OB Electric seat gear lubrication?
10-26-2011, 09:47 AM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
OB Electric seat gear lubrication?
My seats are out for recovering.
Can't find anything in the WSM on lubrication of the seat gears either in seat back of seat base.
Any best practices?
Thanks
Can't find anything in the WSM on lubrication of the seat gears either in seat back of seat base.
Any best practices?
Thanks
10-27-2011, 08:40 PM
#4
Rennlist Member
Jim
I've just done the threads and gears on my GTS, and I did my 82 seats a long time back. What's vitally important to making sure the gears operate smoothly is to get ALL the old grease off, along with the grit that is mixed in with it. If you just add fresh grease you'll create a nice fresh abrasive paste which will accelerate wear, slow operation, and tends to accumulate at the end of travel and cause seat/gear jamming.
On the OB's you can take the complete rail/motor/gear operating system off the seat base, and that will allow you to clean in every area without getting old grease on the seat. The fore/aft and up/down drive mechanism will be filthy because it gets all the blown up dust and grit from the carpet sticking onto the grease. I used brake cleaner and an old toothbrush, rags and a paint brush to get everything off, but you could use almost any solvent or degreaser. You need to avoid the motors so that you don't get solvent potentially travelling down the shaft and getting into the motor/bearings. Having the complete seat base mechanism off makes it easy to get everything clean, and allows you to tilt it in all directions to get to every little crevice.
Once you have it all clean and dry, spray on lithium grease to give good cover on hinge points and gears, with a lighter coating on long gear runs. I only put a very small amount on the sliding tracks aropund the middle to avoid end accumulation and the problem with dirt sticking. Wipe off any excess to minimise the amount of grease which will be a target for dirt to stick. I chose lithium because it's commonly used for these types of applications, and it's less 'sticky' and 'dirty' than other grease. The gears within the seat back need less cleaning, because they're less exposed to dirt, and should be very lightly lubricated to avoid grease drop off. I did a temporary connection from a spare battery to give everything a run, before re-installing, to push grease to accumulation points, and give me the opportunity to wipe that extra off.
For anyone reading this who has seat jamming problems with a later model, I found that my GTS seats were jamming at the full back position because of an accumulation of old gritty/dry/waxy grease at the end of the back/forward drive threads. The accumulation at the end of the threads jams the side which has the greater build up, and then the seat won't move. Once I removed all that accumulation with a rotary wire brush, and re-lubricated with lithium, they run perfectly. When I get time I'll post some pics of that process, with before/after shots.
I've just done the threads and gears on my GTS, and I did my 82 seats a long time back. What's vitally important to making sure the gears operate smoothly is to get ALL the old grease off, along with the grit that is mixed in with it. If you just add fresh grease you'll create a nice fresh abrasive paste which will accelerate wear, slow operation, and tends to accumulate at the end of travel and cause seat/gear jamming.
On the OB's you can take the complete rail/motor/gear operating system off the seat base, and that will allow you to clean in every area without getting old grease on the seat. The fore/aft and up/down drive mechanism will be filthy because it gets all the blown up dust and grit from the carpet sticking onto the grease. I used brake cleaner and an old toothbrush, rags and a paint brush to get everything off, but you could use almost any solvent or degreaser. You need to avoid the motors so that you don't get solvent potentially travelling down the shaft and getting into the motor/bearings. Having the complete seat base mechanism off makes it easy to get everything clean, and allows you to tilt it in all directions to get to every little crevice.
Once you have it all clean and dry, spray on lithium grease to give good cover on hinge points and gears, with a lighter coating on long gear runs. I only put a very small amount on the sliding tracks aropund the middle to avoid end accumulation and the problem with dirt sticking. Wipe off any excess to minimise the amount of grease which will be a target for dirt to stick. I chose lithium because it's commonly used for these types of applications, and it's less 'sticky' and 'dirty' than other grease. The gears within the seat back need less cleaning, because they're less exposed to dirt, and should be very lightly lubricated to avoid grease drop off. I did a temporary connection from a spare battery to give everything a run, before re-installing, to push grease to accumulation points, and give me the opportunity to wipe that extra off.
For anyone reading this who has seat jamming problems with a later model, I found that my GTS seats were jamming at the full back position because of an accumulation of old gritty/dry/waxy grease at the end of the back/forward drive threads. The accumulation at the end of the threads jams the side which has the greater build up, and then the seat won't move. Once I removed all that accumulation with a rotary wire brush, and re-lubricated with lithium, they run perfectly. When I get time I'll post some pics of that process, with before/after shots.
10-27-2011, 10:09 PM
#5
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Thanks Dave. Exactly what I was looking for. I have the power seat mechanism removed to do the seat recover so I will follow you great advice.
Jim
Jim
03-22-2019, 01:01 AM
#6
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Dave,
Thank you for your advice from +7 years ago. The lumbar height adjustment in my seat back was stuck at the bottom because of dry grease accumulation at the end of the corkscrew gear. I plan to clean the rest of the gears based on your recommendations.
Jak
Thank you for your advice from +7 years ago. The lumbar height adjustment in my seat back was stuck at the bottom because of dry grease accumulation at the end of the corkscrew gear. I plan to clean the rest of the gears based on your recommendations.
Jak
