Assembing seat runners

[Philip Wardle]

Thanks to those who posted earlier including Dasrew in 2016, I have been able to dismantle a spare set of front seat runners which I'm going to need for my project car. I've got a good process for drilling out the dimples on the runners to 5/32 inch and tapping for 10-32 UNF grub screws to replace these, 3/16 inch length screws are perfect.

Having cleaned the various parts, and painted where appropriate, I'm at the stage of reassembly but am struggling. Has anyone documented the procedure such that I end up with the rollers and ball bearings in the right positions relative to the roll pins and dimples, please?

[MandM]

does this help

IMG_20201115_132253.jpg

[jbuckl]

does this help

IMG_20201115_132253.jpg

That’s funny and also useful.

[Philip Wardle]

does this help

Useful in confirming my understanding - many thanks - but I can't work out how to get the get the top hat in, complete with roll-pins, whilst maintaining the rollers and balls in these positions. I eventually seem to work out most issues on the Stag but this has defeated me and is stopping progress on the project car

[dasadrew]

Not sure if I posted everything then, but I did a write up in the technical section on seat refurbishment; not sure if I added more then. I do recall the adjective "fiddly" when reassembling everything.

[Philip Wardle]

Not sure if I posted everything then, but I did a write up in the technical section on seat refurbishment; not sure if I added more then. I do recall the adjective "fiddly" when reassembling everything.

Yes, many thanks for this Drew - I found this very useful at the pulling apart stage - I'm stuck at the fiddly stage. There must be some kind of progressive assembly process involving feeding the top-hat into the C section starting from one end, but I just can't see how to do it whilst getting rollers and balls in the right places.

[dasadrew]

I do seem to recall a process where I temporarily "glued" those balls in place with a sticky grease

[MandM]

I do seem to recall a process where I temporarily "glued" those balls in place with a sticky grease

[Philip Wardle]

I do seem to recall a process where I temporarily "glued" those balls in place with a sticky grease

Makes sense - so having done that, and with the rollers not yet in place, shouod I expect the rolls pins to slide past the balls without dislodging them? And having done that, should I be able to insert one roller from each end? Do I need to drill out any additional dimples apart from the two needed to be able to dismantle?

I'm begining wo tonder whether part of my problem is that a previous owner has bent the top-hat section and/or C section by hitting with a hammer to get the seat to move whilst the slider was jammed - though this would have required a big hammer!

[Philip Wardle]

Finally, achieved progress today. Managed to get hold of another top-hat section which is not distorted and allows assemby to be completed. Lubricated with Castrol LM lithium grease and working ok. The bent top-hat section may be scrap, but I did spot that B&Q sell varnished cold-pressed steel square tube, (L)1m (W)12mm (T)1mm which might serve as a former for straightening it out, through I'm not sure if it's worth the effort. Just an idea, anyhow.

The width of the channel in the top hat section is 0.5" and the length of the rollers seem to be about 25 thou less, which allows them to roll freely while constraining them so that thay remain correctly oriented. My distorted top-hat was too narrow at one point and the rollers were binding. Further distortion meant it was also impossible to feed the ball bearings into the end of the channel formed by the top-hat and C-section.

I'm still amazed to think how much force must have been applied to cause this much distortion.

[MandM]

IMG_20201115_133633.jpg
my outer bits were all bent out

[Tonywhite]

If you get stuck I have a pair of refurbished and powder coated seat runners

[Philip Wardle]

PM sent

[Alan Southgate]

Hi,

This is my first post as generally all my queries are answered by the wealth of information on here. Coincidently I am also refurbishing my seat runners and not making any progress yesterday with dismantling, I turned to the forum. Having drilled out the dimples I now have one set apart.

My query is on re-assembly. Is the photo of the ball bearing positions relative to the rollers to be taken literally? Do they have to align? If so, what keeps them in position when reassembled? If the ball bearings just have to be between the dimples, why did they not use more ball bearings - say eight rather than the four?

Thanks

[sujitroy]

If you add more ball bearings between the dimples, wouldnt this reduce the amount of of travel of the seat?

I pulled a few seats apart and the bearings made grooves in the rails. on some seats I didn't have to remove the dimples. There was so much slop, they just fell out.
Sujit