Adjusting a Front Bench Seat's Seat Holding Latch on a Tri Five Chevy

Front Bench Seat Is Loosey Goosey

   -Alan Arnell

I have an annoying problem with the bench seat-passenger side of my 1957 Classic Chevy Model/150 2-door Sedan.  The bench seat will not lock in place.  It is fine unless someone is riding shotgun. With a passenger in place every time I stop the catch lets go and the seat goes forward then slides back like a bucking bronco.   Very embarrassing.  What is even worse, my normal passenger is my wife.  I am afraid this problem will curb her enthusiasm of going out in the old ‘57.  I have taken the seat out several times to fix the problem to no avail.  For a Jerry Rig+ I screwed a piece of wood to keep the seat from going forward during stops.  I can not abide with this fix, because I can not adjust the seat.

As with many problems with my car, I may have started the slipping seat when I was trying to adjust the seat position to make the holding bolt line up during a seat reinstall.  I only needed to move the seat back and forth a little bit to line up the bolt to get the threads started.  To help me with that

problem, I used a crowbar to help nudge the seat to line the bolt up.  When I lifted the seat with the bar I placed in in the middle of the rail.  Doing so must have bent something under the seat, because the seat came unhooked and would not hook again.

I lived with the problem for a short while, until I could not.  I took out the seat again to I try to bend the rail back and greased the latch mechanism and all was alright, for a while. Then it was not latching again.  I played this little dance three times.

The last time the seat latch would not functioning, I gave up. Due to a time restraint issue I just completed a Jerry Rig.+    I needed a quick fix to go to car show. Out of desperation and need of a fix, if not a good one or permanent one, I sheet metal screwed a piece of wood in place to hold the seat still on the rail.

What do I do next?  Here is my research for my next seat rail repair project.

Clean as well as lubricate the track and latch as best as I can. I have to ensure that the return arm works freely and does not stick.  

There is a long rod that runs from the drive side track to the passenger side track.  That rod may be

lengthened or shortened by putting more or less bend in the zig-zag that is about half way across.

I believe that the rod is too short and not allowing the passenger side lever to retract and engage the track to lock it into place.  Hopefully, with a complete cleaning of all the old grease and crud in the locking mechanism and correct rod length I will have a fully functioning seat.  To allow the latch to fully engage, I will slightly un-bend the rod at the zig-zag.  

Wish me luck.

+What is a Jerry Rig?  A Jerry Rig is a repair made in a quick or careless way: not built or designed well: organized or constructed in a crude or improvised manner.  Welcome to my world!

Subscribe to Texas Classic Chevy Experience

LINK about General Information for Texas Classic Chevy Experience

!!!Support Texas Classic Experience!!!

Did you like the blog?  If you did, the best way to support Texas Classic Experience is to share this post!  Please tell others that you liked this post by sharing it with your car friends by sending them a link to this page.  http://texasclassicchevyexperience.blogspot.com/

Every view and like of my site helps!

Don’t forget to visit and like Texas Classic Experience on FaceBook:  LINK to FaceBook

Texas Classic Chevy Experience will post blogs about: Hot Rods, Chevy, Chevrolet, Drag Racing, Car Shows, Classic Cars, Custom Cars, Muscle Cars, How to Tech. posts, Dallas Area Classic Chevy Club, Texas Muscle Car Challenge, Tri-Five Nationals, Lone Star Chevy Convention, Classic Car lists, Classic car links, Spotters guides, Car Shows, Swap meets, Book reviews and More.

LINK to where it all began at post number 1, " Texas Classic Chevy Experience-The Beginning"