How do you remove the seat on a 1994 Honda Shadow VLX 600 and change the battery?

Answer 1

On my 2003 VLX, there was a 10mm bolt under each butt cheek of the rider seat. I used a straight-handle ratchet handle to get in under the seat to a bolt on either side. Then I yanked forward and backward on the seat and the entire rider & passenger seat comes off. Before I did that, I had to get to the battery. It's deep down in a crazy place, but good for center of gravity, I guess. Remove the plastic panels on each side of the bike. On the right side, I moved the wires and fuses and stuff until I could see the battery down in there. I removed the cables and scooted wires and stuff until I could grab and maneuver the battery out via the right side of the bike. There is a website where a guy demonstrates these on similar models that includes pictures, but I don't recall the address of the website. I found it by googling.

The first time I had to replace the battery on my VLX 600, I took it to a small engine machine shop. The seat had to be removed in order to get to the battery (according to the mechanic). I've done the same (and was glad I removed the seat - one of the bolts was sheared and had to be replaced!) and had a very tough time getting to and replacing the battery myself. Be prepared to take some time with this whole thing (I'm talking about the battery removal/replacement in particular) - a few hours, to get to the battery; and do this in a well-lit, covered area just so you can take a break, if you get frustrated, and come back to it later. Very very different from my Shadow Sabre 1100 where changing the battery is much easier (prolly because it's a bigger bike, of course, so more room).

I found a website where there are pictures and basic instructions for removing the battery on a 1996 model. According to the manual, significant changes weren't made in the VLX 600 till after 1998 so you should find this website useful for the 1994. I included the link under "Related Links" below.