Home 
Home Search search Menu menu Not logged in - Login | Register
> Jensen Healey & Jensen GT Tech > Body & interior stuff > Help! Seat won't tilt forward, can't tighten track mounts

 Moderated by: Greg Fletcher
New Topic Reply Printer Friendly
Help! Seat won't tilt forward, can't tighten track mounts  Rate Topic 
AuthorPost
 Posted: 07-21-2014 02:11 am
  PM Quote Reply
1st Post
srq2002
Member
 

Joined: 07-14-2014
Location:  
Posts: 24
Status: 
Offline
My new-to-me JH has a problem that has stumped me. The seat mounting is loose, but the seat will not tip forward to allow access to the track. The lever on the side of the seat back is not releasing the seat to tip forward.

Any suggestions for getting around this?

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: 07-23-2014 07:02 am
  PM Quote Reply
2nd Post
Frank Schwartz
Member
 

Joined: 02-18-2011
Location:  
Posts: 313
Status: 
Offline
Yes...the tilt lever on the upper side of the seat back is connected to a cable which pulls a hook on the underside to allow the back to go forward...take a good look under there, on the driver's side it will be on the left side as is the lever...you might need a mirror to see...you can with some difficulty manually unhook it and once you have done that you can determine if the cable has broken or come loose or needs adjustment, which you can do, once you get the seat out and see what it going on....and put a bit of penetrating oil in the screw holes that the seats mount to. There is a small square nut that the bolts thread into and they can easily be loosened so they rotate and you cannot get the bolts out...use care and don't force things...those nuts are "captive" and the metal that holds the in place is easily bent...

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: 07-23-2014 06:34 pm
  PM Quote Reply
3rd Post
roland11a
Member
 

Joined: 12-11-2012
Location: Stone. Staffordshire, United Kingdom
Posts: 80
Status: 
Offline
Hi
Not all seats have a cable. Mine have two levers, one to adjust the seat rake and the other to tilt the whole back forward. If anything like mine it could be very stiff due to rust and age.

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: 03-21-2016 09:09 pm
  PM Quote Reply
4th Post
azvat1
Member
 

Joined: 01-21-2016
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona USA
Posts: 6
Status: 
Offline
The message board has been a great help to me if understanding and resolving issues with my 1974 J-H. So I'm hoping that someone has a solution to my latest issue.

Evidently the PO or someone attempted to loosen a seat bolt and the nut is now loose and the bolt won't un-thread.

Does anyone have a solution for removing this bolt? I need to remove the seat to have it rebuilt.

Thanks

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: 03-22-2016 06:04 am
  PM Quote Reply
5th Post
Tom Bradley
Member
 

Joined: 07-15-2013
Location:  
Posts: 203
Status: 
Offline
Is this the allen key bolt that holds the seat rail to the frame of the car? If so, the nut should be accessible underneath the car. You should then be able to grip the nut with a wrench, socket or vise grip while turning the bolt with the hex key (or vice versa). Check how badly damaged the end of the bolt sticking out below the nut underneath the car is first. You may need lots of WD40 before you try removing this. If the lower end of the bolt is badly damaged enough, like being bent from scraping something, you might need to tighten the nut and cut off the damaged end of the bolt as close to the nut as possible before trying to get it apart. I have had to do this a few times. Very tedious, but it works eventually. Scraped knuckles are a common side effect. If you have to do this, you will probably need a frameless hacksaw: one where the blade slides into the handle.

Last edited on 03-22-2016 06:07 am by Tom Bradley

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: 03-22-2016 02:08 pm
  PM Quote Reply
6th Post
Brett Gibson JH5 20497
Member
 

Joined: 03-17-2005
Location: Hilton, New York USA
Posts: 798
Status: 
Offline
The nuts on my car are welded to the inside of the seat rails and can't be gotten to, if yours are like mine the only thing to do if they spin is to cut them off to get the seat out. Once out then I would use longer bolts as Tom describes to fasten the seats back in.

Brett

Update, I should have said the seat "rails" are bolted to the seat, the seat "channels" are welded to the floor and the rails bolted to them with allen head bolts facing downward, if the allen head bolt spins then the welded nut inside the seat "Channel" has broken it's weld and you will need to cut them to get the seat out. Sorry for the confusion.

Last edited on 03-22-2016 07:26 pm by Brett Gibson JH5 20497

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: 03-22-2016 05:16 pm
  PM Quote Reply
7th Post
Tom Bradley
Member
 

Joined: 07-15-2013
Location:  
Posts: 203
Status: 
Offline
If the nut is inside the frame rather than outside then it should not be keeping the rail from lifting up. Try removing the other three bolts and see if the seat assembly can be removed. Once out it should not be too hard to get the nut and bolt apart.

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: 03-22-2016 05:21 pm
  PM Quote Reply
8th Post
Tom Bradley
Member
 

Joined: 07-15-2013
Location:  
Posts: 203
Status: 
Offline
Another possibility is that the nut is stripped rather than loose. In that case, after removing the other three bolts, try prying the rail up with a screwdriver while turning the bolt. It should come up fairly easily.

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: 03-22-2016 09:50 pm
  PM Quote Reply
9th Post
Jensen Healey
Super Moderator


Joined: 03-11-2005
Location: San Anselmo, California USA
Posts: 983
Status: 
Offline
Welcome to the message board Azvat1!

Both of the my cars had the nuts welded inside the cross channels. I had to grind off the Allen heads of several bolts to get the seats out.

I drilled through the floor pan and used fender washers on the new, longer Allen head bolts that I found at Ace hardware.

Good luck, Kurt

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: 03-24-2016 02:33 pm
  PM Quote Reply
10th Post
azvat1
Member
 

Joined: 01-21-2016
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona USA
Posts: 6
Status: 
Offline
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I will tackle it this weekend.

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: 07-31-2016 02:05 pm
  PM Quote Reply
11th Post
redracer
Member
 

Joined: 09-10-2012
Location: BROOKHAVEN, Georgia USA
Posts: 652
Status: 
Offline
Having taken apart many rusted cars(a huge problem for those of living east of the Mississippi) I've done what many of you have already done, namely use a carbide wheel on a Dremel tool to cut the top of the top of the allen bolt off to remove the seat. The 2 outer bolts have the "captured" 5/16X 24threads/inch which will "spin" in place after rusting. Using a thin carbide wheel on a Dremel to remove this is fairly easy. Installing a new square nut(difficult to obtain in the "fine" threads; had to order 100 at over $1/nut!). Use a jewelers torch to reseal the cut pieces and plenty of grease for the nuts(all 4).
note: the original allen bolts use a 7/32" wrench whereas replacement bolts will have a 1/4" allen wrench!

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

Current time is 01:11 pm  
> Jensen Healey & Jensen GT Tech > Body & interior stuff > Help! Seat won't tilt forward, can't tighten track mounts Top




UltraBB 1.172 Copyright © 2007-2011 Data 1 Systems