemble currently for sale on eBay but by the time I get it from Arizona to Canada it's $100 for some old rusty parts.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/334692185188...Bk9SR9T564LBYQ

[Troy]

Before I start, all credit to those who pioneered this conversation at the other site long ago. I'm leaning heavily on their observations. I think I may have a slightly simpler solution though. Of course if you're particular about things being factory precise you may want to do something different.

The key elements are a conical spring (Part #7) and a nut/washer (Part #8) combination of some sort that will fit inside the narrow end of the spring. I'm using a T-nut that I modified slightly for this purpose. Neither is difficult to find. There are links in my previous posts to the parts that I ordered. I live in a small town. In a bigger city you might find stuff like this more readily available.

Starting with the t-nut I ground off the prongs and shortened the overall length to approximately 6mm.

IMG_1926.jpg IMG_1928.jpg
This allows the shaft of the t-nut to fit nicely inside of the narrow end of the spring. No need to crimp the spring onto the nut. Once assembled it's not going anywhere.
IMG_1929.jpg

The spring/nut is then placed inside of the STAY, seat setting (Part #12). It holds itself in place quite nicely.
IMG_1930.jpg

Thread the LATCH, seat (Part #6) into the nut. You can see here how it would all look when tightened together. In the 2nd and 3rd photos I'm just holding the latch in place with my hand to demonstrate how it will exit the back side of the stay. If I were to let go the spring would just open up again. I mention this because the photo might mislead you to think that somehow the threads of the screw are doing this or that the t-nut is fixed to the stay...it is not. Hope this doesn't cause confusion.
IMG_1931.jpg IMG_1934.jpg IMG_1935.jpg

Now onto the frame. (not attached to the seat so that it's easier to see the latch without the seat in the way) This combination is rock solid on the frame. The Stay is sandwiched firmly between the Nut and the frame with no movement.
IMG_1932.jpg IMG_1933.jpg

A couple of notes.

-On the other forum there was speculation that the parts fiche may have the orientation of the spring/nut incorrect. I tried it both ways and I'm convinced the parts fiche shows the correct orientation.
-On the other forum there was conversation about the Clauss reproduction not allowing the nut to spin freely on the small recess at the end of the thread. I've never seen an original LATCH but I can't see how allowing the nut to be loose would be an enhancement. It was speculated that would keep things from inadvertently becoming separated from one other but I can't see that happening with my set-up. It all stays together quite nicely and I don't think it would ever come apart.

If you don't have to pay for shipping the parts should cost about $5.00 and the total time investment would be under 30 minutes...if you took your time.

[teebo]

Fantastic. Thanks Troy.


‘69 CB350
‘68 CB450K0

[ancientdad]

Nice creativity indeed.