Factory driver's seat won't hold position...

[IDBoating]

I have that mesh seat that is no longer available but was really popular for several years. I really like it for the most part, but it has one problem that has always been there and is now getting much worse: It won't hold its front-to-back position adjustment.

The designers (not Tige, they buy it from someone - perhaps Attwood?) did a terrible job with the F-t-R adjustment. Instead of a simple, reliable straight shaft, the locking knob passes through u-joint like assemblies. These lock to the shafts using set screws, but the shafts are not D-shafts so there's really nothing for the set screws to lock into. Therefore the shafts rotate instead of transferring the torque to the actual locking piece. I've tightened them, I've applied LocTite, etc. and they still move. Next thing to do is grind a flat onto the shafts.

I haven't examined the actual locking mechanism all that closely yet, but I believe it's just a shaft binding against a flat metal surface. No real "locking" in a setup like that, it depends entirely on friction to hold. And it's not holding.

Anyone else experience this? Have you worked out a fix? If not, and if I solve it, I will post the results.

[skippabcool]

Mine was the same way but sounds like it might be a little different. I found that mine was made by Garelick. It had been assembled incorrectly even though they said it was correct after seeing pictures. Because of that I had to buy a new one. When I got it I checked and it assembled correctly, different than the one they said was good. So far the new one had been great. I don't know if it is the same base of if you could get a Garelick base to replace yours.

[IDBoating]

Thanks for the feedback. I will know more when I climb underneath and really examine the "locking" mechanism. My quick glance suggested it was just a friction thing, but I need to do a detailed inspection.

I'm certain on the control shaft makeup, though. I spent a while on that during de-winterizing this year. No flats on the shafts really surprised me; that's standard stuff for set screw applications. Time to get out the grinder!

[Ewok]

Wait before you use the grinder. I lossened mine up too much this spring and the screw came out of the tension mechanism. The screw should go into a mechanism that spreads out in the sliding channel of the seat. It took me about 20 min to get the screw lined up again and into the spreading mechanism that holds the tension and keeps the seat in place.

[IDBoating]

I'll check into that, thanks! Though the grinder is for the rods, not the friction system under the seat that they control.