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1995 Suburban Driver seat breakage
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sparhawk
New User
Jan 12, 2009, 1:26 PM
Post #1 of 3
(10338 views)
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1995 Suburban Driver seat breakage
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The 1995 Suburban has a design flaw in the driver's seat. investigating it across th eInternet, seems a lot of people are having this issue. for some reason, it falls short of a recall. So, I decided to fix the problems myself.
THIS IS A INTERIM FIX. The seat really needs to be recalled and replaced with a better seat.
History: About 2 years ago, I started to feel my seat give a little when accelerating. Didn't think it was very important. Over time, it got worse, to the point I was afraid I would end up in the back seat. I investigated this through several places on the Net and found out LOTS of people were having this same issue on their 1995 Suburban. I had other maintenance issues last summer, so I parked it for awhile. Last week, I got it back on the road, better than ever for about $10.00 and 6 hours time.
Here's how I did it:
Remove the four bolts holding the seat foundation to the body. Moving the seat forward and back will allow good access to the bolts. Disconnect the two power cables for the seat. They both snap together and are very easy to remove. The seat can be removed easily and there is a ton of room to reinstall.
The next step is removal of the pedestal. Flip the seat over and lean it on something that allows you to work on the seat horizontally. I found 2 milk crates worked well for this. The pedestal has four bolts. use a 10mm to remove these bolts and the pedestal can be moved out of the way. Note: There is a wiring harness that does not allow it to be completely removed from the seat. Just move it out of the way while completing the additional work. i added some pictures to aid the description
Pic 1 upper left shows the right-side mounting points for the seat. You're looking at it upside down, so it is on the left. A small po9int, but necessary. There are two series of mounting holes for the seat. Using the wrong one wil cause a misalignment of the seat when it is remounted in the Burb. Notice the stress crack along the longitudinal seat frame.
Pic 1 upper right shows the major damage to the seat. This is the left corner as you face forward in the seat. The mounting bracket ont eh pedestal had been completely separated from the chair frame. The gap in the metal you see is where the mounting bolt is supposed to be for the pedestal. Also note the stress crack.
I fashioned a cardboard template for the steel reinforcement. This allowed me to get the length of steel needed for the repair. They sell it around here in 6 foot lengths, so cutting machining it away from the seat was easier with the template. Drilling the holes for the mounting bolts was rather easy. Take care in marking the location. You can use the cardboard template and mark the holes or measure them out, whichever is easier for you. I used 9/16 drill bit. This allowed a little slop in the hole distance between each side. I then bolted the bar in place. The left side (as you are looking at it) I used the pedestal mounting bolt. On the right side, I used 1/4-20 x 1 1/2. This hole normally does not have a bolt in it, but there since there is more metal on the corners, a longer bolt was needed. Be sure to use washers on both sides, for added strength.
Pic 1 (3) lower right steel bar in place. Notice a third hole. A added another bolt to strengthen the seat using an existing hold in the lateral chair frame.
Once I bolted it in place, I set the pedestal in place, I secured it in place using the 3 10mm bolts. Once in place, I marked the position of the 4th hole and removed the pedestal. Removed the bar, drill the 4th pedestal hole and re-installed the bar. Pic 1 lower left (4)
Now you are ready to stall the pedestal. Once I had 3 bolts mounted, I used the original retaining nut for the 4th bolt (the one that was broken,. This piece is spot welded to the front lateral support of the chair. It was still bolted firmly to the pedestal. I had to machine the remaining lateral support material from the retaining nut. Holding it in place, I re-installed the 4th mounting bolt. I added 4 mounting rivets to the new lateral bar. I wanted additional strength, so I riveted the new bar to the existing lateral chair support. This ensures the chair is secured to the pedestal in multiple areas to help distribute the load.
Pic 2 (5) shows the forward left corner (as you look at the seat upside down. A added an extra bolt and nut on the inside of the pedestal frame. Right on the other side of the rail in the upper right corner of the picture is the stock mounting bolt for the corner that mounts the pedestal to the chair.
Pic (6) shows the forward right corner (as you look at it) with the pedestal in place. Notice the stock bolt in place holding the pedestal and the extral bolt (the longer one) securing the bar to the chair.
The pedestal is now mounted to the chair itself. Re-installation of the chair is reverse of taking it out. Clip the harness in place and bolt the seat to the body.
Total Cost
sheet steel 1 in x 14 in ~$4.00
1/4 20 machine bolts, washers and nuts ~$4.00
6 hrs total time (disassembly, machining, drilling, remounting and reassembly
Any questions, contact me at tlam70@gmail.com
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dmac0923
Enthusiast
Jan 12, 2009, 3:18 PM
Post #2 of 3
(10335 views)
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Re: 1995 Suburban Driver seat breakage
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wow, nice work, nice post!
__________________________________________________
2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2002 Ford Ranger
2004 Toyota Corolla
1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1
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Guest
Anonymous Poster
mp32u@hotmail.com
May 30, 2009, 2:24 PM
Post #3 of 3
(10247 views)
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Re: 1995 Suburban Driver seat breakage
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My 1995 did the same thing. Should be a recall. I made a similar repair and it lasted a year before breaking in another location. The steel under the seat is poor quality.
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