Middle row reclining hinges (1 Viewer)

[scottm]

I finally decided it's too much trouble to mod my middle row seat hinges, then found MAF has discontinued the reclining hinges. Any other sources? I may pop the hinges off and look again, but it looks like several hours of careful work to cut it apart and bolt it together.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Call MAF and ask where they got them - Japan most likely. Since they no longer carry them, I'd think they would not have a problem with that.

IdahoDoug

 

[scottm]

Good thought, thanks. Our EDM can cut out anything I can draw on CAD, but it's still work getting them apart and together, sand blasting, oxide coating. I don't remember what they cost, it may still be worth doing. We're headed up North this weekend, I'm reminded I wish I'd bought them.

 

[landtank]

Scott I saw those a while back and wish I had gotten them as well. Thought they wo0uld be great on a long road trip to let the kids in the back get some rest. Keep us posted please on what you end up doing. When I get some time I was going to see if I could somehow make the stock ones recline more.

 

[landandsea]

Please tell me more about these hinges. How far will the seats recline? I wasn't aware of these mods, but they sound useful.

thanks,
Ed

 

[nakman]

I too regret not getting the recliner hinges from MAF when I had the chance, I was waiting to bury that cost with expense of doing the knuckle repack (get them under the radar, if you will), but when I got around to ordering the knuckle parts about a month ago was disappointed to learn that MAF discontinued them. The sales guy told me they got them from Conn Ferr (you know, the shackle/roof rack folks?), and that their quality really sucked. Hot on the trail, I promptly called Conn Ferr, and that sales guy told me they never made them, never heard of them, piss off. After that my drive for recliner hinges quickly faded away, though I've thought about tearing into the existing ones too, but haven't.

So has anyone done this mod themselves?

 

[uzj100]

See another reason to get 100 series. The rear seats recline in both second and third rows.

 

[Hltoppr]

Don't think it would make me forget the IFS...

-H-

 

[IdahoDoug]

"See another reason to get 100 series.  The rear seats recline in both second and third rows."

Oh, kinda like my '99 Montero had, eh? (snicker) Come to think of it, it also had IFS. Great feature of course - I'll also be interested in the outcome of the hinge search.

IdahoDoug

 

[cary]

My 91 Pathfinder also had reclining seats. You think we argue about the benifits of 80 v. 100 series cruisers. The first generation pathfinders had way more room (the rear seats have more legroom than the 80), they were body on frame and had a lot more ground clearance, better approach and departure angles. The second generation came out in 1996, smaller, less ground clearance and still slow (but faster than the 3fe ). Finally in 2001 they got a decent engine at least (supposedly 240 horsepower but the performance is more like 200 because not much torque). No wonder Nissan had sales problems. The only upside of the newer ones, $10,000+ cheaper than an equivilant 4 runner (if you bargain you can walk out the door with a loaded pathfinder for about $27,000).

I will say my 1991 Pathfinder has been about as reliable as the sun. However, the 80 will be forcing its sale shortly.

Cary

 

[scottm]

I'd like to try this project. If anyone who did buy the MAF hinges could give up their old hinges, that'd help. If I start modifying hinges for people it'd be nice if they didn't have to be without them for the week or so it'd take for shipping and working. So far the process I envision is:

Grind rivets out
? Drill for new bolts (hardened metric shoulder bolts)
Sandblast (need clean surfaces for the conductive wire to burn smooth)
Cut teeth on EDM (ten minutes? I'll need to learn the machine)
Clean
Prime & Paint (or black oxide coat, goes out once a week)
Assemble

My boss doesn't mind us doing personal work, but I'll reimburse him for anything I use up at the shop. My time is, of course, free for the cause. Just don't tell my wife.

 

[nakman]

Ok, you've motivated me to take another look at these things. Anyone know if the third row seats use the same hinges? If so those things are everywhere, heck some folks can't give them away. Would make for good practice hinges.

 

[cruiserdan]

I'm not familar with this mod. I gather you want to make the second row seat backs flatten out to the rear?

If so, I imagine you are refering to modifying the outer adjusers. The second and third row adjusters are not the same so you would need to modify the original ones. They are color coded to the interior, if that matters to anybody. oddly, the grey ones cost more than the tan ones. Grey's run $102.57 each and tan's are $83.54 ??? . So, that's what you would be looking at if you messed up one during the modification process.

 

[scottm]

On both 2nd and 3rd rows, there’s a pin that restricts recline. The 3rd row hinges have teeth beyond that pin, so you can adjust recline. The 2nd row hinges have no extra teeth, so the seat would just flop back if you pull the adjuster and go beyond the stop. Removing the stop is pretty easy with a grinder, I've done it with my 3rd row seats. I'll probably try it with my second row just to see how it fits.

The 2nd row backs hinge from well above the seat bottom, I don’t think they’ll be flat or even comfortable folded all the way back. Maybe with some extra padding. They may also hit the wheel arches and not recline flat.

 

[cruiserdan]

IIRC, one of my Japanese sales brochures shows a picture with the seats flat out. I have a Japanese fiche and the adjuster part numbers are different than the ones in the US book. I can't read Japanese so I don't know what the descriptions are ??? It may be possible to figure out which ones do what and figure out a way to get them into the US.

 

[TomH]

I can't read Japanese so I don't know what the descriptions are

Hey Dan

If you really want to know what the descriptions say and you can get an output from the fiche to me, then I can have my wife translate. Let me know and I'll PM you a email address and/or fax number.

Tom

 

[nakman]

Definitely don't need them to go flat, I think that would be uncomfortable anyway, since the rear passenger's legs must remain bent the whole time. But a nice 45° angle or so would make my buddies' ride out to Moab much much better.

C-Dan, assuming you knew what you were ordering, would you be able to order from this Japanese fiche of yours? As it turns out, my friend's wife in Japanese, and she also drives an anniversary '97. Wouldn't be the first time I've asked them to interpret something.. and this time she could actually benefit from it. Can you create a picture from it? Or just take a picture of your MicroFiche reader? Then if appears to be what we're looking for, I'm definitely in for the initial "test order." -tim

 

[nakman]

Ok it looks like Tom types faster than me.. still willing to help if needed. -tim

 

[cruiserdan]

I appreciate the offers for translation. Some tiny bits of the Japanese catalog have english and I can read between the lines on many of the PNC codes and figure it out but sometimes the text will make or break a particular item. The only trouble here is the fiche is VERY faint and my reader does not have a print-out capability. I may be able to find one that does or take a digital pic of the screen and see how it comes out.

In some cases it is possible to place what is known as an "off line order" and get non-USA items. The catch is you need a VIN and Japan model code and production date in order to get the stuff ordered. (As though said vehicle was now residing in the US as say an over-seas purchase that was imported by an individual or the like.)

 

[scottm]

Stock hinges. Red marker on stop pins so I don't grind off the wrong ones. Don't grind off the other ends, it takes much longer and they won't come out that way and you'll have wasted time