Does anyone know if the seat rest of the ealier models will bolt up onto a 2005 S40? There is one on EBay and I was contemplating bidding on it.

This is different  

For 5 years, I've heard how people wanted to remove the backrest from the Savage.  Now after Suzuki finally did just that, someone wants to install one.

Check the photos in the Technical Corner, and if you think the older parts will fit on your Savage40, I might be able to sell mine.  

Go for it  

Susan,

Sorry this took so long to respond. I was out in Cape Cod for the last week and half. I like the idea of swapping but I am not sure I an ready for that yet. I am not sure I am going to like the back rest and I want to be sure I can just as quickly remove it and go back to the way things used to be.  From what I can tell, Everyone is saying if I buy the backrest from Suzuki, I am also going to have to change the fender rails? That might be more than I want to get into as I am sure I am going to want to swap back and forth at some points.

A friend has  a quick release version for his Harley, does anyone know if there is one that would work well the the S40?

Taking off the backrest is "easy" on a Savage...NOT!
Remove rear turn signals.
Remove fender rail bolts.
Lift up.
Go in the house and drink a case of beer because you forgot to remove the helmet lock and now have to repaint the rear fender.
Take out the SIX bolts (2 are allen head) that hold on the backrest.

Get mad, throw the rails in a box to another state, the backrest and pad in a box to another country, and fill the holes.

Oh, wait, that's what I did.   Seriously though, If you follow my directions, remembering to remove the helmet lock first, you'll be fine. Yet another example of stupid design for the sake of marginal function...the rails aren't even a structural member, they are free floating.
-WD

lcs151 wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:07:
I mounted my saddlebags with the Savage sitting on the ground, rear tire in place.  This involved removing and replacing the siderails, relocating the turn signals, replacing a few of the mounting bolts.

Difficult we do immediately.  Next to impossible takes a hour or so.  Impossible may take upto weeks to get done.

You do not need to remove anything other than the sissy-bar and backrest.  Pictures looking down from the rear, looking slightly up and forward inside the rear fender, looking straight up at the underside of the siderail:



Remove six bolts holding the sissybar.  If I recall correctly, you have to loosen the other six bolts holding the side rails to give you enough wiggle room to remove the upper bolt and/or sissybar.  With the bolts out, the sissybar/backrest will pull up and out.

Warning!

The sissybar secures the rear ends of the side rails to the fender.  Without the sissybar the siderails are only held on by the front two and single middle bolts.  I would probably cut the sissybar, or cut and drill and tap pieces of bar stock, so as to restore the rear mounting of the side rails.

You might want to find some sort of square cap for the fenderrails where the sissy bar no longer is.  I didn't bother.  I ran without the sissybar for a couple of weeks, put it back when I mounted my saddlebags as the sissybar IS a load bearing part of the saddlebag mounting.