[rmstirm]

I have a 1970 GT in which the original seat backs recline when you don't want them to! I have seen that there is a repair bolt? for fixing the seat back that I believe is available from OGTS. Has anyone used this repair bolt or come up with there own fix that works? Thanks in advance for your advise.

Randy S. (1970 Opel GT with 78,000+ original miles)

 

[BQS4]

Randy;
The bolt in question is just simply called, in the fastner world, a "shoulder" screw, or bolt. I don't know the exact size, but, this screw or bolt should be available at a "good" and I emphasize, good, hard ware store, that has a good fastner section. Home Depot, or Lowes will probably not carry this. You might have to contact a fastner house. I know of a great ACE hardware in Tucker, GA that has, quite literally, EVERYTHING!!!
Good luck,
Gene

 

[houserc]

I just replaced both of my outter "bolts" about two months ago.

You need to watch the orientation of the seat release knob to the internal gear when re-assembling it. If you put it together wrong, the seat will not recline at all or it will not latch in when it does recline.

Is your bolt bad or is your knob bent?

My original problem was that some gorilla had cranked on the knob so that it bent off the internal gear. I could have reused the old rivot bolt, but opted to replace it.

The shoulder bolt that was discussed in the prior response, I thought, was pretty unique, due to the size and the length of the shoulders.

I ended up turning down a bolt to the same measurements as the "rivot" and making my own shoulder bolt. So, I don't know what OGTS has to let you know. I'm out of town until Thursday night, so pictures will be a while.

Also, while you are there, you might want to treat your seat pan for rust allong with the springs and such.

 

[jvandyke]

any more info?

I'd like to fix my seat backs. Not finding much info on this. Will it be obvious what I need to do when I tear into it? Neither seat will stay in any but one postion. Driver's side just sits on a large bolt head. No idea how it is supposed to be.

 

[greenopelgt]

Good seat frames (several)

Man down the street has several good working latch frames (only)for sale. I'm getting Oooner one. Just let me know.

Tom

 

[Anonymous D]

Options

Replacing the splined bolt in the mechanism is about the only step
available for an original repair. That presumes the seat mechanism isn't
too far gone (which is probably the case, when someone had
installed a bolt to just keep the seat back upright).
The splined bolt is best used right after the original bolt has
popped out of place. If it's been a while, the gears may have
deformed relative to each other, and may no longer be easily
repairable.

Another alternative is to replace the upper half of the seat with
a good used seat frame. This means swapping over the padding
and upholstery too. You can do it, but it takes some time and
self-education, to make it look right. Or you can use a
passenger-side seat frame, which is easier and cheaper to find
(the driver's side frames get used more, are hard to find in
an unbroken condition for less than $50, and sometimes
require UPS "oversize" fees to have shipped). The main difference
between which side is which, is that the mechanisms originally
faced the outside of the car (instead of closer to the transmission).

The quick fix: Swap the passenger seat to use on the driver's side,
and jam a bolt in the broken frame so that your occasional passenger
won't get a 'surprise' chiropractic adjustment the first time you hit
the brakes.

 

[jvandyke]

Passenger side is no better in my case. I didn't look closely at it yet though, I just know now there is no "adjustment" there either. I eyeballed the teeth on driver's seat and they "look" fine. Maybe I can salvage t. It's okay the way it's rigged now but I have to have things working correctly if possible, bit anal. The other day I dragged the whole family outside to watch my backup light come on. (yes, they all think I'm nuts, but they all like to ride in the GT too)
Seems like there ought to be a schematic or something someone has as this seems to be a common problem. If I tear into mine, I'll take pictures and create something on it.

 

[jvandyke]

So, what's up with this? Just doesn't "grab" and hold anywhere, teeth look okay, they move. How does this come apart? So many questions.

here's a Quicktime movie, about 500KB give it a bit to load up.

http://homepage.mac.com/jvandyke/seatback.MOV

 

[jvandyke]

Another member and I are trying to figure this out, first picture is his set up, other is a picture sent him by OTGS that they say is normal and they have never seen our set up.
Notice the "plate" on first picture. I have this plate too (see video, earlier post) but it appears my plate is installed different then this.
Just wondering if a schematic exists of this or not. What the proper way is. Maybe when I take it apart it will apparent but I doubt it.
Both our cars 1970 GTs

maybe it's as simple as when the seat backs and bottoms are put together this gear needs to be in the right spot, exposing the slot in the plate so the lever's teeth can mate up? when I watch mine move, (see video) the opening and teeth are exposed straight up, not towards the front where the lever can actually grab them, sound plausible?

 

[bear]

When I put Willit?'s seats together, it was a matter of trial and error to get the locking handle with the teeth on it to mesh with the gear sector teeth in the right seat back position. Just a matter of seeing at which position the seatback was correct in the upright position. If it was too far back or forward, lift the handle and spin the sector one tooth at a time to get it right.

 

[jvandyke]

I pulled the driver's seat out last night, unbolted the seat back from the seat bottom. I didn't realize until I did that the top frame and recline assembly are all attached together, presumably via the smooth head bolt that the the lever rides on. As far as I can tell the problem is the big gear's teeth aren't lining up with the lever's teeth. That is: lever's teeth are riding on the plate's edge, not the toothed area.
Question: In order to realign them you have to grind off whatever is holding the lever bolt on, thus allowing the whole recline assembly to come off the seat back frame (since the little gear rides along the teeth in the seat frame you can't spin it any farther then seat back can move) then I should be able to spin the gear back around like the second picture above, bolt it back together (hopefully with a bolt from the hardware store, is this the infamous bolt OTGS sells?)
Is this the only thing keeping the recline assembly bolted to the frame?
All this begs the question: how did they get misaligned in the first place? If the lever bolt is still attached via the factory tack weld (it looks like to Mr. Ignorant here) how could this have happened? Even if some gorilla cranked on the lever to the point where it's teeth got along side of the big gear/plate it still couldn't turn past the seat back's travel limits. Too much conjecture. I just have to get the bolt out and see where I'm at. Grind off the back welded washer thingy?
Looking at this pic supplied by OTGS, this would seem to be the "seat nearly upright position", as the seat back moves backward toward recline the seat frame's teeth turns the small gear and attached big gear clockwise, exposing more teeth (and associated recline position options) to the lever's teeth. At no time should I be able to see the big gear's teeth at the top and rearward (as I do now).
If the lever is held up and the seat pushed all the way forward, as in accessing the cargo, then the lever rides on the toothless area of big gear, right? Why my gear is only a partial circle with "cover plate" and thus different then the one pictured, I don't know. Looks like our set up would have the lever's teeth riding on the edge of the plate in 'fully forward, access the cargo position". Maybe someone put the seat forward with the steering column dropped and it spun too far forward? I don't know, if so, it should have gone back on track when the seat was tipped back again. Mine looks exactly like the other pictured (on wooden table background) although that is not mine but another member's as I have yet to get mine off the seat itself.

PS, sorry for long winded and generally MASSIVE number of postings, pushing 800 posts in one year and only owned a car for a few months, hopefully the majority are relevant, on topic and useful to the good of the order.....

 

[jvandyke]

how many postions is there supposed to be?

How many recline positions are there supposed to be?
Took it apart again, see how it works a bit better. Nothing was 'broken" as far as I could tell, I don't get the purpose of the spring loaded plate either. I could get it catch while in my hand in about 3 different positions, but bolted up it won't grab. Maybe due to being pinched together when bolted to seat bottom?
Anyway since I had nothing to loose I ground down the inside of the bolt and took it apart, nothing wrong. Bolt seemed fine (until I destroyd it:lmao
So, I'll see what I can scrounge at the hardware store and play with it. Nothing to loose, didn't work before, can't make it any worse trying to fix it.

 

[jvandyke]

Made a bolt, despite seeming to grab nice in several positions, once back together, it is exactly as it was when I started. Weird.

 

[Sparky73]

sorry for long winded and generally MASSIVE number of postings, pushing 800 posts in one year and only owned a car for a few months, hopefully the majority are relevant, on topic and useful to the good of the order.....

Lately, I have not seen one person on this site ask as many questions as you do .

It's good though. Show's your dedicated.. and from what I can tell at least 95% of them would, in my opinion, help a lot of members.

 

[newman27]

The bolt on my driver's seat finally broke - I knew this was coming as these are my original seats recovered and the recline adjustment had been acting up lately. Thus, I already had the required OGTS bolt in hand :yup:. I managed to get the little spring back on the lever and all three holes lined up (seat bracket, lever, frame) and the bolt through the holes and tightened up. Unfortunately, I have the problem described here:

...as far as I can tell the problem is the big gear's teeth aren't lining up with the lever's teeth. That is: lever's teeth are riding on the plate's edge, not the toothed area....

This thread ends before revealing how to line up the teeth on the lever with the teeth on the seat gear. Right now, my seat engages from about the vertical position forward toward the dash instead of the opposite desired function which of course is engaging from vertical back toward the package tray so that the seat can be reclined. I get a nice bouncy action as I lean back now. Anyone know the trick to getting the teeth lined back up?

BTW, I can offer a tip on the lever spring. It is much, much easier to place the end of the spring on the lever end and stretch it back to the peg on the seat frame than the other way around. I spent 20 minutes or more trying it the other way when I decided to reverse the process and got it on the first try.

Matt

 

[bear]

Matt, I have the same problem on Willit?'s passenger seat. I finally got the teeth lined up using the tried and true method of trial and error on the toothed gear and by shimming it just a bit with washers. But lost the spring whe my seats were recovered. I can lock the seat in position and it will stay there until you lean back on it, then the lever raises and it goes clear back. It was a pain to line up the teeth, I just assembled it loosely then rotated the gear one tooth at a time until I was happy with where it was. HTH.

 

[traytodd]

If you know the size, try McMaster-Carr for the part.

 

[newman27]

Matt, I have the same problem on Willit?'s passenger seat. I finally got the teeth lined up using the tried and true method of trial and error on the toothed gear and by shimming it just a bit with washers. But lost the spring whe my seats were recovered. I can lock the seat in position and it will stay there until you lean back on it, then the lever raises and it goes clear back. It was a pain to line up the teeth, I just assembled it loosely then rotated the gear one tooth at a time until I was happy with where it was. HTH.

So it sounds like I need to loosen everything back up and fiddle with the toothed gear. My hope is that this can all be done with the seat in place. I'll try that tonight after work.

Thanks Ron,

Matt

 

[BQS4]

So it sounds like I need to loosen everything back up and fiddle with the toothed gear. My hope is that this can all be done with the seat in place. I'll try that tonight after work.

Thanks Ron,

Matt

Matt;
Actually it's not that hard to take the GT seats out. Grab a 1/4" drive ratchet, and a 13mm socket. Push the seat all the way forward on the runners and remove the back two bolts in the rails. Then push the seat all the way back, and take out the front two bolts and you're done.

 

[newman27]

Matt;
Actually it's not that hard to take the GT seats out. Grab a 1/4" drive ratchet, and a 13mm socket. Push the seat all the way forward on the runners and remove the back two bolts in the rails. Then push the seat all the way back, and take out the front two bolts and you're done.

Good to know - thanks Gene! Of course, I could always drive with the seat bouncy - it's really working the abs... :lmao: