Will passenger seatback pull forward like the driver seat?

[SeanR]

Unless I haven't found it, is there a way to pull the passenger seatback forward to get into the back compartments? Has anyone tried converting it to do so? I understand that heavy braking might cause an empty passenger seat to fly forward, but looking to see if anyone has worked around that.

[Guest steveskyhawk]

Both seats should work exactly alike. There is a pendelum in the left side seat hinge that normally hangs strait down. When stopping suddenly the pendelum swings forward and locks seatback in upright position. I have had this problem with my verts that got stereo 16 way seats. It was solved by removing the left seat hinge cover and insuring that there was adaquate clearance to allow pendelum to move freely.

[Blue90]

Sean, I occasionally have trouble pulling the seats forward. A spritz of white lithium grease on the moving parts and they're good to go again.

[Guest steveskyhawk]

Sean and all,

If when you remove the left hinge cover (16 way seat) you find that the seat back will then tilt forward, then you will know where the problem is. The hinge cover can interfere with the locking pendelum. If it (the pendelum) is pushed forward by the cover even a sixteenth of an inch the seat will lock in the upright position. I used a heat gun and some pressure to tweak the edge of the cover. This allows the pendelum to hang strait down and the seat will work properly.

[SeanR]

Hmm, interesting. I took a few good violent whacks to get the seat to go forward. Now I no longer have to try and clean the back passenger side from the driver door. I now see that pendulum thing. Nothing is binding it, just seems to have a tendency to pull foward like it doesnt have the proper balance. ;( Thanks everyone for the confirmation.

[Guest steveskyhawk]

Sean and all,

In my case the hinge cover was the problem. I had just done the interior in white and the hinge covers were "wrapped" in new white vinyl. The vinyl increased the thickness of the cover and pushed the pendelum slightly forward locking the seat. It only needs to move forward a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch. In any case a heat gun and some hand pressure on the hinge cover returned the clearance to normal and the seat was fixed. If I was unsucessful I was toying with the idea of drilling out the rivet that the pendulum swings from and eliminating the problem once and for all.

[sosuzguy]

Mine wouldn't go forward either then I realized if you push the seat back forward from the inner side of the headrest instead of the outer side they go forward every time for me.

Can someone take a picture of this to post?

[SeanR]

Mine wouldn't go forward either then I realized if you push the seat back forward from the inner side of the headrest instead of the outer side they go forward every time for me.

Can someone take a picture of this to post?

You know I think you might be on to something. The seatback seems to have some warpage in the frame or a loose seatbolt causing it to twist. I was noticing that when trying to push it forward how the console side of the seat was twisting compared to the seat rails.