Yea, none of us wants to see a 300 lb guy busting nuts! Good luck with the Dealer.

 

I'm interested on how this turns out as well.

 

Mine did the same thing except no dent. I accelerated pretty fast and the seat went sliding back with a "pop" (that was the fender nut going bye-bye), and I was suddenly sitting about 8 inches further back. Scared the crap out of me. I dropped by the local H-D shop on the way home and they said they had been seeing lots of that, and showed me the little metal bumpers that bolt down on top of the frame, under the seat, where the front saddlebag guard would go. Anyway, they replaced the fender nut and installed those 2 little pieces on the top of the frame, no charge.

 

Your using your feet to push back on the seat a lot and you wonder why they keep breaking off? I've been riding for over 40 years and I have never broken one off. Since you don't want to change the habit that's breaking them, did you consider repalcing the whole nut/bolt thing with something stronger and maybe putting a rubber washer between the seat tab and the fender? Seems like that would be a pretty easy fix to me. Just wondering. If you used your foot to kick your car door closed would you be carping about the manufacturer for not making the door out of stronger metal once you dented it?

 

Some of you guys may want to re read the whole thread and take a look at the Service Bulletin that Dawg posted. The early seats for for the OP's bike have a defective/ poorly designed seat mounting tab. HD has changed th design and offered a service bulletin to change out the tab under warranty. It has NOTHING to do with the way the original poster rides, sits, or re positions himself. It's a MoCo issue.

 

under warranty they should fix the fender, Especially when the parts guy kept selling you the replacement screw. I would be pissed off too!

 

I'm 6' 225. I've never experienced this issue, but then again I replaced my stock screw with the thumb screw.

 

What does the service bullitin have to do with his problem? He didn't bend or break the tab and the tab didn't cause damage which is what the bullitin addresses. How are some bumpers going to keep him from busting another nut when he uses his feet to push back repeatedly on the seat? They (the bumpers) prevent damage to the fender caused by the tab, and aren't going to prevent him from breaking more bolts. If you look at the bulletin, what he's breaking off is still there in the picture illustrating the type of fender damage to look for.

 

I have the thumb screws too....on both the side and the rear

 

So, how did you make out?