tminihan

I had my front seats reupholstered with Lseat covers by a local shop. I installed the drivers seat yesterday. The rearward travel is less that what it was before the re-upholstery. In fact it doesn't go back far enough to expose the front mounting bolts. Any ideas on what would have caused this issue and how to get the seat to move rearward to expose the front bolts? I do have the metal tube that extends forward, I've tried use this to move the seat manually without success. Thanks, Tom

tminihan

Update. I was able to move the seat rearward finally using the lever/tube underneath. When I move the seat back, it automatically moves forward without button input. I recall that when you tilt the seatback forward using the latch, the seat automatically moved forward - as in to let a passenger in/out of the back seat. I didn't disassemble the seats before taking them to the shop as the upholstery wrapped around the outside of the hinge. Is anyone familiar with this feature? I'm guessing the shop didn't get them back together the same way they came apart. Thanks, Tom

rcrone928

Disconnect the battery and move the seat back manually. You should be able to undo the bolts then push the seat forward to do thw rear ones.

joejoe

On my '81 only the passenger side would move forward. Were the bottoms reversed maybe?

tminihan

Thanks rcrone928 and joejoe. I've only picked up the drivers side so they weren't switched at the shop, but a lot of rookie mistakes on this car so I guess a PO could have switched them. I'll go through the manuals and see if I can find some clues to make it work properly. Thanks, Tom

tminihan

I removed the seat to get a better look. The inboard seatback hinge has a limit switch, which closes with the seatback released and forward, this moves the seat forward. Look like it was broken in the during reupholstery. I've superglued as a temporary fix. All is good for now. The pic shows the switch just inside of the hinge, plastic piece attache to seatback, seatback is forward as shown. Thanks to rcrone928 and joejoe for weighing in. I did end up having to disconnect the battery to remove the seat. Thanks, Tom