front seat gear swap (Broken Seat/Missing Cap Issue, pt. 2)
- Thread starter nakman
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
asutherland
VA7 HDT
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2003
- Threads
- 72
- Messages
- 2,932
- Location
- Broomfield, Colorado
- Website
- www.gamiviti.com
- Thread starter
- #223
Yes indeed, in stock and available thanks. www.gamiviti.com/products
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2003
- Threads
- 72
- Messages
- 2,932
- Location
- Broomfield, Colorado
- Website
- www.gamiviti.com
- Thread starter
- #225
yes can do, emailed you back also thanks!
Great info and posts! I just ordered a cap and gears from Gamiviti. It's a real drag having my driver seat stuck in the 4'3" tall driver position.
I just finished with my drivers side seat and it works very well. I used a heat gun very carefully to heat the gear and it went right on with careful alignment in the vice. Next is PS seat. Only needed one gear, other was ok. The plug was stuck to the pinion gear and turned with it. Cleaned the gunk off and is fine. Used the new plug wrapped several times with Teflon tape to make it tight.
I just finished my passenger seat. I'll check and clean the drivers seat in the coming weeks now that I see how smoothly a cleaned and greased seat works! I'm luck to have Tim as a friend and almost neighbor (Rising Sun Rocks! 
) so I drove to his house this morning and got the parts - the seat broke last weekend while I was solo camping and we have a trip starting tomorrow and I needed a working seat!
Mostly by this post I want to thank Tim and all of you for the group knowledge. I read this all yesterday and started the job, saw my gear was bad, got a new one, finished tonight.
My adds to the knowledge base:
1) My 93 has cool roller bearings sandwiched between metal washers on the forward side (pic 1 = order as found (after cleaning), Pic 2 = exploded view) and a urethane-sort-of cushion on the aft side.
2) Really don't sweat turning the long rods. I cleaned them up good, lightly lubed and simply measured on re-installation. If you gear goes out, likely the rods are misaligned anyway. Alignment is super easy. (pic 3 & 4) (the measurement is irrelevant, just that the two sides line up.
3) I drilled and screwed the cap so it does not rotate. (last picture) After, I wrapped the end in some electrical take. Good for another 26 years. Remember the cap should not be in tight! Flush with the end was fine by me.
4) I cleaned the track rollers as best as I could. Actually pretty clean for all they have been through. Lubed well.
5) For sure Tilt the seat up before unhooking the power. You really must do it.
6) I inspected the plastic gear on the non-cap side (right) of the seat. It was in perfect shape so I cleaned, lubed, and reassembled.
All said,
job
) so I drove to his house this morning and got the parts - the seat broke last weekend while I was solo camping and we have a trip starting tomorrow and I needed a working seat!Mostly by this post I want to thank Tim and all of you for the group knowledge. I read this all yesterday and started the job, saw my gear was bad, got a new one, finished tonight.
My adds to the knowledge base:
1) My 93 has cool roller bearings sandwiched between metal washers on the forward side (pic 1 = order as found (after cleaning), Pic 2 = exploded view) and a urethane-sort-of cushion on the aft side.
2) Really don't sweat turning the long rods. I cleaned them up good, lightly lubed and simply measured on re-installation. If you gear goes out, likely the rods are misaligned anyway. Alignment is super easy. (pic 3 & 4) (the measurement is irrelevant, just that the two sides line up.
3) I drilled and screwed the cap so it does not rotate. (last picture) After, I wrapped the end in some electrical take. Good for another 26 years. Remember the cap should not be in tight! Flush with the end was fine by me.
4) I cleaned the track rollers as best as I could. Actually pretty clean for all they have been through. Lubed well.
5) For sure Tilt the seat up before unhooking the power. You really must do it.
6) I inspected the plastic gear on the non-cap side (right) of the seat. It was in perfect shape so I cleaned, lubed, and reassembled.
All said,
job
My seat is fixed. Thanks for the excellent posts. It was about a 2 hours job since I kept running to my tool box and didn't have a vice press at this house. Do soak the gears (new and old) in hot tap water for maybe 20 min and they will knock on and off easier. Thanks Nak and Gamiviti gears.
Thanks for the gears and caps!
Refered back to this thread for the pics and the install was a breeze (after forgetting and figuring out the seat had to be raised all the way to access the 2 screws for the trim cover).
I actually found the gears through your post and the link on this page.
Mine stripped out while up country with my cousin, it was pretty humorous seeing a 6' 2" guy riding around with his knees almost to his chin, he moved his seat a few times and it got stuck in the forward most position.
The seat works perfectly now, thanks again.
Refered back to this thread for the pics and the install was a breeze (after forgetting and figuring out the seat had to be raised all the way to access the 2 screws for the trim cover).
I actually found the gears through your post and the link on this page.
Mine stripped out while up country with my cousin, it was pretty humorous seeing a 6' 2" guy riding around with his knees almost to his chin, he moved his seat a few times and it got stuck in the forward most position.
The seat works perfectly now, thanks again.
94trilocked
Supporting Vendor
PS Seat Fixed! I made some observations. Sorry, no pics...
First, read this thread generally from page 1.
These are my notes, basically because I found an issue I didn't see in previous threads on this...
General note on production of these.
These gears have 3 ejector pins... so... not 3d printed. Unless someone has their own arburg set up in the garage spitting these out unattended with a multicavity mold, hopper/feeder/conveyor - the price is inline with low volume setups and production runs. I've charged a lot more for a lot less nylon - Not my fault the Gov't only wanted us to run 5 of something they spec we can't stock - Machine/material/mold Setup, qa testing/FAI, and eventual mold repairs/maintenance take time and money. Unless you're ordering 1.5M of parts, then we can talk about 1.5 cents per pricing
These gears are a good part IMHO.
Note 1. Upon removing my gear carrier - I have the thrust bearing assy but no thick washer - Is it possible that what people think is a thick washer is actually dried out congealed grease? I had a 1/2 round brown orangey thing that that looked like a washer, but was definitely grease... (See Note 8 about tightening). My outside housing/retainer had to be pried off, and 'grey' washer was not not removing easily from the shaft. Upon close inspection I noticed a hairline fracture - thus upsetting the diameter just enough to keep the washer from slipping off and keeping it bound in the housing.
Fix: I chucked it up in the drill press and ran some emery cloth and 2000 grit wetdry on it until eveything slid together without any binding/catching. I checked the other side, chucked it up and polished all the ends of the gear carriers end for end, side for side.
Note 2. Clean out all of the old grease from all the plastic housing parts. The flex shaft, SS worm gear, the drive screws. Depending on your appetite for bravery... take the motor apart and clean the commutator and that worm gear and housing.
When putting the motor back together, put the housing in a vise (the part with the brushes pointing up) - unhook the brush tension spring and poke the brushes apart. Seat the motor in the housing, relatch the brush.
Then, carefully put it back together by:
Take the motor housing, pass the flex shaft through it (basically using the flex shaft as a guide through the magnets) - keep a finger on the end of the flex shaft and put the flex shaft into the end of the motor shaft - like:
===MotorShaft====|---flexshaft---|||||motor housing/magnets||||----flexshaft.
Keeping finger pressure on everything, push the motor housing down to where it belongs and screw it back to the gear housing.
I used some valvoline ford bearing grease, but I suspect anything decent will be fine.
Note 3. Pressing the gear on - a 12mm socket just fits the carrier shaft and stops at the shoulder of the retaining teeth. But, there is really no positive alignment/engagement of the retaining teeth to the ID of the gear.
Fix: Chuck the carrier up in the drill press and carefully hit the outside of the retaining teeth at an angle to create a slight bevel/chamfer. This should allow some easier alignment to the ID of the gear.
Note 4. Pressing on after creating the chamfer - Vise Jaw | Socket <-> Gear<->Carrier | Vise Jaw . Snugged up on the vise, used a little heat, pressed until the socket stopped at the carrier teeth. This is a positive/hard stop.
Note 5. Flex shaft driven/remote gear reassembly notes:
Put the little white end cap in, this carries the end of the flex shaft driven/remote worm gear. It does not need to be clamped down tight as to prevent free movement of the worm gear. You should be able to take the flex shaft and spin it and watch the gear carrier move easily. If it doesn't move freely... then there is a problem - make sure your gear carrier turns freely in the housing, make sure your carrier ends aren't gouged or otherwise impeding free movement. Try loosening the end cap.
Note 6. Repeat same basic reassembly steps for motor driven gear assembly.
Put the whole drive assembly gearboxes together and re-install as a complete unit.
Note 7. Read others advice on keeping the threaded shaft at the same length on each rail.
Note 8. There should be no slop between the retaining nut, the end of the gear carrier/housing and the shaft - you should not see any of the teeth of the drive screws that engage through the gear carrier/housing. But, do not overtighten these - there is a thrust bearing in there that will take the load, but should not be clamped tight. I think this is why I do not have a 'thick' washer in the gear housings - there's no where for the gear to go if everything is assembled correctly. If there is a washer between the retaining nut and the gear housing, make sure that it is smooth side against the housing with no burrs to catch the housing.
Note 9: Once you've snugged everything up, throw the seat back in the truck. Before bolting everything back down, tilt the seat back and run the seat fwd and back. Double check the travel of the slides, admire your work, then bolt it back down to the floor.
Good Luck, and thanks for a great product.
First, read this thread generally from page 1.
These are my notes, basically because I found an issue I didn't see in previous threads on this...
General note on production of these.
These gears have 3 ejector pins... so... not 3d printed. Unless someone has their own arburg set up in the garage spitting these out unattended with a multicavity mold, hopper/feeder/conveyor - the price is inline with low volume setups and production runs. I've charged a lot more for a lot less nylon - Not my fault the Gov't only wanted us to run 5 of something they spec we can't stock - Machine/material/mold Setup, qa testing/FAI, and eventual mold repairs/maintenance take time and money. Unless you're ordering 1.5M of parts, then we can talk about 1.5 cents per pricing
These gears are a good part IMHO.Note 1. Upon removing my gear carrier - I have the thrust bearing assy but no thick washer - Is it possible that what people think is a thick washer is actually dried out congealed grease? I had a 1/2 round brown orangey thing that that looked like a washer, but was definitely grease... (See Note 8 about tightening). My outside housing/retainer had to be pried off, and 'grey' washer was not not removing easily from the shaft. Upon close inspection I noticed a hairline fracture - thus upsetting the diameter just enough to keep the washer from slipping off and keeping it bound in the housing.
Fix: I chucked it up in the drill press and ran some emery cloth and 2000 grit wetdry on it until eveything slid together without any binding/catching. I checked the other side, chucked it up and polished all the ends of the gear carriers end for end, side for side.
Note 2. Clean out all of the old grease from all the plastic housing parts. The flex shaft, SS worm gear, the drive screws. Depending on your appetite for bravery... take the motor apart and clean the commutator and that worm gear and housing.
When putting the motor back together, put the housing in a vise (the part with the brushes pointing up) - unhook the brush tension spring and poke the brushes apart. Seat the motor in the housing, relatch the brush.
Then, carefully put it back together by:
Take the motor housing, pass the flex shaft through it (basically using the flex shaft as a guide through the magnets) - keep a finger on the end of the flex shaft and put the flex shaft into the end of the motor shaft - like:
===MotorShaft====|---flexshaft---|||||motor housing/magnets||||----flexshaft.
Keeping finger pressure on everything, push the motor housing down to where it belongs and screw it back to the gear housing.
I used some valvoline ford bearing grease, but I suspect anything decent will be fine.
Note 3. Pressing the gear on - a 12mm socket just fits the carrier shaft and stops at the shoulder of the retaining teeth. But, there is really no positive alignment/engagement of the retaining teeth to the ID of the gear.
Fix: Chuck the carrier up in the drill press and carefully hit the outside of the retaining teeth at an angle to create a slight bevel/chamfer. This should allow some easier alignment to the ID of the gear.
Note 4. Pressing on after creating the chamfer - Vise Jaw | Socket <-> Gear<->Carrier | Vise Jaw . Snugged up on the vise, used a little heat, pressed until the socket stopped at the carrier teeth. This is a positive/hard stop.
Note 5. Flex shaft driven/remote gear reassembly notes:
Put the little white end cap in, this carries the end of the flex shaft driven/remote worm gear. It does not need to be clamped down tight as to prevent free movement of the worm gear. You should be able to take the flex shaft and spin it and watch the gear carrier move easily. If it doesn't move freely... then there is a problem - make sure your gear carrier turns freely in the housing, make sure your carrier ends aren't gouged or otherwise impeding free movement. Try loosening the end cap.
Note 6. Repeat same basic reassembly steps for motor driven gear assembly.
Put the whole drive assembly gearboxes together and re-install as a complete unit.
Note 7. Read others advice on keeping the threaded shaft at the same length on each rail.
Note 8. There should be no slop between the retaining nut, the end of the gear carrier/housing and the shaft - you should not see any of the teeth of the drive screws that engage through the gear carrier/housing. But, do not overtighten these - there is a thrust bearing in there that will take the load, but should not be clamped tight. I think this is why I do not have a 'thick' washer in the gear housings - there's no where for the gear to go if everything is assembled correctly. If there is a washer between the retaining nut and the gear housing, make sure that it is smooth side against the housing with no burrs to catch the housing.
Note 9: Once you've snugged everything up, throw the seat back in the truck. Before bolting everything back down, tilt the seat back and run the seat fwd and back. Double check the travel of the slides, admire your work, then bolt it back down to the floor.
Good Luck, and thanks for a great product.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2003
- Threads
- 72
- Messages
- 2,932
- Location
- Broomfield, Colorado
- Website
- www.gamiviti.com
- Thread starter
- #233
Hey guys, finally got to something I've been wanting to do for years, I made an install video. I can put a link to that here, it's already on my website, and of course on my youtube channel... yeah trying to join the 20th century here. Anyway I didn't incorporate every single tip in the thread here as there are numerous, and the video is already 23 minutes long, but I believe I covered the main points and for the most part the next guy should be able to follow along in almost real time.
Would welcome any comments, thank you again for all the added tips to this thread and if you think I missed anything major in the video I can always edit & publish again, or just do another one, etc. but tbh this took quite a few hours so I'm hoping this will suffice for a while. Sure is better than no video. Anyway thanks again everyone for the support here and keeping this going... just realized I've been making these for more than 11 years now.
Would welcome any comments, thank you again for all the added tips to this thread and if you think I missed anything major in the video I can always edit & publish again, or just do another one, etc. but tbh this took quite a few hours so I'm hoping this will suffice for a while. Sure is better than no video. Anyway thanks again everyone for the support here and keeping this going... just realized I've been making these for more than 11 years now.
Another trick is to use a 15mm socket along with the bench vice grip
Tim, good video.
Couple of ?s
- can you do a photo of the 3 injector pins on the gear as hard to see with the lighting what order you assembled it
- any specific grease type for rails and gears?
- what was the last piece (settling) needed before tightening bolts on the floor
- who was the guest feet?
- your dog gave up !
- bit hard to hear the audio ; maybe loose the background music
Couple of ?s
- can you do a photo of the 3 injector pins on the gear as hard to see with the lighting what order you assembled it
- any specific grease type for rails and gears?
- what was the last piece (settling) needed before tightening bolts on the floor
- who was the guest feet?
- your dog gave up !
- bit hard to hear the audio ; maybe loose the background music
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2003
- Threads
- 72
- Messages
- 2,932
- Location
- Broomfield, Colorado
- Website
- www.gamiviti.com
- Thread starter
- #236
Hey Lal, I know you're an old hand at these so thanks for taking the time to watch and provide feedback! Great stuff, will do my best to answer... was my first ever video so hopefully they only get better.
can you do a photo of the 3 injector pins on the gear as hard to see with the lighting what order you assembled it
yes good call, here:
- any specific grease type for rails and gears?
Not sure if it's worth over-thinking on this one, remember these gears are used for about 4 seconds so shouldn't be any heat going on, they just need a little lube. I use the same wheel bearing grease I'd use to pack a truck bearing. But if you really wanted to get serious here I'd say use the grease they use in diffs for RC crawlers. One of the recommendations there is Mobil1 Synthetic, so right at home here in 80land... another is called Kyosho HG Joint Grease Kyosho HG Joint Grease [KYO96508] | Cars & Trucks
- what was the last piece (settling) needed before tightening bolts on the floor
sometimes the bolts in the tracks don't line up exactly with the holes in the floor... and you have to muscle one around to get the bolts to thread again. I had it happen once where we forced the seat into position before running the seat back and forth, and wound up popping a white cap the first time the seat went back. So since then I've said run the seat back and forth a couple times before it gets bolted down, which seems to get those feet in a better position relative to the holes in the floor. It can also be easier to install the seat when the seat is furthest away from the floor holes- so run it forward to put the back bolts in, run it back to put the front bolts in. One last tip here I just though of is if your seat doesn't sit flat on the floor for some reason (like you dropped it and bent one of the track feet) then use a washer to shim up one side, rather than forcing the raised foot down. You want that whole carriage to be as flat and happy as possible, so the gears have less load on them.
- who was the guest feet?
That was my son coming home from school. remember that little baby I used to take wheeling? yeah he's 14 now.. he was also my first youtube subscriber!
- your dog gave up !
Followed the boy in to the house.. usually there's food involved when he gets home.
- bit hard to hear the audio ; maybe loose the background music
Can't lose the music man, that was my band back in the day! But I can definitely speak up, in fact I just published another video yesterday where I'm a lot easier to hear. Thanks again for the comments!
can you do a photo of the 3 injector pins on the gear as hard to see with the lighting what order you assembled it
yes good call, here:
- any specific grease type for rails and gears?
Not sure if it's worth over-thinking on this one, remember these gears are used for about 4 seconds so shouldn't be any heat going on, they just need a little lube. I use the same wheel bearing grease I'd use to pack a truck bearing. But if you really wanted to get serious here I'd say use the grease they use in diffs for RC crawlers. One of the recommendations there is Mobil1 Synthetic, so right at home here in 80land... another is called Kyosho HG Joint Grease Kyosho HG Joint Grease [KYO96508] | Cars & Trucks
- what was the last piece (settling) needed before tightening bolts on the floor
sometimes the bolts in the tracks don't line up exactly with the holes in the floor... and you have to muscle one around to get the bolts to thread again. I had it happen once where we forced the seat into position before running the seat back and forth, and wound up popping a white cap the first time the seat went back. So since then I've said run the seat back and forth a couple times before it gets bolted down, which seems to get those feet in a better position relative to the holes in the floor. It can also be easier to install the seat when the seat is furthest away from the floor holes- so run it forward to put the back bolts in, run it back to put the front bolts in. One last tip here I just though of is if your seat doesn't sit flat on the floor for some reason (like you dropped it and bent one of the track feet) then use a washer to shim up one side, rather than forcing the raised foot down. You want that whole carriage to be as flat and happy as possible, so the gears have less load on them.
- who was the guest feet?
That was my son coming home from school. remember that little baby I used to take wheeling? yeah he's 14 now.. he was also my first youtube subscriber!
- your dog gave up !
Followed the boy in to the house.. usually there's food involved when he gets home.
- bit hard to hear the audio ; maybe loose the background music
Can't lose the music man, that was my band back in the day! But I can definitely speak up, in fact I just published another video yesterday where I'm a lot easier to hear. Thanks again for the comments!
Thanks Tim .. good instructions. Have mine to do again; I think the L/R rails aren't lined up right
I eyeballed mine and put on a tape measure for good measure.
i’ve got the first page here i have printed out and am reviewing.
was there any intel here on whether you should do anything with the motors while you have the seat upside down?
also. is the mechanism that holds the contacts (like the ones in the window switch control) under the seat or is it on the side of the seat? it seems mine also need cleaning while i have the seats off.
was there any intel here on whether you should do anything with the motors while you have the seat upside down?
also. is the mechanism that holds the contacts (like the ones in the window switch control) under the seat or is it on the side of the seat? it seems mine also need cleaning while i have the seats off.
was in the process of replacing the gears for my seats and found that there is no way to press the gear off. the gear and suppose to be metal piece was all one plastic gear. would take a picture of it but currently at work so you guys better understand what im saying. but if you do, i wanted to know if anyone knows if theres a part number or what it called
