Seat spring swap

[twodko]

Couple questions here regarding the bucket seats in my '69:

First, can the seat spring assembly be removed from the seat tracks?
If so, can the seat spring assembly be swapped side to side i.e., drivers seat springs to the passenger side etc?

[twodko]

I'm surprised no one has chimed in on this yet. This idea must have crossed the minds of some of you during your restorations.

My idea is to swap them if I can to get equal wear out of them plus putting the passenger seat springs in the drivers position would be like having a new seat.

[tsmithae]

The seat tracks can be removed and is it possible that the seat bottom frames are the same?  IIRC, they were the same for '70.


I personally replaced the burlap and the wire frames that wore interwoven within said burlap.  Some nice heavy burlap from Joann's and some .030 welding wire were all I needed.  (shown here http://www.1970chargerregistry.com/mboard/index.php?topic=1920.0 ).

[Ghoste]

Thats kind of what I did with the 67 too.  The basic S shaped ones remained and I tightened them up by adding some of the cross tie ones.

[twodko]

Thanks gentlemen. I'm fairly sure they can be swapped and now I remember the tracks are removable so that adds credence to the possibility. My upholstery/seat foam is fresh so just a side to side change will make them feel like new again.

[sanders7981]

They can be changed... I am almost positive about it.  I didn't do it to mine but I just recovered my seats and had them stripped down.     Saw there was two nuts on each side of the tracks that appeared to hole the spring/frame section to the tracks.  Should be fairly easy to swap over. 

[fy469rtse]

Tsmithae , thanks for the link pal, I have everything I needed to recover my seats, rear was easy, everything was in good shape except covers and had to replace foam only,
Fronts were driving me crazy on how or what to use to replace the wires, now I have an answer on what to use,
It was holding me up , seen others just ignore these and troubled by there not being replaced , obvious that they tie the springs to work off and support each other
Thanks again

[tsmithae]

 

Glad to help! Any questions, I'm more than happy to off whay advice I can.

[twodko]

I pulled both buckets seats out my 69 a bit ago and removed the seat backs laying them on moving blankets. I've kept them on the same side of the car they were removed from so the seat back release knob remains outboard of each seat.
I marked the drivers seat with blue painters tape then remove its tracks labeling them as well. After doing the same thing to the passenger seat I took all the seat tracks out to shop and thoroughly cleaned them and brushed on a light coat of lithium grease on the tracks.
I roughed up the surfaces with some steel wool and sprayed them with SEM semi-gloss. Everything looks like an exact duplicate from seat to seat regardless of what side they're mounted in. The only "dammit" I discovered is the seat belt buckle clips on the seat front will be opposite of where they should be. There might be dual sets of mounting holes on each seat frame but I'm not poking new holes in the upholstery for them and leaving the original holes exposed.............unless I put collar screws painted black to fill the old holes! This might be a good workaround to cover the original holes and you'd never see them. Otherwise I'll just have to "dress" the seat belt diagonally across the seats instead of parallel to the seat edge.

So far so good.

[twodko]

I'm stuck. I can't remember how the seat track release spring attaches to the non-lever track.
I have the seats reassembled but this spring that connect the release mechanism on each track is slack.
I installed one seat and can't get the seat to slid back. Anyone have a picture of the underside of a 2nd gen
Bucket seat? 

[twodko]

Belay my inquiry. I figured it out, I had the inside tracks mounted wrong.
Now that the swap is complete.........man, the seats feel new! Nice, plump and firm......kinda like......never mind.  Well worth the 4 hours of R & R and paint work.
Happy happy happy.