Slouching driver seat repair

[heydanno]

Hi guys

The driver's seat in my 89 FJ62 has recently developed a slouching problem. The upper-right corner is set a little farther back than the upper-left corner, so I'm doing the shoulder lean when I'm driving. I'm guessing this is due to 209,000 miles of wear and tear, and also the windshield guy who was thrashing around in there this morning pulling on a suction cup trying to get the windshield to seat properly.

SO: have any of you encountered this issue? I'm thinking it might be the seat adjuster (618?), but I don't know. To be sure, I haven't torn it apart yet. And a bunch of searches didn't bring up much. Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[Portland Cruiser]

I have an 88 FJ62 and had the same issue. There was a weld that failed somewhere near 618. I drilled it out and put in a screw and bolt. It's held fine for a couple years now but it makes me nervous that it would fail in a rear collision. Casually looking at replacement seat options for that reason.

 

[Mike FJ62]

I had the same issue. I brought it to a auto upholstery shop to have it fixed. They said it was a combination of a broken weld, a piece that had come out of place(snapped back in?) and the foam was worn more on that side. What ever they did fixed it.

Mike

 

[klinetime574]

Yeah both my front seats lean at a funny angle, probably something broken in there.

I'll look into it some day.

 

[Rigger]

Same thing in my driver seat; I can feel that there is something broken in the structure of the seat. Not sure what to do. I have a spare set of seats, but the upholstery on those is in poor shape. I'd have to sort of combine the two to make the repair.

I've also considered IPOR buckets.

 

[heydanno]

Thanks a lot for all the responses, guys.

 

[Cruiser Ed]

If part 618 is a bolt off affair and you need one I can give you mine. I just replaced my seats in my fj60 and really can't keep these around much longer.

 

[heydanno]

Thanks Ed for the offer.

The windshield place says they'll pay to fix it, so it's at the dealer getting a repair quote now. Is it too much to hope for an NOS seat?

 

[cruiser guy]

had the same probelm, so i put FJ80 seats in! look into it i would never go back i love these seats

 

[daveIT]

That's called gangsta lean, just tint your windows and buy some Swisher Sweets and you'll feel better. If you can lower your FJ and fit some 20 or larger rims everything will be good.

 

[DOGMARLEY]

I have been looking for a kit to lower my truck for a while. I think 13" Gold Daytons would look a lot better than the 20s I have on there now. Hydrophonics.

 

[daveIT]

Hmm....tires would be a lot cheaper to buy for 13" rims...that would mean more money for beer.... 40s of course...

 

[mwalls54]

I just fixed this on my runner seats I have in the 40. The right side wouldn't recline and had a lean so I took it apart and sure enough welds were broke along with the bracket. Then i looked at the left side and it was worse than the other. so its all fixed and it feels like a totally different seat.

 

[cruiser guy]

what the hell is wrong with you all?! those poor 60s go buy a civic!

 

[BG_TX]

I've had the 'Detroit lean' since I bought the Cruiser... Here is what I found after removing seat.

Circled are the failed welds... The only thing holding the upper/lower together is the bolt missing from the exposed hole. This caused the right side support to pivot away from the driver causing the right side to slouch/sag.

I drilled out the welds, installed fasteners with a shot of black - no more gangsta paradise!

No more gangsta lean

 

[klinetime574]

Thanks for posting that BG_TX

I'll dig into my seats soon.

 

[heydanno]

Wow, great info-thanks BG_TX. Just to provide closure, I brought the truck to the dealer, who sent me to an upholstery shop. They said the right rear support was just bent and they bent in back into place. The auto glass place paid for it so I didn't ask questions, and it's looking good again. Hopefully it will stay that way.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[poptart]

Bringing this thread back to life.

My drivers seat has had a crazy lean since I bought my FJ62. It's progressively gotten worse and worse to the point that it was leaning against the B pillar to hold it up.
Unfortunately all but one of @BG_TX 's photos are dead, but it gave my enough motivation to dive into disassembling my seat to figure this out.

I have previously replaced the seat adjuster (618-RH) because the teeth were stripped and the PO just drilled a hole and threw a bolt in there locking it in a single position. So I've been in the seat before. If you're going to take your seat apart just make sure you have a pair of hog ring pliers and some hog rings to put it back together. You'll have to cut a the hog rings on the bottom of the seat back to raise the fabric up high enough to get to the top two 14mm bolts on the adjuster. Thinking about it now you could probably leave those attached and just remove the bottom two bolts and remove the seat back with the adjuster attached.

I completely remove the fabric and foam from the seat bottom. The frame had three broken spot welds. Two on the left hand side where the adjuster mounts and one on the right hand side. The left hand side ones were what really caused the lean. The spot weld on the back of the frame that broke allowed the mount to bend and the frame to sink down. I tried prying it back up with a pry bar but the frame is pretty thin and ended up denting. So instead I took some wooden shims and drove them in under the nut where the rear bolt for slider mounts. This spread the load out and worked like a charm. I then just clean up the paint and got the metal glue gun out and add a whole lot more weld to it. This is a little difficult with a cheap flux core since the frame is so thin, but it's doable. I then went through and threw some big old ugly beads on where the other spot welds busted. They're not pretty at all, but I have no doubt they'll hold.

Looking at the inside rear of the frame you can see the broken spot weld

Shimmed the mount to the correct position and prepped for welding

End result of the main repair. It ain't pretty, but she'll do

This is the where the second spot weld on the left side failed. I dabbed in so weld from the inside to get it back together.

And the spot weld that ripped out on the right side. Again just globbed in some weld from the inside

Anyways, I hope this helps. Overall not very difficult. I used a cheap hobo freight flux core welder for this. Just know the limitations of the machine and have low expectations for the beauty of the welds and you'll do fine.