Seat Slides

[Marks6]

Does anyone out there know how to disassemble the seat tracks out of a TR6?
Mine are really looking sad and I want to pull them apart down to their component parts, clean 'em up and powder coat 'em but can't get the top bit apart from the bottom bit (gotta love this technical talk!).
Any ideas?

Mark
70 Damson TR6 PI

 

[mrv8q]

Mark, I just looked at this on my '74.... I think there are heavy "dimples" keeping the o-ring/barrel combination in the rails. I just wound up soaking the seat racks in a mild degreaser/kitchen detergent. I didn't want to harm those o-rings on the barrels too much. They turned out fine.... I did use a light machine oil wherever I thought it might help...

 

[dklawson]

If you really want to disassemble the sliders, place the bottom rail on a flat metal surface (anvil) and pound flat one (1) of the dimples that Kevin mentioned. That will allow you to drive the bottom rails off the part that bolts to the seat. You should only need to do this if you've got MAJOR issues that require attention. In the case of my Spitfire, I had to sandblast the rails , fill in rust pits, and make a couple of new rollers.

When you're ready to reassemble the rails to the seat portion, you'll need to either pound the dimples back up, or use something like tap the bottom rail for a small button head screw inserted from the bottom side. The screw will become your new stop. A trick to keep in mind is that there will be two nylon rollers on each track. When you install the first roller, you will need a steel rod or similar to prevent it from rolling all the way to the back as you drive the bottom rail back onto the seat portion. (This will make sense if and when you take the components apart. )

 

[Marks6]

Thanks guys.
I think there's too much pitting and grunge to go the simple route and soak/paint so looks like it's de-dimpling time.
Never did like dimples anyway!

Mark

 

[mrv8q]

Let us know how you make out......

 

[dklawson]

For what it's worth, the Spit's passenger seat sliders were very badly pitted. After sand blasting and acid washing I looked carefully at the situation and decided to trowel a layer of JB Weld over the surfaces and into the pits. The epoxy left a much smoother flat surface. Since when in use the surface is in compression... the JB Weld should not come out. Time will tell if I'm right, but I have only lost a little time and the cost of the epoxy if I'm wrong.

 

[tdskip]

Mark - take pictures as you go and post them here.

Keep us posted, and good luck!