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958 Posts
Toyo and others were correct. I was installing driver and passenger seat heaters in a stock seat. Some of the thoughts were very creative and I enjoyed reading them.
Here is the story. I installed these for a customer who had purchased the heater elements from a company called Check Corporation. This is the company that supplies seat heaters to both Corbin and I believe Russel. They use wire heating elements and the parts come with a 3 year 36,000 mile warranty. To be honest, this was one of the biggest PIA projects I have done in a while. The generic motorcycle seat heater parts they sell are NOT made for a Goldwing. You will have to do a lot of modification in order to get them on a stock wing seat. I have made several calls to the company and some of the issues can be worked out. I will know more after I do another install on my seat.
Here is what this install involved. I am sure there is more than one way to do things, but this is what I did, and the end result came out exactly how I was hoping for.
The standard kit didnt include any backing plates for the switches to be installed in the seat. You have to have some support for the switch or else it will wear a big hole in the seat foam. I ended up making backing plates out of thick sheet metal, and recessing these into the side of the seat so they would be flush when the vinyl was insalled over the seat. In talking to the company, they make alluminum brackets, and I will try these out with the next install.
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Here is where I routed the wires to the switch and the heater elements.
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Here is the passenger seat heater element installed. One thing about this element is the seat heater wires that go to the to the switch are too short. I had to jumper the leads by about a foot.
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Here is the drivers heater element.
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Here is a close up of the drivers switch. Its a two position switch with a low and high heat setting.
![]()
Here is how it looked after I got everything sealed up (and prior to cleaning it up). This customer had me install this kit on one of our Large seats. As you can see, the vinyl looks just as smooth as stock, and its a VERY clean install. There is supposed to be a switch plate for the passenger switch, but one was missing, and we didnt get the replacement delivered in time to install it.
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Here is the finished product on the bike after it was cleaned up and a Utopia installed. I should get a report back in about a week after he spends some time in Colorado.
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In closing, If you wanted to have seat heaters in your stock seat this might be the way to go. I am going to order a kit for my bike to see if they can make the install easier by making some changes. After some road tests and more experience with the install, I can determine if this is worth the effort. If you want to install these heaters in your own seat, follow my lead and drive on. If you dont like cutting your seat for a Utopia, you are going to hate this!
John
Here is the story. I installed these for a customer who had purchased the heater elements from a company called Check Corporation. This is the company that supplies seat heaters to both Corbin and I believe Russel. They use wire heating elements and the parts come with a 3 year 36,000 mile warranty. To be honest, this was one of the biggest PIA projects I have done in a while. The generic motorcycle seat heater parts they sell are NOT made for a Goldwing. You will have to do a lot of modification in order to get them on a stock wing seat. I have made several calls to the company and some of the issues can be worked out. I will know more after I do another install on my seat.
Here is what this install involved. I am sure there is more than one way to do things, but this is what I did, and the end result came out exactly how I was hoping for.
The standard kit didnt include any backing plates for the switches to be installed in the seat. You have to have some support for the switch or else it will wear a big hole in the seat foam. I ended up making backing plates out of thick sheet metal, and recessing these into the side of the seat so they would be flush when the vinyl was insalled over the seat. In talking to the company, they make alluminum brackets, and I will try these out with the next install.
Here is where I routed the wires to the switch and the heater elements.
Here is the passenger seat heater element installed. One thing about this element is the seat heater wires that go to the to the switch are too short. I had to jumper the leads by about a foot.
Here is the drivers heater element.
Here is a close up of the drivers switch. Its a two position switch with a low and high heat setting.
Here is how it looked after I got everything sealed up (and prior to cleaning it up). This customer had me install this kit on one of our Large seats. As you can see, the vinyl looks just as smooth as stock, and its a VERY clean install. There is supposed to be a switch plate for the passenger switch, but one was missing, and we didnt get the replacement delivered in time to install it.
Here is the finished product on the bike after it was cleaned up and a Utopia installed. I should get a report back in about a week after he spends some time in Colorado.
In closing, If you wanted to have seat heaters in your stock seat this might be the way to go. I am going to order a kit for my bike to see if they can make the install easier by making some changes. After some road tests and more experience with the install, I can determine if this is worth the effort. If you want to install these heaters in your own seat, follow my lead and drive on. If you dont like cutting your seat for a Utopia, you are going to hate this!
John
